World briefs

PHILIPPINES Twenty-two inmates, many of them accused of illegal drug-related offenses, have escaped from a Philippine city jail south of Manila, with only three being immediately recaptured.

JAPAN A tropical storm in Japan disrupted transportation and knocked out power to thousands of homes in its path as it headed west toward a region still recovering from devastating rains earlier this month. 

AUSTRALIA Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull was dealt a blow by Australian voters in by-elections held over the weekend that boosted the main opposition Labor Party. 

INDIA Police say a huge tin shed with a large number of people perched on its roof watching a tractor race collapsed under their weight in western India, injuring at least 70 of them.

RUSSIA Tens of thousands of demonstrators have rallied throughout Russia to protest plans to substantially hike the age at which Russian men and women can receive their state retirement pensions. 

YEMEN Officials and witnesses say heavy fighting between pro-government forces and Shiite rebels along the country’s west coast in recent days has left dozens of dead from both sides.

EGYPT’s president expressed his displeasure over recent online postings urging him to step down because of how he is handling the country’s troubled economy, saying he is “upset” over the posts.

ZIMBABWE In a surprise address to the nation after months of silence, Zimbabwe’s former leader Robert Mugabe emerged just hours before today’s historic election declaring that “I will not vote for those who have illegally taken power” and turning his back on the ruling party he long controlled.

SERBIA Lawyers announced yesterday they will go on strike for a week to protest the killing of a prominent attorney who had been on the defense team of former strongman Slobodan Milosevic at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal.

BRAZIL Some of Brazil’s most popular musicians called for jailed former president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to be freed in a concert Saturday in Rio de Janeiro attended by tens of thousands of people.

U.S. Two armed individuals walked up to a crowd gathered outside a strip mall in New Orleans and opened fire, killing three people and wounding seven more.