World briefs

MALAYSIA’s government said yesterday it will pay U.S. company Ocean Infinity up to USD70 million if it can find the wreckage or black boxes of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 within three months, in a renewed bid to solve the plane’s disappearance nearly four years ago. 

MYANMAR’s military acknowledged yesterday that its security forces and Buddhist villagers killed 10 Rohingya Muslims whose bodies were found in a mass grave in a village in troubled Rakhine state.

THAILAND’s foreign minister admitted that former Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, who fled the country last year to evade a prison sentence, is in Britain after photos surfaced online apparently showing Yingluck in London.

PAKISTAN A mob angered over the recent rape and murder of an 8-year-old girl attacked a police station and a nearby government building in eastern Punjab province yesterday, triggering clashes that left at least two people dead and several injured.

SRI LANKA Lawmakers exchanged blows in Parliament yesterday during a debate over alleged corruption in a bond issue that has marred the reputation of a government elected on a platform of good governance.

ISRAEL’s embattled Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is facing a new scandal after a recording emerged of his 26-year-old stay-at-home son joyriding at taxpayer expense to Tel Aviv strip clubs and bragging about how his father pushed through a controversial gas deal.

RUSSIA A new U.S. report by Senate Democrats warns of deepening Russian interference throughout Europe and concludes that even as some Western democracies have responded with aggressive countermeasures, President Donald Trump has offered no strategic plan to bolster their efforts.

GREECE Anti-austerity protesters in Greece have reached the entrance of the prime minister’s official residence, as demonstrations intensify against a new austerity bill due to be voted in parliament next week.

BRITAIN-GERMANY Two senior British officials urged Germany yesterday to support a post-Brexit deal that protects the important financial services sector and doesn’t hamper trade with unnecessary red tape.

PANAMA Thousands of people have turned out in Panama City to protest corruption on the anniversary of a 1964 demonstration that sparked the movement for wresting control of the Panama Canal from the United States.