World briefs

HONG KONG  Authorities said they will remove some barricades today from part of a pro-democracy protest site in Mong Kok district, scene of previous violent confrontations with police and angry mobs. The government said in a statement late Monday that police will be on hand to assist bailiffs working under a court order to remove obstructions from the site, which activists have occupied for nearly two months. It said police are authorized to arrest anyone obstructing the bailiffs.

AUSTRALIA A 30-year-old Sydney mother has been charged with trying to kill her newborn son by abandoning him in a roadside drain for five days before passers-by heard his cries, police say. More on p13

BANGLADESH A special tribunal sentences a collaborator of the Pakistani army to death for his role in killings during Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war. Mobarak Hossain was given the death penalty after being convicted of killing 33 civilians in eastern Bangladesh.

THAILAND A military court in junta-ruled Thailand sentences a Web editor to 4 1/2 years in jail for publishing an article five years ago that it said defamed the nation’s king. More on p13

NEPAL Rescuers recover 42 more bodies from the wreckage of a bus that plunged into a river in west Nepal, raising the confirmed death toll to 47, police say. The bodies were recovered after the bus wreckage was pulled to the bank of the river.

ISRAEL’s prime minister has vowed to pass a contentious nationality law, but is leaving the door open to negotiations to soften the language. Benjamin Netanyahu (pictured) told members of his Likud Party yesterday that he is determined to pass the legislation. The bill seeks to define Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people in the country’s de facto constitution. But opponents say that some of the language is illegal or racist, and undercuts Israel’s democratic character.

USA The University of Virginia’s board is meeting today, days after an article in Rolling Stone magazine detailed an alleged 2012 gang rape at a fraternity house and the university’s handling of it. Over the weekend, UVA President Teresa A. Sullivan suspended its more than 30 fraternities and related social activities until Jan. 9.

PORTUGAL Former Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates (pictured) is back in court for more questioning by a judge about suspected corruption, money-laundering and tax fraud. Socrates arrived at the Lisbon court in a police car yesterday after spending a third straight night in jail. The judge is conducting a preliminary hearing, after which he must rule whether Socrates should be released or kept in custody pending a trial.