World briefs

VIETNAM Flooding triggered by a tropical storm has killed at least 20 people and left over a dozen missing in northern Vietnam, local media reports said.

INDONESIA Activists yesterday criticized a six-month prison sentence given to a 15-year-old Indonesian girl who had an abortion after being repeatedly raped by her brother.

PHILIPPINES A leadership row erupted in the Philippine House of Representatives on live TV yesterday, delaying President Rodrigo Duterte’s delivery of his annual state of the nation address and passage of crucial Muslim autonomy legislation aimed at ending one of Asia’s longest Muslim rebellions. 

SOUTH KOREA A prominent liberal South Korean politician embroiled in a corruption scandal was found dead yesterday, police said, in what appeared to be one of the country’s highest-profile suicides in recent years. 

AFGHANISTAN Gunmen opened fire on worshippers inside a mosque in eastern Nangarhar province, killing four people, according to a provincial official.

LEBANON’s army says eight people have been killed and 41 others arrested in a raid in Brital, in eastern Lebanon, to arrest a well-known drug dealer.

ALBANIA Prosecutors say they have seized property from the country’s former prosecutor general due to suspicions of corruption.

FRANCE’s interior minister has insisted that it wasn’t for him to inform judicial officials of violence by a presidential security aide against a May Day protester even though he was informed the following day.

CANADA A man walked along a Toronto street firing a handgun into restaurants and cafes, shooting 14 people and killing two before dying after an exchange of gunfire with police.

BRAZIL Far-right congressman Jair Bolsonaro formally announced his candidacy for Brazil’s presidential election, joining a race in which he is currently polling second after jailed ex-President Luis Inacio Lula da Silva, who will likely be barred from running.