World briefs

PHILIPPINES A Philippine bomber plane accidentally killed 11 soldiers and injured seven others, security officials said yesterday, as troops struggled to end a bloody siege by 500 Islamic State group-aligned extremists in a southern city, one of the boldest militant attacks in Southeast Asia in years.

EAST TIMOR A court yesterday dismissed a criminal defamation case brought by the country’s prime minister against two journalists due to a lack of evidence. Rights groups and press advocates had urged that the case be dropped, fearing it would further undermine press freedom in one of the world’s youngest democracies. 

JAPAN is building its own GPS in hopes of reducing location errors for drivers, drone operators and other users. A rocket launched yesterday from southern Japan is carrying a satellite that will form part of a Japanese GPS.

INDIA’s finance minister said a massive currency overhaul that disrupted commerce across the country last year had little effect on the economy, a day after India reported a slowdown in the fourth quarter of the fiscal year.

RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin insisted yesterday that the Russian state has never engaged in hacking and said Moscow will wait out the current political storm in the U.S. to forge constructive relations with President Donald Trump, whom he praised as a straightforward person with a “fresh set of eyes.” 

TURKEY’s foreign minister says his country and the Turkish Cypriots are ready to take part in a summit in Geneva to work out a peace accord reunifying ethnically divided Cyprus.

BRITAIN The Ministry of Defense has announced an end to its week-long deployment to help police cope with an increased threat of an extremist attack after the Manchester concert bombing. The official threat level has been lowered but the government still believes an attack is highly likely.

NATO Thousands of troops from NATO and its partner nations are training on land and sea in central and eastern Europe yesterday, in two major exercises that aim to demonstrate their cooperation and rapid response capabilities at a time when the region feels threatened by Russia.

BRAZIL’s economy grew 1 percent in the first three months of 2017, officials have announced, putting to an end the South American country’s longest recession in history.