World briefs

VENEZUELA A police helicopter fired on Venezuela’s Supreme Court and Interior Ministry in what President Nicolas Maduro said was a thwarted terrorist attack aimed at ousting him from power. The confusing incident, which may ratchet up tensions in a country already paralyzed by months of deadly anti-government protests, took place as Maduro was speaking live on state television.

SOUTH CHINA SEA China’s increasingly powerful navy launched its most advanced domestically produced destroyer yesterday, at a time of rising competition with other naval powers such as the United States, Japan and India. 

PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte assured troops yesterday that he would protect them from any legal action if they accidently kill civilians while battling militants who have besieged a southern city.

CAMBODIA Wildlife researchers in Cambodia say they’ve found a clutch of eggs from one of the world’s most endangered crocodiles, raising hopes of its continuing survival in the wild. 

MYANMAR Three Myanmar journalists who reported on a drug burning ceremony by ethnic rebels have been charged with violating a law that provides up to three years’ imprisonment for people who abet illegal groups.

INDIA Thousands of Indians gathered in several cities yesterday to protest recent violent attacks across the country targeting minority Muslims. The protesters decried the silence of the Hindu nationalist government in response to public lynchings and attacks since it took power in 2014.

QATAR The United States is urging Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries to stay “open to negotiation” with Qatar as they try to resolve a major diplomatic crisis with their neighbor.

SYRIA At least 15 people were killed in an airstrike in eastern Syria yesterday in the second attack in three days reported to kill civilians in the Islamic State-held Euphrates River valley.

PALESTINE Hamas has begun work on a buffer zone along Gaza’s border with Egypt, the Islamic militant group said yesterday, as part of an effort to assure Cairo that it’s serious about preventing the cross-border flow of weapons and militants.

EUROPE Police yesterday arrested six suspected members of the Islamic State group in a Europe-wide terror probe, four in Spain and one each in Britain and Germany, Spain’s Interior Ministry said.

COLOMBIA has reached a major milestone on its road to peace as leftist rebels relinquished some of their last weapons this week and declared an end to their half-century insurgency.