World briefs

SOUTH CHINA SEA Foreign Minister Saifuddin Abdullah said yesterday that Malaysia’s new government will adopt a firmer stand in tackling a decades-old territorial row in the South China Sea amid China’s aggressive expansion in the disputed area.

INDONESIA The government has asked a court to ban Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a militant network linked to the Islamic State group, hoping to strangle its funding and support.

AUSTRALIA An alleged serial killer yesterday pleaded not guilty to slaying three women who vanished from an Australian city nightclub strip more than 20 years ago and to sexually assaulting another two teenagers up to 30 years ago.

PAKISTAN A suicide bomber on a motorcycle rammed into people waiting outside a busy polling station in the Pakistani city of Quetta yesterday, killing at least 31 and casting a dark shadow on what was to be a historic day for the country as Pakistanis cast ballots to elect their thirds consecutive civilian government. 

IRAN’s President Hassan Rouhani has replaced the governor of the central bank as the country’s currency continues its downward spiral to record lows.

SYRIA A series of suicide bombings and attacks that sparked fighting between local armed groups in southern Syria killed around 90 people yesterday, spreading mayhem in a province that has been relatively quiet throughout Syria’s seven-year conflict.

SOUTH AFRICA’s trade minister has opened a summit of the BRICS emerging economies with a warning that the world’s trading system is enduring “enormous turbulence.”

SPAIN Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont said yesterday he will return to Belgium this weekend to resume efforts to drum up European support for Catalan self-determination after Spain’s bid to extradite him collapsed.

ITALY’s hard-line interior minister is dismissing as mere “charity” the proposal by the European Commission to pay EU member states 6,000 euros (USD7,000) to accept and process each migrant saved at sea.

NICARAGUA A Brazilian medical student and three other people have been killed amid unrest that has rocked this Central American nation for over three months, her university and a human rights group reported.

COLOMBIA Influential former President Alvaro Uribe said he would resign from his Senate seat after Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered him to testify on allegations of witness tampering.