World briefs

SOUTH CHINA SEA The Philippines said yesterday that it won’t get embroiled in a fresh spat between the U.S. and China involving Beijing’s protest of an American warship passing near a Chinese-controlled shoal also claimed by the Philippines.

MYANMAR A military tribunal has sentenced six soldiers to 10 years in prison with hard labor for killing three civilians in war-torn Kachin state, officials said Saturday, in a move welcomed by rights groups.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA An island volcano in Papua New Guinea erupted again yesterday, sending plumes of steam and ash into the air. Thousands of people have been evacuated from islands surrounding Kadovar Island off the South Pacific nation’s north coast since the volcano there began erupting this month.

CONGO Police used tear gas and gunfire to disperse thousands of anti-government demonstrators across the nation yesterday, leaving five people dead and injuring more than 33 who marched after church services calling for President Joseph Kabila to step down, the United Nations said.

AFGHANISTAN A Taliban assault on the Intercontinental Hotel in Afghanistan’s capital killed at least 18 people, including 14 foreigners, and pinned security forces down for more than 13 hours before the last attacker was killed yesterday, with the casualty toll expected to rise.

TURKEY-SYRIA Turkish troops and Syrian opposition forces attacked a Kurdish enclave in northern Syria yesterday in their bid to drive a U.S.-allied Kurdish militia from the region.

ROMANIA Tens of thousands of Romanians on Saturday protested against legislation passed by Parliament which critics say will make it harder to prosecute crime and high-level corruption.

CZECH REPUBLIC Officials say the death toll in a hotel fire in downtown Prague has increased to four after two of those injured died in a hospital.

HONDURAS Clashes have broken out in Honduras as demonstrators protesting President Juan Orlando Hernandez’s re-election blocked roads in several locations and police moved into to break up the barricades.

BRAZIL The government of Brazil’s southeastern state of Minas Gerais has decreed a state of emergency for its public health system due to an outbreak of yellow fever in 94 of its 853 cities.