NEWS OF THE DAY

_1

Sinai battle: Egypt says its security forces have killed 11 suspected militants in the restive northern Sinai Peninsula, where it has been fighting an insurgency for years. The Interior Ministry issued a statement Tuesday saying it had received information about insurgents hiding on a farm in the city of ElArish. The statement says that while police forces were hunting the militants, a shootout ensued and the militants were killed. It said they had in their possession seven rifles, two explosive devices and an explosive belt. The statement didn’t say when the raid took place or whether police had casualties. Egypt has battled Islamic militants for years in the Sinai Peninsula in an insurgency, where the Islamic State affiliate is based. The insurgency escalated after the military overthrow of the elected but divisive Islamist President Mohamed Morsi in 2013.

_2

Hostage incident: Brandishing a fake gun, a man on Tuesday took dozens of hostages on a bus in Brazil and threatened to set the vehicle on fire with gasoline before police shot him dead in a fourhour standoff on Latin America’s longest bridge. All the hostages were freed unharmed on the 8milelong RioNiteroi bridge, which offers a sweeping view of Rio de Janeiro’s Sugarloaf Mountain and the statue of Christ the Redeemer. He released two hostages, then another two, and then two more, separately. Later, he stepped out of the bus, threw an object resembling a bag and was shot by a sniper. “He told us he didn’t want our belongings, that he didn’t want to hurt us, that he just wanted to go down in history,” said Hans Moreno, a hostage.

_3

Bus crash: A tour bus carrying dozens of Chinese passengers crashed in Laos, killing at least 13, officials said Tuesday. The bus was carrying 44 Chinese when it careened off a road between the Lao capital, Vientiane, and the northern tourist town of Luang Prabang on Monday, the Chinese Embassy in Vientiane said on its website. In addition to the 13 who were killed, 31 other Chinese passengers were injured, two of them seriously, the embassy said. The bus driver and a guide, both Lao, suffered minor injuries.

_4

Cardinal guilty: An Australian court by a 21 majority ruling Wednesday upheld convictions against Cardinal George Pell, the most senior Catholic to be found guilty of children sex abuse. The Victoria state Court of Appeal rejected Cardinal George Pell’s appeal of the unanimous verdicts a jury issued in December finding Pope Francis’ former finance minister guilty of molesting two 13yearold choirboys in Melbourne’s St. Patrick’s Cathedral in 1996 and 1997. At the time, Pell had set up a worldfirst compensation arrangement for victims of clergy sexual abuse.

_5

Iraq explosions: A large explosion hit an arms depot belonging to an Iranianbacked militia faction north of Baghdad on Tuesday, the latest in a series of mysterious blasts at military bases and munitions depots around the country in the past few weeks. The explosions have occurred in bases and warehouses belonging to militia groups under the umbrella of the mainly Iranbacked militias known as the Popular Mobilization Forces. The militias have fought alongside Iraq’s regular armed forces against the Islamic State. In response to the explosions, Iraqi Prime Minister Adel AbdulMahdi last week ordered all military camps and munitions warehouses to be moved outside Iraqi cities. No one has claimed responsibility for those explosions or Tuesday’s blast.