World briefs

CAMBODIA Authorities reacted with scorn yesterday to an announcement by the United States that it has blacklisted an important senior army officer over human rights abuses, blocking his access to any assets in the U.S.

INDONESIA A rescue official says a boat overloaded with people heading home to celebrate the end of Ramadan has capsized off Indonesia’s Sulawesi island, killing at least 13 people.

MALDIVES A court yesterday sentenced a former strongman accused of plotting to overthrow the government to 19 months in prison for failing to cooperate with the police investigation.

INDIA-PAKISTAN Indian and Pakistani forces traded fire along the highly militarized frontier in disputed Kashmir early yesterday after Pakistani firing killed at least four Indian paramilitary soldiers and injured three others on border patrol, Indian officials said.

IRAN A female Indian chess player said yesterday she has decided to not participate in an Asian championship being held in Iran next month because she could not comply with an Iranian rule requiring women participants to wear a headscarf.

YEMEN The Saudi-led coalition backing Yemen’s exiled government began an assault yesterday on the port city of Hodeida, the main entry point for food in a country already teetering on the brink of famine. 

GERMANY-DENMARK More than 150 German and Danish police officers searched a dozen apartments and offices yesterday in a joint cross-border raid on an illegal human trafficking network that focused on arranging hundreds of sham marriages.

FRANCE A judicial official says the suspect in a hostage-taking in central Paris has been transferred overnight to a psychiatric unit.

SPAIN Judicial authorities yesterday told the brother-in-law of Spain’s King Felipe VI that he must report to a prison within five days in order to serve five years and 10 months for fraud and tax evasion, among other crimes.

PORTUGAL Authorities in Portugal say that a British and an Australian tourist plunged to their deaths in a coastal town while reportedly taking selfies from a wall overlooking the beach.

US Dozens of Tennessee farmers have urged the state’s U.S. House delegation to oppose President Donald Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs, saying they worry the fallout will cripple the rural state’s agriculture.