World briefs

ASEAN Human Rights Watch yesterday urged world leaders converging for annual summits in Southeast Asia to address the region’s human rights crises led by the plight of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar and what it calls the “murderous” anti-drug crackdown in the Philippines.

INDONESIA Police said yesterday that gunmen have occupied two villages in easternmost Papua province near a U.S.-owned gold and copper mine in a possible escalation of a separatist conflict in the region.

INDIA Volunteers took to the streets of India’s capital yesterday and placed green pollution masks over the mouths of willing residents to make a statement about the city’s choking smog.

SAUDI ARABIA announced yesterday it has detained 201 people as part of a sweeping probe, estimating that at least USD100 billion has been misused through embezzlement and corruption in past decades.

ISRAEL military is holding its largest-ever air drill with pilots from eight countries simulating combat scenarios. It said yesterday that Germany, India and France are taking part for the first time in the two-week drill codenamed “Blue Flag.”

EGYPT President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi says Islamic State militants are making their way to his country via Libya after the defeat of the extremist group in Syria and Iraq.

GERMANY A nurse who is already serving a life sentence for two murders may have killed more than 100 patients over several years at two hospitals in northwestern Germany, prosecutors said yesterday.

THE VATICAN announced yesterday that it would no longer sell cigarettes to employees in its duty free shop and supermarket — giving up an estimated 10 million euros (USD11 million) a year in profit. Pope Francis made the decision because “the Holy See cannot contribute to an activity that clearly damages the health of people.” 

CUBA Americans seeking to visit Cuba must navigate a complicated maze of travel, commerce and financial restrictions unveiled Wednesday by the Trump administration, part of a new policy to further isolate the island’s communist government.

COLOMBIA Authorities in Colombia have seized 12 tons of cocaine worth an estimated USD360 million in what has been described as the nation’s largest drug bust.