World briefs

MALAYSIA Two Muslim women convicted under Islamic laws of attempting to have sex were caned yesterday in a rare public whipping that was slammed by lawmakers and rights activists as a form of torture.

MYANMAR A court sentenced two Reuters journalists to seven years in prison yesterday on charges of illegal possession of official documents – a ruling met with international condemnation.

YEMEN An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Yemen’s Iran-aligned Houthi rebels in Yemen that killed dozens of people last month is an “apparent war crime,” an international rights group said.

UGANDA Authorities have charged a fifth lawmaker with treason over his alleged role in an incident in which the president’s motorcade was pelted with stones.

ISRAEL Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu extended a warm welcome to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte yesterday at the start of an official visit, despite being criticized for embracing a leader accused of human rights abuses.

EGYPT said that archeologists have unearthed one of the oldest villages ever found in the Nile Delta, with remains dating back to before the pharaohs.

LIBYA Some 400 prisoners escaped from a jail in the Libyan capital, authorities said, as recent fighting between rival militias compelled the U.N.-backed government to declare a state of emergency in and around Tripoli.

EU The European Union’s top diplomat said that the world is going through a time of chaos and that the 28-nation bloc must work more closely with international partners as the multilateral system comes under threat.

GERMANY’s government yesterday urged those aggrieved by the suspected killing of a man by migrants in Chemnitz to distance themselves from far-right extremists who have participated in violent, xenophobic protest marches in the eastern city over the past week.

NETHERLANDS The counter-terror chief says the country’s threat level will remain at four on a scale that tops out at five following a double stabbing at the city’s main railway station that officials say had a “terrorist motive.”

ARGENTINA’s President Mauricio Macri announced new taxes on exports and the elimination of several ministries yesterday in a bid to halt economic turmoil that has sent the peso to record lows.