World briefs

US-VIETNAM A U.S. Navy aircraft carrier is expected to make a port visit to Vietnam in March, U.S. Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said yesterday. It would be the first such visit in the postwar era. More on p13

MALAYSIA’s central bank yesterday raised its key interest rate for the first time in four years ahead of general elections due by August.

PHILIPPINES A volcano that’s been erupting for almost two weeks in the Philippines still appears to be swelling with magma under the surface, scientists said yesterday.

PAKISTAN Officials said yesterday they are investigating whether a suspect arrested in the slaying of eight girls was linked to an international child-porn ring.

US-IRAN U.S. House Speaker Paul Ryan came to the United Arab Emirates yesterday promising to take a harder line on Iran’s ballistic missile program and its regional proxies, and saying he was open to imposing new economic sanctions.

TURKEY’s president has vowed to expand Ankara’s operation against Kurdish forces in northern Syria beyond the enclave of Afrin and toward the town of Manbij.

EGYPT’s Foreign Ministry has expressed its “absolute rejection” of a statement by U.S. Sen. John McCain criticizing the country’s crackdown on human rights and democracy under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi.

ITALY A commuter train derailed yesterday in northern Italy, killing at least three people, seriously injuring 10 and trapping others heading into Milan at the start of the workday, officials said.

FRANCE’s Interior Ministry says it has seen a sharp rise in the number of lawsuits filed for sexual crimes at the end of last year, in the wake of the scandal surrounding Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein.

JAMAICA A man accused of trying to sell more than 25 pounds of marijuana in New Jersey has been captured in Jamaica after more than 13 years on the run.

BRAZIL Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva is charging ahead with his plans to run for Brazil’s presidency again, even after an appeals court unanimously upheld a graft conviction against him and added years to his prison sentence.