World briefs

CHINA A prominent Chinese human rights lawyer died under mysterious circumstances in an eastern Jiangsu province military hospital yesterday, his close friend said, raising questions about the welfare of those who have defied the country’s authorities.

EU-CAMBODIA The European Union is weighing whether to impose sanctions on senior officials in Cambodia over the erosion of democracy and a crackdown on the opposition and media there. They said they “may consider specific targeted measures if the situation does not improve.”

KOREA South Korea’s president said yesterday that the United States should lower the threshold for talks with North Korea and that the two countries should start a dialogue soon.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA A powerful earthquake rattled forest villages and a large gold mine in central Papua New Guinea yesterday, and the government sent officers to the region to assess unverified reports of fatalities and check the extent of the damage.

IRAN The UN Security Council is expected to vote on a British-drafted that will condemn Iran for violating a U.N. arms embargo by providing missiles and drones to Shiite rebels in Yemen.

EGYPT Human Rights Watch sharply criticized Egyptian authorities yesterday for a series of “arbitrary” arrests of political opponents of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi ahead of next month’s presidential election, which the watchdog considers “unfair.”

ITALY is facing one of its worst epidemics of measles in recent years, reporting a six-fold increase in cases last year that accounted for a quarter of all the cases in Europe.

BRITAIN’s main opposition party said yesterday that it wants the U.K. to remain in a customs union with the European Union after it leaves the bloc — a small but significant shift that could push the government toward a softer version of Brexit.

US The death toll has risen to at least five after severe thunderstorms swept through the central U.S., spawning a tornado that flattened homes, gale force winds and widespread flooding from the Upper Midwest to Appalachia.

MEXICO’s National Human Rights Commission has issued a warning over what it calls “the possible collapse of the system for protecting refugees” in the country.