World briefs

NORTH KOREA yesterday slammed President Donald Trump’s State of the Union address and said its nuclear capabilities would “deter Trump and his lackeys from showing off on the Korean peninsula.”

VIETNAM A court in southern Vietnam has sentenced a doctor to four years in prison for writing and posting dozens of articles on social media that the court said tarnished the image of the country’s leaders and instigated people to boycott local elections.

CAMBODIA’s Cabinet has endorsed an amendment to the criminal code making insulting the king (pictured) a criminal offense punishable by a fine and up to five years in prison.

INDONESIA Muslims in the conservative and semiautonomous Aceh province protested an investigation into local police who rounded up and publicly humiliated transgender women.

RUSSIA Heavy snow and freezing rain have knocked down thousands of trees in the Russian capital and one person is reported to have been killed.

SYRIA Turkey said eight of its troops were killed Saturday in Ankara’s military operation against a Syrian Kurdish militia, the deadliest day in the two-week-old offensive in the enclave of Afrin, while in another part of Syria, al-Qaida-linked militants downed a Russian fighter jet, then shot and killed the pilot.

An elderly man votes during the presidential elections in south coastal city of Limassol, Cyprus, on Sunday, Feb. 4, 2018. Cypriots will vote in the second round for the new president with critical topics including the reunification of the divided island and economic recovery. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)

CYPRUS Voters in Cyprus were choosing between a conservative incumbent and a left-leaning independent in a presidential runoff yesterday, hoping the winner can overcome skepticism about a deal to reunite the ethnically divided island nation.

ITALY The extreme right-wing suspect in a shooting rampage that wounded six African migrants in Italy has demonstrated no remorse for his actions and was “lucid and determined, aware of what he had done,” an Italian law enforcement official said yesterday. 

BRAZIL President Michel Temer has said he hopes the country can eliminate a flagship social program that has lifted millions of families out of poverty in the last decade.

ECUADOR President Lenin Moreno launched into a sermon on the weekend about why no political leader should be allowed to remain in office for years on end, urging voters to pass a referendum that would prohibit leaders from being re-elected more than once.