World briefs

PHILIPPINES Suspected Muslim militants remotely detonated a bomb near the entrance of a mall in the southern Philippines, killing at least two and wounding nearly 30, officials said.

BANGLADESH While Sheikh Hasina is set to begin her third consecutive term as Bangladesh’s prime minister following a landslide election victory, critics say having such an overwhelming majority in Parliament could create space for her to become even more authoritarian.

IRAQ The latest plunge in oil prices has dealt a heavy blow to Iraq’s stagnating economy, threatening the new government’s ability to rebuild after the war with the Islamic State group and provide basic services to areas roiled by recent protests.

SYRIA Two days of fighting in rebel-held parts of northern Syria killed dozens of people as al-Qaida-linked militants press their offensive against Turkey-backed rebels, a war monitor and activists said yesterday.

SUDAN’s largest opposition bloc has joined calls by a wide array of political groups for President Omar al-Bashir to step down, turning up the pressure on the longtime autocrat after two weeks of street protests.

RUSSIA Search crews have pulled more bodies from a huge pile of rubble at a collapsed Russian apartment building, bringing the known death toll to 21. An 11-month-old boy who was pulled alive from the wreckage nearly 36 hours after the building collapsed, was in serious but stable condition in a children’s hospital in Moscow.

DENMARK A passenger train apparently hit falling cargo from a passing freight train yesterday, an accident that killed six people and injured 16 others as it crossed a bridge linking the country’s islands, authorities said.

GERMANY A man has been arrested after repeatedly driving into crowds of people, injuring at least five, in what authorities said appeared to have been intentional attacks against foreigners.

BRAZIL Jair Bolsonaro was sworn in as Brazil’s president, taking the reins of Latin America’s largest and most populous nation with promises to overhaul myriad aspects of daily life and put an end to business-as-usual governing.

PERU Thousands of Peruvians marched in protest decrying the attorney general’s dismissal of a team investigating the sweeping Odebrecht corruption case in a move that President Martin Vizcarra decried as “profoundly damaging.”