World briefs

PAKISTAN A gunman opened fire on the country’s interior minister after a public meeting in his constituency yesterday, wounding him in the shoulder, officials said.

PHILIPPINES The military said Saturday it is checking intelligence reports that a Middle East-educated commander of the Abu Sayyaf extremist group has died after being wounded in an artillery strike in the south.

THAILAND Pro-democracy activists protesting in the Thai capital say that they will march on the country’s seat of power later this month to demand that an election be held this year. The planned date — May 22 — will be the fourth anniversary of the bloodless coup that overthrew the elected government

MALAYSIA  Opposition icon Anwar Ibrahim can’t vote in what he believes will be a “defining election” for his country on Wednesday but even from his prison cell has remained a political force to be reckoned with. 

UAE Human Rights Watch has asked Dubai’s ruling sheikh to reveal the whereabouts of his daughter after a French ex-spy and others say she fled the emirate, only to be arrested off the coast of India.

ISRAEL-IRAN Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu yesterday stepped up his calls to end the Iranian nuclear deal as President Donald Trump weighs whether to withdraw the United States from the 2015 agreement.

AFGHANISTAN A bomb blast inside a mosque in eastern Afghanistan that was being used as a voter registration center killed at least 14 people and wounded 33, officials said. 

GERMANY High school students in Germany have gathered tens of thousands of signatures in an online petition to complain about an “unfair” final English exam, saying the test was much harder than in previous years.

FRANCE President Emmanuel Macron acknowledged the “pain of colonization” Saturday during a visit to New Caledonia that was rich with symbolism and emotion as the South Pacific archipelago prepares to vote on whether to break free of French rule.

ARGENTINA’s peso has rebounded following the government’s decision to boost the reference interest rate to 40 percent.

COLOMBIA’s government and its last major rebel movement have agreed to continue peace talks in Cuba after Ecuador last month withdrew as host for the negotiations.