World briefs

INDONESIA Deaths from drinking toxic bootleg alcohol in Indonesia have surpassed 100 this month, police said yesterday as they vowed a “scorched earth” crackdown on the makers and distributors of black-market liquor. 

CAMBODIA yesterday deported nearly 100 Chinese citizens accused of defrauding people in China in an internet scam, a senior Cambodian Interior Ministry official said. 

THAILAND Police in Thailand have filed new charges against a self-described Russian sex guru and a woman (pictured) who claims to have evidence of Russian ties to President Donald Trump’s election campaign.

NORTH KOREA’s parliament was scheduled to convene yesterday amid a series of diplomatic moves by leader Kim Jong Un that could have a major impact on the direction the country takes in the months and possibly years ahead. 

INDIA At least four men were killed in Kashmir when government forces fired on anti-India protesters who thronged a village where soldiers battled a group of militants, officials said yesterday. One soldier was also killed.

AZERBAIJAN Voters in the oil-rich Caspian Sea nation of Azerbaijan cast ballots yesterday in an early presidential election that is all but certain to extend the rule of the country’s long-serving leader by another seven years.

ALGERIA A military plane carrying soldiers and their families crashed soon after takeoff yesterday into a field in northern Algeria, killing 257. 

POLAND has intervened to prevent an author accused of anti-Semitism from receiving an award at a Polish diplomatic outpost in the United States.

SERBIA A United Nations war crimes court yesterday sentenced a Serbian ultranationalist to ten years in prison, partially overturning his acquittal over crimes against humanity and other charges dating to the Balkan wars in the 1990s.

SWITZERLAND Authorities in Switzerland and Italy were searching yesterday for a German billionaire who has been missing in the Alps since the weekend.

PANAMA-VENEZUELA Panama has prohibited Venezuelan companies from operating flights to Panama, in retaliation for Venezuela’s diplomatic and trade bans announced last week.

BRAZIL Gunmen attacked a prison in northern Brazil trying to stage a mass escape of inmates, setting off a gunbattle with police that killed 20 people and injured at least four, authorities said.