World Briefs

INDONESIA Relatives of Lion Air crash victims prayed and threw flowers into the Java Sea where the jet plunged into the water more than a week ago, killing all 189 people on board. Two Indonesian navy vessels took hundreds of relatives to the crash location yesterday where a massive search effort is still underway.

THAILAND Health authorities in Thailand are racing to contain a measles outbreak in the country’s southern provinces, where 14 deaths and more than 1,500 cases have been reported since September. 

SRI LANKA A deputy minister resigned yesterday from Sri Lanka’s government after the appointment of a former strongman as prime minister plunged the country into a political crisis.

IRAN The “largest-ever” U.S. sanctions list targeting Iran drew mockery from Iranian officials yesterday for including mothballed Boeing 747s, a bank that closed years earlier and a sunken oil tanker that exploded off China months ago.

TURKEY’s state-run news agency says police detained 24 people as part of an investigation into the Islamic State group’s international financial dealings.

POLAND The leader of Poland’s populist ruling party on Tuesday hailed its showing in local elections as an “all-out victory” despite the party’s failure to win mayoral races in any of Poland’s large cities.

FRANCE Security agents have arrested six people on preliminary terrorism charges for allegedly plotting to attack French President Emmanuel Macron (pictured), according to a French judicial official.

SPAIN Rescue workers combed the seas and shores of southern Spain yesterday, searching for 17 missing migrants a day after finding the bodies of 17 other migrants who died trying to cross the Mediterranean in boats departing from North Africa.

MEXICO Thousands of Central Americans dreaming of getting to the United States awoke Tuesday to donations of fruit and hot coffee at a sports stadium in Mexico’s chilly capital as the U.S. held midterm elections in which President Donald Trump has made the migrant caravan a central issue.

BRAZIL President-elect Jair Bolsonaro is insisting on his respect for Brazil’s constitution — implicitly responding to fears his administration might roll back civil rights.