Briefly

MALAYSIA

PM's coalition wins vital state election

Malaysian Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin's coalition won a crucial state assembly election in the eastern state of Sabah on Saturday. A group of parties aligned with Muhyiddin's federal government won a slim majority of 38 out of the 73 seats, unseating the state government, according to results announced by the Election Commission. The victory for Muhyiddin came after a recent claim by the opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim that he had secured a "convincing" majority in the lower house of the parliament to form a new federal government.

YEMEN

Rivals agree to exchange prisoners

Both sides in Yemen's civil war agreed to exchange more than 1,000 prisoners during United Nations-sponsored talks in Switzerland, sources from both sides said on Saturday. The government, supported by a Saudi-led military coalition, and Iran-backed Houthi rebels had agreed to prisoner exchanges as part of a peace deal brokered by the UN in Sweden in 2018. The release of hundreds of loyalists and insurgents would mark the first large-scale handover since the war erupted in 2014. The deal includes the release of "681 rebels, and 400 government forces (and allies), among them 15 Saudis and four Sudanese", the source said.

NIGERIA

Attack by militants on convoy kills at least 11

Suspected Islamist militants killed at least 11 people in northeastern Nigeria in an attack on a security convoy that was taking people displaced by an insurgency back to their homes, police and security sources said on Saturday. In a statement on Saturday, Borno state police said eight police officers and three members of a government-approved militia were killed, and 13 people were wounded in the attack on Friday. President Muhammadu Buhari "urges security and intelligence agencies to intensify efforts "in dealing with the matter, a statement issued by his spokesman said.

Agencies - Xinhua