World briefs
SYRIA’s civil war has been one of the modern world’s most brutal conflicts and one of its most heavily filmed. But Syrian activists fear all that history could be erased as YouTube moves to rein in violent content. In the past few months, the online video giant removed hundreds of thousands of videos from the conflict considered graphic or supporting terrorism.
PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte refused a demand by his most vocal critic to publicly release details of his bank accounts to disprove allegations that he had large sums of undeclared money.
SINGAPORE An oil tanker and a dredger collided in Singapore waters yesterday, capsizing the dredger and leaving two dead and three crew members missing, authorities said.
INDIA An international human rights group urged India yesterday to immediately ban the use of shotguns by government forces in suppressing protests in disputed Kashmir.
ISRAEL’s leader yesterday said his country supports Kurdish independence ahead of a key referendum on the matter. He did not specify where he thinks it could be located. The Kurds are spread across the region, with large populations in Iraq, Syria, Turkey and Iran.
ROMANIA’s coast guard yesterday rescued more than 150 migrants from Iraq and Iran, including 56 children, from a ship in distress on the Black Sea, on what is becoming a favored route for migrants trying to reach Western Europe.
GERMANY A nationalist party that wants Germany to close its borders to migrants is predicted to enter Parliament for the first time this month, propelled by voters’ anger at over a million refugees let into the country since 2015.
SPAIN’s top prosecutor is investigating more than 700 Catalan mayors for cooperating with a planned referendum on the region’s independence after the nation’s constitutional court ordered the vote put on hold, the prosecutor’s office said yesterday. More on p15
EU The European Union is in a healthier economic state than it’s been for more than a decade and is ready to move on from Brexit, the bloc’s top official said yesterday. Jean-Claude Juncker said the EU is “bouncing back” after a tough decade that’s seen much of the 28-country mired in an economic crisis.
VENEZUELA Authorities say gunmen assaulted an army patrol in an eastern area where illegal mining has become increasingly common. Eleven of the attackers were killed and one soldier was wounded in the gunbattle.
