NORTH KOREA The NATO military alliance is calling for international pressure to be ratcheted up against North Korea following its latest nuclear test. The 29-nation U.S.-led alliance expressed full solidarity with Japan and South Korea, and urged more efforts to pressure Pyongyang to abandon what they called its “current threatening and destabilizing path.” No mention was made of other retaliatory measures, such as the possible use of force.
HONG KONG Cathay Pacific, Asia’s biggest international carrier, is in talks with its pilots over compensation as it seeks to cut costs after reporting its worst half-half loss in at least two decades.
PHILIPPINES Assistance was offered to some 10,000 Filipinos who may be deported after the U.S. administration decided to rescind a program that allows undocumented immigrant children to stay legally in the United States.
MYANMAR A trawler carrying Rohingya Muslims fleeing violence in Myanmar capsized, killing at least five people, as the country’s leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, blamed a misinformation campaign for fuelling a crisis that the U.N. says has now pushed more than 125,000 refugees into Bangladesh.
INDIA The killing of an Indian journalist provoked outrage and anguish across the country yesterday, with thousands protesting what they saw as an effort to silence a critic of India’s ruling Hindu nationalist party.
AFGHANISTAN A U.S. commander yesterday apologized for leaflets dropped in Afghanistan that were deemed offensive to Islam. The deputy governor of Parwan province, north of Kabul, said that demonstrations were expected across the province.
EGYPT’s privately-owned media are increasingly dominated by businessmen linked to the government and its intelligence agencies, a rights group said this week. Reporters Without Borders said that “the regime’s domination of the media continues to grow and is even affecting pro-government media.”
MONTENEGRO Two alleged Russian secret service operatives were described as the main organizers of a foiled bid to overthrow Montenegro’s government last year as the trial of 14 suspected coup plotters opened in the small Balkan country yesterday.
FRANCE The Paris prosecutor’s office says two people have been detained after a possible explosives laboratory was discovered in a suburb south of Paris.
BRAZIL’s top prosecutor accused former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva of leading a criminal organization, along with several of his political allies, in order to extract millions of dollars in bribes.
