World briefs

TAIWAN will build its own submarines to get around Beijing’s efforts to prevent it from purchasing such craft from overseas and ensure an adequate defense against Chinese threats, President Tsai Ing-wen said yesterday.

PHILIPPINES-MYANMAR Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte and his Myanmar counterpart, State Counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, held talks in Myanmar’s capital. Duterte promised USD300,000 in humanitarian aid for Myanmar’s Rakhine state, where communal conflict has displaced more than 100,000 people from their homes. More on p12

MALAYSIA Walt Disney Co.’s “Beauty and the Beast” will open in Malaysia later this month without removing gay scenes as demanded by local censorship authorities.

JAPAN-EU The European Union and Japan have pledged to get to a free trade at the earliest possible opportunity. As they met for bilateral talks, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said a deal was on the horizon, while EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker suggested it should be clinched within the next nine months.

INDIA Two of India’s most iconic rivers, considered sacred by nearly a billion Hindus in the country, have been given the status of living entities to save them from further harm caused by widespread pollution.

PAKISTAN’s National Assembly has passed a constitutional amendment that would continue the practice of trying terrorism suspects in military courts. The measure was approved by the lower house yesterday, but has yet to be voted upon by the senate.

RUSSIA A Russian group of reporters say they have uncovered details of a complex system in which USD21 billion were allegedly transferred illegally out of the country through a network of banks.

SYRIA Government forces launched a counter-attack against rebels in Damascus yesterday, following a rebel suicide car bombing and another insurgent assault earlier in the day in the country’s capital, media reports said. It was the second attempt by rebels in three days to penetrate Damascus’ defenses. 

SOMALIA A car bomb exploded yesterday at a military checkpoint near Somalia’s presidential palace in the capital, killing at least five people, police said.

FRANCE The French financial prosecutor’s office opened a preliminary investigation Tuesday into a report that Interior Minister Bruno Le Roux hired his two daughters for 24 temporary parliamentary jobs.

BRAZIL’s president said yesterday that a scandal over sale of expired meat is an “economic embarrassment”. President Michel Temer sought to downplay the scandal, calling it a “fuss” and noting that only three of the more than 4,000 meatpacking plants in Brazil have been forced to close.