World briefs

CHINA Federal authorities say a Delaware man snapped a selfie while posing next to a statue known as “The Cavalryman,” from the “Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor” exhibit before snapping off the USD4.5-million statue’s left thumb.

CHINA A weekend fire at the sprawling Jokhang monastery in Tibet did not affect the main chapel at the 1,300-year-old religious site, considered the spiritual heart of Tibetan Buddhism, the self-declared Tibetan government-in-exile said yesterday.

PHILIPPINES Police and army troops have arrested an Arab man they believe was a former commander of the Islamic State group along the Syria and Turkey border in a raid on a Manila apartment, where they found bomb-making materials and an IS-style flag, the national police chief said yesterday.

INDONESIA Four farmers and a 13-year-old boy admitted they stabbed, clubbed and shot a critically endangered orangutan at least 130 times with an air gun to protect their pineapple crop, police said yesterday.

TURKEY threatened yesterday to hit back at Syrian pro-government troops if they deploy in an enclave in northern Syria to protect a Kurdish militia that Ankara is battling there.

ETHIOPIA’s defense minister on Saturday ruled out a military takeover a day after the East African nation declared a new state of emergency amid the worst anti-government protests in a quarter-century.

NIGERIA Pope Francis backed down yesterday and accepted the resignation of Nigerian bishop who had been rejected for years by the priests of his diocese, setting a precedent that could have repercussions in Chile and elsewhere when papal authority is challenged.

SOUTH AFRICA Authorities are escalating an anti-corruption drive against a business family linked to former president Jacob Zuma, saying they could seek Interpol’s help to track suspects believed to be out of the country.

MEXICO’s federal Attorney General’s Office says two bodies found in a car have been confirmed to be those of two prosecution agents kidnapped Feb. 5 and forced to appear on a video by a drug gang.