World briefs

MALAYSIA Former Prime Minister Najib Razak pleaded not guilty yesterday to three new money-laundering charges related to the alleged multibillion-dollar looting of a state investment fund that led to his stunning electoral defeat three months ago.

PHILIPPINES Soldiers killed two bomb couriers at an army checkpoint yesterday before the suspected Muslim militants could detonate the explosives in a crowded area in the restive south, military officials said.

MYANMAR Hundreds of people yesterday commemorated the 30th anniversary of Myanmar’s 8888 uprising, a seminal and ultimately bloody episode in the Southeast Asian nation’s struggle for democracy.

JAPAN Okinawa Gov. Takeshi Onaga, who led an anti-U.S. military base movement on the southern Japanese island, has died at age 67, Japanese media said.

AUSTRALIA’s most populous state was declared entirely in drought yesterday and struggling farmers were given new authority to shoot kangaroos that compete with livestock for sparse pasture during the most intense dry spell in more than 50 years.

RUSSIA An activist from Russian punk collective Pussy Riot has led a protest outside the headquarters of the state penitentiary agency to protest torture and slave labor in Russian prisons.

SAUDIA ARABIA says it executed and crucified a man from Myanmar convicted of killing a woman and carrying out other crimes.

ITALY Premier Giuseppe Conte said yesterday his country is willing to consider a “more rigorous” stance toward Iran, adding that he recently asked U.S. President Donald Trump to share intelligence about Iran’s alleged nuclear program that has triggered fresh U.S. sanctions.

EUROPE Budget airline Ryanair said yesterday it is cancelling 400 of over 2,400 flights on Friday due to a strike by pilots in Ireland, Sweden, Belgium and Germany at the height of the vacation travel season.

BRAZIL One of the main border crossings between Brazil and Venezuela has reopened after a legal fight that kept it shuttered it for nearly a day.

PERU Authorities in Peru say at least nine people have died from food poisoning following a funeral ceremony.

VENEZUELA President Nicolas Maduro has accused two opposition legislators of having roles in the drone explosions that Venezuelan officials have called an assassination attempt against him, and at least one lawmaker is among those detained.