World briefs

NORTH KOREA leader Kim Jong Un’s sister, an increasingly prominent figure in the country’s leadership, will be part of the North’s delegation to the South Korean Winter Olympics, officials said yesterday. More on p12, 13, 19

PHILIPPINES Drugmaker Sanofi insists there’s no evidence of a link between the world’s first dengue vaccine and children’s deaths in the Philippines.

INDONESIA A male orangutan on the Indonesian portion of Borneo died after being shot at least 130 times with an air gun and apparently being stabbed and clubbed, in the second known killing of a critically endangered orangutan this year.

PAKISTAN-AFGHANISTAN Afghanistan’s former president lashed out at both the United States and Pakistan yesterday, accusing them of using the Afghan war to further their own interests.

SOUTH AFRICA President Jacob Zuma’s (left) exit from power because of scandals appeared to be getting closer yesterday as his deputy, who is expected to replace him, said he anticipated a “speedy resolution” to transition talks he is holding with the president.

KENYA’s government said yesterday it had deported a politician arrested for witnessing the mock inauguration of opposition leader Raila Odinga as the “people’s president,” an event it calls treason.

IRAQ-SYRIA French foreign minister Jean-Yves le Drian says some 100 French citizens who fought with the Islamic State group before being arrested in Syria or Iraq will be judged by local authorities.

ISRAEL-LEBANON Lebanon’s top security body has instructed the country’s military to confront any Israeli “aggression” on its land or maritime borders. The instruction comes amid escalating tensions between the two neighbors, who are technically at war.

GERMANY Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservatives and Germany’s main center-left party reached a deal yesterday to form a new coalition government after a final session of talks that dragged on for 24 hours. 

EU The European Parliament voted yesterday to dismiss one of its vice presidents, Ryszard Czarnecki of Poland, after he compared a rival Polish parliament member to a Nazi collaborator.

BRAZIL Police and military forces have arrested 23 people in a series of raids two days into violence-plagued parts of Rio de Janeiro two days before the city’s famed Carnival celebrations.

VENEZUELA Negotiations between the government and opposition were hanging by a thread after they failed to reach an agreement on a formula for upcoming presidential elections.