World Briefs

PHILIPPINES An Australian nun who angered the Philippine president by joining anti-government protests used her final hours in the country to call on Filipinos to unite and fight human rights abuses.

INDONESIA Thousands of conservative Muslims protested in the Indonesian capital about the burning of an Islamic flag, sparking criticism from the government’s top security minister that the country was in mourning after a plane crash and back-to-back natural disasters.

PAKISTAN The husband of a Christian woman acquitted eight years after being sentenced to death for blasphemy, but not released after countrywide protests, appealed yesterday to U.S. President Donald Trump and British Prime Minister Theresa May to help the family leave Pakistan. 

US-IRAN The Trump administration has restored U.S. sanctions on Iran that had been lifted under the 2015 nuclear deal, but carved out exemptions for eight countries that can still import oil from the Islamic Republic without penalty.

BAHRAIN A Shiite cleric who was a central figure in Bahrain’s 2011 Arab Spring protests was sentenced to life in prison yesterday on spying charges.

EGYPT Hundreds of Egyptian Christians attended a funeral service Saturday after seven people were killed in an ambush by Islamic State militants of buses carrying pilgrims to a remote desert monastery.

TURKEY The order to kill Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi came from the highest level of the Saudi government, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said, adding that the international community had the responsibility to “reveal the puppet masters” behind the slaying.

ITALY Storms lashing Sicily have killed at least 12 people with torrential floods, Italian authorities said as the country’s leader headed yesterday to the stricken Mediterranean island. Divers pulled out nine of those victims from a home flooded by a rapidly swelling river in the countryside near Palermo. 

FRANCE A majority of voters in the South Pacific territory of New Caledonia chose to remain part of France instead of backing independence, election officials announced yesterday as French President Emmanuel Macron promised a full dialogue on the region’s future. 

BRITAIN Prime Minister Theresa May’s office yesterday dismissed as speculation reports that Britain and the European Union were close to striking a divorce deal after reaching a compromise on the intractable issue of the Irish border.