World Briefs

NEW ZEALAND A retired French secret service agent has apologized for planting the bombs which sank a Greenpeace ship 30 years ago, killing a photographer and causing an international incident that tarnished the image of France.

AUSTRALIA-SYRIA Australia’s prime minister says his country will resettle a “significant” number of refugees from Syria this year, while the opposition called for an additional 10,000 refugee places to help the world cope with the latest humanitarian crisis.

GUATEMALA An uncomfortable challenge confronts Guatemala’s presidential candidates: trying to win the votes of a nation that put the last elected leader in jail. A former television comic was heading for a runoff with either a wealthy businessman or a former first lady in voting for Guatemala’s next president, days after the Central American nation’s leader resigned over a corruption scandal. With more than 96 percent of polling stations reporting yesterday, comedian Jimmy Morales, who has never held elective office, was leading with 24 percent of the vote.

BANGLADESH The Supreme Court in Bangladesh has lifted a ban on the screening of a movie about a garment worker who was rescued from the rubble 17 days after a five-story factory building collapsed more than two years ago, killing more than 1,000 people.
MALAYSIA The death toll from a wooden boat that capsized last week with Indonesian migrant workers off Malaysia’s west coast has risen to 61.

EGYPT An Egyptian court releases a detailed ruling on why it sentenced three Al-Jazeera English journalists to three years in prison for airing what it described as “false news” and biased coverage, a case long criticized by press freedom advocates and others.

USA The U.S. dentist whose killing of Cecil the lion fueled a global backlash emerges for an interview in which he disputes some accounts of the hunt, expresses agitation at the animosity directed at those close to him and says he would be back at work within days. Walter Palmer, who has spent more than a month out of sight after becoming the target of protests and threats, intends to return to his suburban Minneapolis dental practice today.

USA-IRAN Already a done deal in Congress, the Iran nuclear agreement gains more momentum when former Secretary of State Colin Powell and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz announce their support.

UK Prime Minister David Cameron revealed yesterday that British forces had used a drone strike over Syria in August to kill three Islamic State fighters, including two Britons. He told Parliament that the attack was legally justified because the militants were plotting lethal attacks against Britain and the fighters could not be eliminated any other way.

BELGIUM  Thousands of farmers protested outside European Union headquarters on Monday to demand more aid and higher prices for their milk and pig meat. The EU executive Commission responded with a support plan worth half a billion euros (USD560 million). In a tense standoff, farmers from across the 28-nation EU pelted police with eggs and sprayed them with hay before they were drenched in return by a water cannon.