World briefs

PHILIPPINES A foreign militant was behind a powerful van blast that targeted a big public gathering in the southern Philippines but failed after the vehicle stalled and instead killed the suspect and 10 others, an official said yesterday.

THAILAND A former Buddhist monk infamous for a jet-set lifestyle was sentenced yesterday to more than 100 years in prison in connection with funds he fraudulently raised from followers.

MYANMAR yesterday rejected an attempt by international courts to consider the country’s culpability for the exodus of 700,000 minority Rohingya Muslims to Bangladesh.

KOREA The rival Koreas will meet Monday for high-level talks meant to prepare for a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in, South Korea said, the third such meetings between the leaders in recent months. 

YEMEN An airstrike by the Saudi-led coalition fighting Shiite rebels hit a bus driving in a busy market in northern Yemen yesterday, killing least 50 people.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE Israeli warplanes struck dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip and three people were reported killed there, while Palestinian militants from the territory fired scores of rockets into Israel in a fierce burst of violence.

TURKEY’s government says it will outline a “new economic model” today as the national currency hit another record low amid concerns about the president’s policies and an ongoing dispute with the U.S.

US-RUSSIA New sanctions against Russia will be imposed later this month for illegally using a chemical weapon in an attempted assassination of a former spy and his daughter in Britain earlier this year, the United States said.

ARGENTINA’s Senate yesterday rejected a bill to legalize elective abortion, a defeat for a grassroots movement that came closer than ever to achieving the decriminalization of the procedure in the homeland of Pope Francis.

VENEZUELA’s pro-government constitutional assembly stripped two opposition lawmakers of their immunity from prosecution, accusing them of having roles in a drone attack that authorities say was an attempt to kill socialist President Nicolas Maduro.

BOLIVIA Officials in Bolivia say a valuable, nearly two-century old medallion symbolizing presidential power was stolen, then quickly recovered.