World briefs

EGYPT’s president vowed yesterday to press ahead with the country’s war against terrorism, secure its borders and hunt down militants. The remarks came after authorities officially announced that at least 16 policemen were killed in a brazen ambush by militants southwest of Cairo. Security officials separately reported that the death toll reached 54, making it one of the worst attacks against Egypt’s police in years. 

PHILIPPINES Troops yesterday were battling a final group of about 30 pro-Islamic State group militants who were surrounded in one building with all their hostages gone as a nearly five-month siege neared its end in Marawi city.

MALAYSIA A landslide at a construction site in northern Malaysia on Saturday killed three foreign workers, with rescuers searching for 11 others feared trapped in the mud and rubble, officials said.

JAPAN A powerful typhoon was heading toward Japan’s main islands early today, already bringing heavy rain to western Japan and slightly injuring at least five people.

AUSTRALIA An Australian state took a step toward allowing voluntary euthanasia on Friday, 20 years after the country repealed the world’s first mercy killing law.

MYANMAR Hundreds of hard-line Buddhists protested yesterday to urge Myanmar’s government not to repatriate the nearly 600,000 minority Rohingya Muslims who have fled to Bangladesh since late August to escape violence in Myanmar’s Rakhine state.

ITALY Voters in the wealthy northern Italian regions of Lombardy and Veneto were deciding yesterday if they want to seek greater autonomy from Rome, riding a tide of self-determination that is sweeping global politics.

SPAIN announced an unprecedented plan Saturday to sack Catalonia’s separatist leaders, install its own people in their place and call a new local election, using previously untapped constitutional powers to take control of the prosperous region that is threatening to secede.

ARGENTINA Legislative elections in Argentina are giving President Mauricio Macri a chance to win his first friendly congress, while former President Cristina Fernandez is seeking to make a comeback. Polls indicate that Macri’s center-right faction has a chance to win a majority for the first time since he took office in 2015.