World briefs

NORTH KOREA While raising hopes for denuclearization and a peace treaty to finally end the Korean War, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s newly found focus on diplomacy comes with an ironic flipside: It could be a godsend for his generals. 

PHILIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte threatened yesterday to resort to emergency powers and enforce them “to the hilt” to deal with relentless criticism over his human rights record, crimes and government wrongdoing. 

PAKISTAN A rights activist known for her criticism of Pakistan’s military was abducted and held for several hours in the eastern city of Lahore on her way to a TV studio where she was to appear as an on-air analyst, her family said yesterday.

IRAN-IRAQ Iran’s official news agency says gunmen shot and killed two Iranian border guards near the border with Iraq. It was not immediately clear who was behind the shooting.

JORDAN Professional associations in Jordan with about half a million members have staged a warning strike to press demands that the government scrap a planned tax increase.

YEMEN An international aid group is warning that escalation of fighting around Yemen’s port city of Hodeida threatens to cut off essential supplies to millions of people in the war-ravaged country.

SYRIA The dominant U.S-backed Syrian Kurdish party that controls large swaths of oil-rich territory in northeastern Syria is prepared to hold talks with the Damascus government over the future of the area, a senior Kurdish official said yesterday.

CROATIA Former football boss Zdravko Mamic was sentenced yesterday to 6 1/2 years in prison for embezzlement and tax evasion over deals that included the sale of Croatia World Cup stars Luka Modric and Dejan Lovren.

GERMANY Chancellor Angela Merkel says the government no longer sees a reason to hold back on deporting people to Afghanistan on security grounds.

SPAIN A female-dominated cabinet is taking shape as part of Spain’s new Socialist government, including a former astronaut as science minister and a European Union bureaucrat to oversee the country’s economy.

GUATEMALA Authorities are evaluating whether it’s safe to resume the search for survivors and the dead on the third day after a volcanic eruption devastated several small towns. 

VENEZUELA The Organization of American States narrowly adopted a resolution that could trigger a process for suspending Venezuela at a later date if enough votes are gathered.