World briefs

KOREAS In a defiant bit of timing, South Korea announces key parts of a contentious U.S. missile defense system have been installed a day after rival North Korea showed off its military power. 

SOUTH KOREA Presidential front-runner Moon Jae-in outraged persecuted sexual minority groups by saying during a television debate that he opposes homosexuality, something his supporters say he had to do to win office in the deeply conservative country. 

JAPAN Disaster reconstruction minister Masahiro Imamura has resigned over his remark that “it was good” that the March 2011 quake and tsunami had hit northern Japan instead of areas closer to Tokyo.

THAILAND Police yesterday arrested a taxi driver accused of raping a Brazilian woman, saying the suspect had a criminal record and had already confessed to the crime. The 22-year-old victim arrived at Don Muang airport from Malaysia and had asked to be driven to central Bangkok. Instead she was driven to the outskirts of the city, where she was beaten and raped.

PHILIPPINES An international human rights watchdog is calling on Southeast Asian leaders to take a stand against the Philippines’ war on drugs that has left thousands dead under President Rodrigo Duterte, the host of this week’s regional summit.

SINGAPORE U.S. government attorneys are appealing a Chicago immigration judge’s decision to grant asylum to a teenage blogger from Singapore. That means 18-year-old Amos Yee remains in U.S. custody.

USA President Trump is proposing “the biggest tax cut” ever even as the government struggles with mounting debt, in an effort to fulfill promises of bringing jobs and prosperity to the middle class. The top tax rate for individuals would drop by a few percentage points, from 39.6 percent to the “mid-30s,” according to an official with knowledge of the plan. 

IRAQ Paramilitary forces have captured Hatra, a 2,000-year-old historical site near the northern city of Mosul, where U.S.-backed forces have been battling the Islamic State group for months. The Shiite militias told state TV they captured the UNESCO world heritage site and were around three kilometers from a nearby town with the same name, without providing further details.

VATICAN Pope Francis has warned the powerful to act humbly or risk ruin, in a TED talk urging the world to show more solidarity with the poor and weak. Francis delivered a videotaped talk to a TED conference in Vancouver on “The Future You,” the first by a pope. The Vatican released the video yesterday.