World Briefs

PHLIPPINES President Rodrigo Duterte is opposing an offer by the U.S. defense chief and other top American officials to buy F-16 fighter jets, saying such an acquisition would be “utterly useless” because his country needs lighter combat aircraft to fight insurgents.

CAMBODIA A former opposition lawmaker who has been a strong critic of the government’s handling of demarcating the border with neighboring Vietnam has been pardoned by the country’s king.

AUSTRALIA’s new prime minister announced a peace-making Cabinet yesterday that does not punish his rivals in a bruising power struggle that ousted his predecessor days ago.

RUSSIA Opposition leader Alexei Navalny was detained outside his home in Moscow ahead of planned nationwide anti-government protest rallies, and his spokeswoman said he was later taken to a hospital with a suspected broken finger.

IRAN’s defense minister said yesterday his country will continue its support of the Syrian government to ensure improved security in the region, adding that the nature of the two countries cooperation won’t be decided by a “third party.”

ZIMBABWE’s top court has upheld the narrow and disputed election victory by President Emmerson Mnangagwa, clearing the way for his inauguration as the country remained deeply divided in the post-Robert Mugabe era.

TURKEY Authorities have banned a protest vigil marking the forced disappearances of hundreds of people in the country’s southeast decades ago.

BULGARIA Five people still have life-threatening injuries yesterday, a day after their tourist bus flipped over on a Bulgarian highway, killing at least 16 people and leaving 18 injured, authorities said.

SPAIN The family of the late Spanish dictator Francisco Franco will take charge of his remains after Spain’s government has them exhumed from a mausoleum, his relatives said.

BRITAIN Coastguards are searching for two missing fishermen in the North Sea after three others from their capsized boat were rescued by a passing cruise ship.

VENEZUELA Thousands of Venezuelans fleeing their nation’s economic and humanitarian crisis rushed to reach Peru on Friday before stiffer new rules go into effect that will make entering the fellow South American nation more difficult.

ARGENTINA Authorities carried out raids at homes owned by former President Cristina Fernandez as part of a case investigating widespread corruption.