World briefs

THAILAND The prime minister of Thailand’s military government, which took power in a coup in 2014, said yesterday the country will have elections by February next year, though he suggested the date is conditional on the political situation remaining calm.

CAMBODIA A court in Cambodia has ordered the seizure of the headquarters of the country’s former opposition party, which was dissolved last November after a ruling that it was involved in trying to overthrow the government.

PAPUA NEW GUINEA Severe damage to phone networks and roads from a powerful earthquake in Papua New Guinea was hindering efforts to assess the extent of the destruction yesterday, although officials in the remote central region feared dozens of people may have been injured or killed.

NEW ZEALAND Lawmakers from New Zealand’s main conservative party yesterday chose their first indigenous Maori leader as they regrouped after an election loss. 

SYRIA A brief, Russia-ordered “humanitarian pause” went into effect yesterday as Syrian and Russian forces set up a corridor to allow civilians to leave a rebel-held enclave near Damascus, but by the end of the five-hour pause, no civilians had crossed over from the embattled territory.

ISRAEL Jerusalem’s mayor yesterday suspended a plan to impose taxes on properties owned by Christian churches, backing away from a move that had enraged religious leaders and led to the closure of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre.

CZECH REPUBLIC A Czech court ordered the release of a Syrian Kurdish politician yesterday, angering Turkey, which had requested his extradition.

GERMANY The government is hoping to avoid bans on driving diesel cars in cities despite a court ruling that paves the way for such measures to improve air quality.

NIGERIA’s military says it has rescued more than 1,100 people, including women and children, who had been held by Boko Haram extremists in different parts of the Lake Chad region near Cameroon.

MEXICO A state assembly candidate in the southern Mexican state of Guerrero was killed just days after another office-seeker was shot to death in the same city, authorities reported.

BRAZIL Federal police believe a 2014 World Cup stadium in the city of Salvador was overpriced by more than USD130 million, and those funds were diverted to political campaigns.