World briefs

MYANMAR‘s military issued its most forceful denial yet that security forces committed atrocities during “clearance operations” in the west of the country. The report contradicts consistent statements from ethnic Rohingya Muslim refugees now in Bangladesh who have described massacres, rape, looting and the burning of hundreds of villages by Myanmar’s army and civilian mobs.

KOREA Four North Korean soldiers fired about 40 rounds at a comrade fleeing into South Korea and hit him five times in the first shooting at the jointly controlled area of the heavily fortified border in more than 30 years, the South’s military said yesterday.

IRAN-IRAQ Rescuers yesterday used backhoes and heavy equipment to dig through the debris of buildings toppled by a powerful earthquake on the border between Iran and Iraq that killed over 530 people, with weeping women crying out to God as aid workers found new bodies.

SAUDI ARABIA The United Nations says there’s “no indication” a Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Shiite rebels is lifting its blockade of Yemeni airports and sea ports as it announced the previous day.

ZIMBABWE was on edge yesterday as army tanks were seen outside the capital a day after the army commander (pictured) threatened to “step in” to calm political tensions over the president’s firing of his deputy.

POLAND The Polish prime minister says her government has won its dispute with the European Union over migration and that the EU has even changed its own stance on the matter thanks to the “influence of Poland’s resolute and unyielding attitude.”

SPAIN‘s state-run broadcaster, RTVE, has come under criticism for playing a segment of the theme tune of the 1970s horror movie “The Exorcist” as background music to a clip of ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont.

PERU-CHILE Pope Francis’ trip to Chile and Peru in January is likely to focus on the plight of indigenous peoples, with a day dedicated to the Amazon and a visit to a region wracked by tensions with Chile’s Mapuche group.

VENEZUELA Ratings agency Standard & Poor’s says Venezuela has defaulted on its debt after it failed to make payments due on some of its bonds. The agency said yesterday it was downgrading Venezuela’s sovereign debt grade to SD — short for “selective default.” Previously it had Venezuela in junk bond status.