World briefs

INDONESIA The eruption of Indonesia’s Mount Sinabung that shot ash 5 kilometers high also blew away much of the mountain’s summit. Before and after images from Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation show an enormous chunk missing from the peak, which it called “completely annihilated.” 

THAILAND A court yesterday granted legal custody of 13 babies carried by surrogate mothers to a secretive Japanese millionaire who is their biological father, reviving a bizarre tale that captured tabloid headlines four years ago, but leaving some basic questions unanswered. 

PHILIPPINES Islamic State group-linked militants planned but failed to attack another southern Philippine city shortly after troops crushed their siege of Marawi last year, the leader of the country’s largest Muslim rebel group said yesterday.

MYANMAR Rights groups are urging authorities in Myanmar to investigate and release information about two ethnic Kachin civilians believed to be held by soldiers in the country’s north, where fighting has raged between government forces and armed Kachin rebels.

INDIA’s federal investigating agency said yesterday it has arrested six people in an alleged USD1.8 billion bank fraud case that continued for six years.

TURKEY-SYRIA Pro-government Syrian fighters begin entering Kurdish enclave of Afrin despite threats from Turkey saying it would hit back at the troops if their goal is to protect the Kurdish fighters. 

EGYPT A court yesterday added a detained Islamist politician to a list of wanted “terrorists” over his alleged links to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.

SERBIA Eight foreign citizens, including two Americans and two Ukrainians, have been arrested in Serbia on suspicion that they tried to photograph and enter military facilities without authorization, officials said.

GERMANY Members of Germany’s center-left Social Democratic Party have started voting on whether to accept the coalition agreement negotiated by their leaders with Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative bloc on forming a new government.

BRAZIL Leaders said that the use of the military to combat rising violence in Rio de Janeiro could serve as a model for other violent areas of Brazil. The armed forces officially took over Rio’s police on Friday under a decree signed by President Michel Temer.

VENEZUELA has become the first country to launch its own version of bitcoin, a move it hopes will provide a much-needed boost to its credit-stricken economy.