World briefs

MALI A suicide bomber in an explosives-laden vehicle attacked a camp in northern Mali yesterday, killing more than 50 people and wounding more than 100 soldiers and former fighters now trying to stabilize the region. While there was no immediate claim of responsibility, suspicion quickly fell on the Islamic extremist groups operating in the area.

CAMBODIA’s exiled opposition leader is facing two new defamation lawsuits stemming from a Facebook post that accused Prime Minister Hun Sen of offering a young political operative USD1 million to attack the opposition.

MALAYSIA’s foreign minister says the Organization of Islamic Cooperation is expected to call for a halt to violence against Myanmar’s Rohingya Muslim minority and for the safe return of refugees. Malaysia is hosting a meeting of the organization in Kuala Lumpur today to discuss the crisis.

THAILAND Police say they have arrested a Czech man in Phuket who is believed to be infected with HIV and is wanted by Interpol for alleged sexual offenses against minors back home.

JAPAN A fast-growing Japanese hotel chain is facing criticism over a book penned by the chain’s owner that says the Rape of Nanking was fabricated. APA Group drew fire for spreading the revisionist views of company president Toshio Motoya by putting the books in hotel guestrooms and also selling them.

IRAQ’s prime minister is demanding full disclosure about events surrounding the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq. Haider al-Abadi told reporters that he would like to see a “thorough investigation” into what took the U.S. forces from “liberating” the country to “occupying” it.

BOSNIA The President of the Bosnian Serb region of Republic of Srpska, Milorad Dodik, has dismissed U.S. sanctions imposed on him for obstructing the peace accords that ended Bosnia’s war two decades ago, calling it a reversible act of revenge by the departing Obama administration.

GERMANY-BRITAIN German Chancellor Angela Merkel is pledging to ensure that the Brexit process doesn’t divide Europe. Merkel said yesterday that British Prime Minister Theresa May’s speech has offered “a clearer impression” of what London wants, but stressed that negotiations will begin only when Britain formally triggers exit talks.

US Obama became the president to have granted more commutations than any other when he announced that Chelsea Manning will be freed in May. Manning, the transgender Army intelligence officer who leaked more than 700,000 U.S. documents, was one of 273 people receiving clemency on a single day.