World briefs

CHINA The wife of a Taiwanese human rights activist jailed in China vowed yesterday to keep fighting for his release after Beijing allowed her to visit him in prison.

MALAYSIA’s Parliament yesterday approved redrawn electoral boundaries despite protests that the ruling coalition was cheating to ensure victory in the upcoming general election.

MYANMAR’s parliament yesterday elected as the country’s new president (center) a longtime loyalist of Aung San Suu Kyi who is expected to carry on his predecessor’s practice of deferring to her as her nation’s de facto leader.

NEW ZEALAND is facing criticism for not expelling any Russian diplomats or spies. Many of its allies are doing so in solidarity with Britain after its government blamed Russia for attacking a former spy with nerve agent.

JAPAN Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said yesterday he is worried that North Korean security threats to Japan, including short- and medium-range missiles, may not be discussed at a U.S.-North Korea summit.

PAKISTAN Officials say 13 people have died in two incidents — a landslide in a northern region and a roof collapse at a warehouse in the south.

RUSSIA Flags flew at half-staff across Russia yesterday as the country mourned 64 victims — many of them children — of a shopping mall fire in Siberia.

GREECE Authorities say they are searching for a group of migrants who made an emergency call saying they were in danger while crossing a river marking the border between Greece and Turkey.

CROATIA said yesterday it will purchase upgraded Israeli F-16 fighter aircraft as it seeks to bolster its defenses amid Russia’s arming of neighboring Serbia.

GERMANY Police have searched the homes of 10 people suspected of providing support to a far-right extremist group. Officers seized weapons, computer storage devices and Nazi propaganda material in the raids in the states of Saxony, Lower Saxony and Bavaria. No arrests were made.

BRAZIL Gunshots hit two buses in a caravan for former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s campaign tour in southern Brazil, officials in his Worker’s Party said. No one was hurt.

ECUADOR Two journalists working with an Ecuadorean newspaper were kidnapped near the country’s conflictive border with Colombia.