World briefs

PHILIPPINES State soldiers have captured a Spanish man they said was carrying grenades and bomb parts and is believed to be a supporter of Islamic State group-linked Abu Sayyaf militants on southern Basilan island.

JAPAN-N. KOREA Japan’s Foreign Ministry says a Japanese navy surveillance aircraft has spotted a Dominican-flagged oil tanker apparently transferring fuel to a North Korean tanker in the open seas.

INDONESIA Campaigners are calling for the closure of Indonesian animal markets touted as tourist attractions where dogs are bludgeoned by the thousands and blow-torched alive.

THE PACIFIC Leaders of countries in a Pacific Rim trade pact rejected by President Donald Trump are welcoming progress on a final agreement to press ahead without the U.S., saying it shows a resolve against protectionism.

PAKISTAN Two missiles fired from a U.S. drone struck a home near Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan, killing two militants from the Haqqani network, officials in Islamabad said yesterday.

ISRAEL U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told Israeli lawmakers that the U.S. would put plans to move its embassy to Jerusalem on a fast track, drawing angry denunciations from Arabs.

AFGHANISTAN Militants stormed the offices of Save the Children in eastern Afghanistan yesterday, killing two security guards and a civilian, and triggering a shootout with police that was still underway more than eight hours later, provincial officials and the organization said.

LIBYA The death toll from a nighttime twin car bombing near a mosque in a residential area of Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi rose to 33 yesterday, authorities said.

ROMANIA The European Union is warning Romania about reneging on its commitment to fight corruption and wants the country’s parliament to rethink its approach to new justice laws.

GERMANY The German government fired back yesterday at critics of its arms export policies, insisting that it takes great care not to approve the sale of weapons to countries that abuse human rights.

BRAZIL A day before a panel of judges could decide his political survival, former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva proclaimed to tens of thousands of supporters that he would stay in Brazilian politics to the end of his life.

VENEZUELA President Nicolas Maduro said he is ready to seek re-election after his allies pushed forward voting in a move widely seen as a bid to capitalize on disarray in the Venezuelan opposition and consolidate power amid a freefalling economy.