World briefs

N.KOREA-US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis says North Korea’s latest failed missile launch was a reckless act of provocation. Mattis commented on the weekend missile launch in an interview with reporters traveling with him yesterday to Saudi Arabia, where he begins a weeklong Mideast tour. “The leader of North Korea again recklessly tried to provoke something by launching a missile,” he said.

CHINA An American business group says China’s push to develop its own technology and other industries has “narrowed the space” for foreign companies to compete in its market.  

CHINA-US Since Donald Trump was elected president, sales of Ivanka Trump merchandise have surged and her company has applied for at least nine new trademarks — signs that the commercial engine of the first daughter’s brand is still humming even as she builds a new career from her West Wing office. 

PHILIPPINES Officials say at least 26 people have died after a passenger bus carrying about 45 people fell into a deep ravine in a northern mountain town.

AUSTRALIA Australia will scrap a temporary visa for skilled overseas workers, the prime minister said, arguing that Australians must be given priority over foreigners for local jobs.

VIETNAM Villagers in a suburban district Hanoi freed 15 riot police who were held over a land dispute.

US-TURKEY Ignoring concerns raised by international monitoring groups, President Donald Trump called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to congratulate him on the country’s contested referendum greatly expanding presidential powers.

FRANCE Police thwarted an imminent “terror attack,” arresting two suspected radicals in Marseille, the interior minister said just days before the first round of France’s presidential election. The two men “intended to commit an attack on French soil in the very short term, which is to say in coming days,” Interior Minister Matthias Fekl said at a brief news conference. France votes Sunday in the first round of its two-stage election.

MALI An army spokesman says armed men have attacked an army camp in the country’s north, killing at least four soldiers and wounding another. Lt. Col. Diarran Kone yesterday would not give more details about the attack in Gourma-Rharous, about 160 kilometers south of Timbuktu. A local official said the assailants destroyed about six armed vehicles but left after failing to take control of the camp. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not permitted to speak to reporters.