World briefs

SOUTH CHINA SEA The Philippine foreign secretary said yesterday that China has been notified of “red lines” in the South China Sea, including construction activities at a disputed shoal and extraction of oil and gas in the long-contested waters.

MALAYSIA New Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad said yesterday that a planned high-speed railway that would cut travel time between Kuala Lumpur and Singapore to just 90 minutes will be axed because it isn’t beneficial. 

YEMAN-OMAN The death toll from Cyclone Mekunu that hit Oman and Yemen over the weekend rose to at least 13 yesterday, authorities said, as relief workers and aid arrived to hard-hit areas in the two Arabian Peninsula countries.

AUSTRALIA The government announced yesterday that the Senate will vote in June on cutting corporate tax rates after an opinion poll suggested the contentious reform had popular public support.

SYRIA A state-run newspaper said that the government will keep fighting “terrorists” despite U.S. warnings against a new offensive against rebels in southern Daraa province.

NATO-RUSSIA Poland’s prime minister yesterday called a planned Russian gas pipeline, Nord Stream 2, a “new hybrid weapon” and says Moscow wants to use it to undermine NATO and the European Union.

SPAIN Lawmakers agreed yesterday to subject Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to a vote of no confidence this week in the wake of graft convictions of businesspeople and officials tied to his conservative Popular Party.

PORTUGAL After legalizing abortion and same-sex marriage in recent times, lawmakers will decide today on another issue that has brought a confrontation between faith and politics in this predominantly Catholic country: whether to allow euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide. 

COLOMBIA’s presidential election is heading into a divisive runoff between two ideological opposites as the conservative first-place finisher in Sunday’s voting took a hard line against the country’s peace deal while his rival pledged to champion the poor and excluded.

BRAZIL President Michel Temer announced a handful of measures aimed at getting truckers to end a crippling strike that has had a wide impact in Latin America’s largest nation.