World briefs

TAIWAN will look to its domestic arms industry as well as foreign suppliers to respond to China’s continuing military buildup, but has no interest in engaging in an arms race with its cross-strait rival, the defense ministry said yesterday. 

CAMBODIA Prime Minister Hun Sen rejected a request from opposition leader Sam Rainsy for talks about the country’s political problems, denigrating his archrival as a traitor and a convict.

JAPAN A volcano in southern Japan had its biggest eruption in years yesterday, shooting smoke and ash thousands of meters into the sky and grounding dozens of flights.

EAST TIMOR-AUSTRALIA Australia and East Timor will sign a treaty that draws the first-ever maritime border between the neighbors, resolving years of bitter wrangling with a deal that carves up billions of dollars of oil and gas riches that lie beneath the Timor Sea. 

SRI LANKA’s president declared a state of emergency yesterday amid fears that anti-Muslim attacks in several central hill towns could spread. 

SYRIA A Russian military cargo plane crashed as it was descending to land at an air base in Syria yesterday, killing all 32 people onboard, the Russian Defense Ministry said.

ISRAEL-IRAN Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Iran is responsible for “darkness descending” on the Middle East by building an anti-Israel empire.

NIGERIA Police say a suicide bomber riding a bicycle with explosive devices strapped to his body killed three people when he detonated himself in a crowded suburb of Nigeria’s northeast city of Maiduguri.

ROMANIA A top Romanian court has struck down legislation that would have allowed lawmakers and other public officials to own businesses.

ITALY The former Italian premier, Matteo Renzi (pictured), has challenged members of his defeated Democrats to publicly declare if they’ll support the 5-Star Movement, throwing down the gauntlet as he tries to prevent his party from fracturing and backing its political nemesis.

MEXICO A group of influential Mexican intellectuals and writers penned an open letter to President Enrique Pena Nieto, asking him to either bring charges or drop what is widely seen as a politicized investigation of an opposition presidential candidate.