World briefs

SOUTH CHINA SEA The Philippine government has quietly protested after Chinese ships deployed a helicopter that flew “dangerously close” to a Philippine navy boat carrying supplies to Filipino marines based in a disputed shoal in the South China Sea.

PHILIPPINES The ousted Philippine chief justice yesterday appealed for the reversal of her unprecedented expulsion by fellow Supreme Court judges and warned it could lead to the destruction of judicial independence.

INDIA and INDONESIA agreed yesterday to upgrade bilateral relations by signing more than a dozen agreements on a broad range of areas including defense, maritime affairs, trade and investment.

YEMEN Pro-government forces are planning an all-out assault on the Red Sea port of Hodeida, a lifeline for aid to the war-ravaged country, a military commander said yesterday.

RUSSIA Journalist Arkady Babchenko turned up at a news conference in the Ukrainian capital yesterday less than 24 hours after police reported he had been shot and killed at his Kiev apartment building. The country’s security services said Babchenko’s death was faked to foil a plot to take his life.

CYPRUS A spokeswoman for the United Nations’ refugee agency says the bodies of nine Syrian migrants who drowned off Cyprus’ northern coast have been buried in the breakaway north of the ethnically divided island.

SPAIN Catalan President Quim Torra has appointed a Cabinet composed of members not being investigated in a judicial probe into last year’s independence bid, paving the way for an end to the seven-month vacuum in the regional government.

PORTUGAL Lawmakers have narrowly rejected a proposal to make Portugal one of only a handful of countries in the world allowing euthanasia and doctor-assisted suicide.

MEXICO The governor of Mexico’s Jalisco state says the cartel of the same name has hired ex-soldiers from Colombia to train recruits. The Jalisco New Generation cartel is one of Mexico’s most violent drug gangs, directly attacking police and army troops.