World Briefs

INDONESIA An Islamic cleric who was the ideological leader of the Bali bombers and other Indonesian militants is being released early from a 15-year prison sentence after the country’s president relented on a condition that he renounce radical beliefs.

MYANMAR’s military announced that the Arakan Army, a Buddhist rebel group in Rakhine state, has been classified a terrorist organization after mounting a flurry of recent attacks.

AUSTRALIA A 20-year-old man appeared in court charged with murder and rape in the death of an Israeli student in the city of Melbourne in a savage attack that shocked Australia.

BANGLADESH Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who won a third straight term with an overwhelming majority in last month’s election, sought the people’s support at a victory rally amid international calls for an investigation into alleged irregularities during the polls.

CONGO’s capital was calm yesterday with residents attending church after the Constitutional Court confirmed the presidential election victory of Felix Tshisekedi. It was not clear if the population would heed runner-up Martin Fayulu’s call for non-violent protests against the court ruling.

LIBYA Three survivors of a rubber dinghy that sank in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Libya say up to 117 other migrants were aboard at the time, a U.N. migration official said.

SUDAN Security forces were deploying in large numbers yesterday in Khartoum in anticipation of fresh protests calling on longtime ruler Omar al-Bashir to step down, according to activists and video clips circulating online.

GREECE Protesters clashed with police outside Greece’s parliament during a rally that drew tens of thousands of people yesterday against the Greek-Macedonia name deal.

GERMANY Iran has dismissed allegations by German prosecutors that an army employee was spying for Tehran. Last week a 50-year-old German-Afghan dual citizen was detained in the western Rhineland region.

FRANCE Thousands of yellow vest protesters rallied in several French cities for a 10th consecutive weekend, despite a national debate launched this week by President Emmanuel Macron aimed at assuaging their anger.

COLOMBIA called on Cuba to arrest 10 National Liberation Army commanders currently in Havana for stalled peace talks after a car bombing blamed on the leftist rebels killed 21 people and injured dozens at a police academy in Bogota.