World briefs

NORTH KOREA Leader Kim Jong Un used an illegally obtained Brazilian passport to apply for visas to western countries in the 1990s, according to European security services sources quoted by Reuters.

THAILAND A Belarusian woman jailed in Thailand for offering sex lessons without a work permit says she has a story to tell involving the Kremlin, Russian billionaires and even the president of the United States. More on p13

INDONESIA A radical Islamic cleric who was the spiritual leader of the Bali bombers and a force behind a jihadist training camp raided in 2010 has been transferred from prison to a Jakarta hospital.

BANGLADESH-MYANMAR A senior official in Bangladesh’s border agency has accused Myanmar of deploying additional forces across its border near a no man’s land where thousands of Rohingya Muslim refugees are living in tents.

RUSSIA President Vladimir Putin yesterday boasted of new nuclear weapons and set a series of ambitious goals for Russia, vowing to boost living standards, improve health care and education and build modern infrastructure in a state-of-the-nation address.

SYRIA The five-hour daily pauses in fighting in Syria’s embattled eastern suburbs of the capital Damascus laid out under a “unilateral” plan by Russia are not enough to take in aid or evacuate civilians, a top U.N. aid official said yesterday.

MACEDONIA In a goodwill gesture to neighboring Greece, Macedonia has removed a prominent statue of the ancient Greek warrior-king Alexander the Great from its main airport terminal.

BRITAIN-EU European Council President Donald Tusk (pictured) says he hopes to hear suggestions from British Prime Minister Theresa May on how to keep the Irish border open following Brexit, after she rejected the EU’s proposal.

US Police in the town where a Georgia teacher is accused of firing a gunshot in a high school classroom say they encountered him twice before exhibiting odd behavior.