World briefs

SYRIA U.S.-backed Syrian forces liberated the city of Raqqa yesterday from Islamic State militants, a senior commander said, in a major defeat for the collapsing extremist group that had proclaimed it to be the capital of its “caliphate.” Brig. Gen. Talal Sillo said a formal declaration that Raqqa has fallen would be made soon, once troops finish their clearing operations in the city on the banks of the Euphrates River.

US-INDONESIA Declassified files have revealed new details of U.S. government knowledge and support of an Indonesian army extermination campaign that killed several hundred thousand civilians during anti-communist hysteria in the mid-1960s.

PHILIPPINES Gunfire rang out sporadically and explosions thudded as Philippine soldiers fought yesterday to gain control of the last pocket of Marawi controlled by Islamic militants as President Rodrigo Duterte declared the southern city liberated from “terrorist influence.”

NORTH KOREA’s deputy U.N. ambassador warned that the situation on the Korean peninsula “has reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment.” Kim In Ryong said that North Korea is the only country in the world that has been subjected to “such an extreme and direct nuclear threat” from the United States since the 1970s. 

IRAQ Kurdish forces pulled out of disputed areas across northern and eastern Iraq yesterday, a day after handing the northern city of Kirkuk over to federal forces amid a tense standoff following last month’s vote for independence.

MALTA’s home minister says his EU country has appealed to the FBI and to European forensic experts to help investigate the car bomb slaying of the country’s leading investigative journalist.

VENEZUELA’s opposition is standing by its assertion that numerous irregularities were committed during regional voting for 23 governors, an election contest that the National Electoral Council says ruling party candidates won soundly. Opposition leader Angel Oropeza said Monday the opposition won’t recognize the results until an independent, internationally verified audit is conducted.

UNITED NATIONS The United States and human rights groups sharply criticized Monday’s U.N. election for 15 new members of the Human Rights Council, singling out conflict-torn Congo’s victory despite accusations of serious rights abuses and an investigation by the U.N.’s top human rights body.