World briefs

PHILIPPINES-CHINA President Rodrigo Duterte told China’s ambassador yesterday that he will not immediately press Beijing to comply with an international tribunal’s ruling that invalidated Chinese territorial claims in the South China Sea, but would do so in the future.

EAST TIMOR-AUSTRALIA East Timor and Australia opened conciliation talks yesterday in their bitter legal battle to set a permanent maritime boundary that will carve up billions of dollars in oil and gas reserves underneath the seabed.

SOUTH KOREA’s Defense Ministry says it has no plans to introduce nuclear-powered submarines, despite calls by lawmakers to do so following a recent test of a submarine-launched missile by rival North Korea.

JAPAN Tokyo’s first female governor said yesterday she will use her platform to host a cost-efficient and environmentally friendly 2020 Olympics and push a women’s rights agenda that she hopes will be a model for Japan’s central government.
India is failing to help and protect journalists who are facing violent threats or attacks for their work, an international watchdog agency says, noting a pattern of resistance in investigating crimes targeting reporters.

AFGHANISTAN Two roadside bombs have killed at least nine Afghan civilians, officials said yesterday. No one has claimed responsibility for the attacks, but Taliban insurgents frequently target security forces with homemade bombs placed along roads and footpaths.

LIBYA At least 38 Libyan forces were killed as the Islamic State group dispatched a dozen suicide bombers to stop their final push to drive the extremists out of their last major bastion in the country, officials said yesterday.

POLAND says German Chancellor Angela Merkel is wrong to criticize European Union partners who are refusing to give refugee protection to Muslims. Deputy foreign minister, Konrad Szymanski, said in an interview yesterday that countries such as Poland, which reject EU-negotiated refugee quotas, are in line with the public mood.

BRAZIL Fighting to save her job, suspended Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff told senators on yesterday that the allegations against her have no merit and that history would judge the country if she is removed from office. “I know I will be judged, but my conscience is clear. I did not commit a crime,” Rousseff told senators at her impeachment trial.