The world in brief

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“I spoke in signs so that people don’t get confused. I hope you all got the sign.”

Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi, Egypt’s military chief, who hinted in a speech that he intends to run for president but said he could not openly declare his candidacy because he still holds the post of defense minister Article, this page

China: Army ready to defend sovereignty

BEIJING - China’s military is prepared to respond to all threats to the country’s sovereignty, a government spokesman said Tuesday, ahead of the expected announcement of another big bump in defense spending.

Legislative spokesman Fu Ying said China supports resolving disputes through negotiations and that its 2.3 million-member People’s Liberation Army - the world’s largest - is for defensive purposes only.

“But if some countries wish to provoke or wish to damage … regional peace and the regional order, then we must make a response, and an effective response at that,” Fu said.

Other countries should take China’s sovereignty claims seriously if they truly care about regional peace and security, she said, singling out the United States by name.

Her remarks came amid disputes between China and its neighbors over the control of islands and sea lanes in surrounding oceans.

China is to announce its latest defense budget today.

Spending on the armed forces rose 10.7 percent last year to $114 billion, the most for any nation apart from the U.S.

Bahrain arrests 25 after bomb kills police

MANAMA, Bahrain - Bahraini authorities arrested 25 people on suspicion of involvement in a deadly bomb attack on police and listed an activist network and two little-known anti-government groups as terrorist organizations, authorities said Tuesday.

The crackdown followed Monday’s blast on the outskirts of the capital, Manama, which killed three policemen.

The interior minister, Sheik Rashid bin Abdullah Al Khalifa, announced the arrests in a televised address.

The Cabinet on Tuesday named three groups - the February 14 coalition, the al-Ashtar Brigades and the Resistance Brigades - along with any related groups as terrorist organizations, according to a report by the official state news agency.

The February 14 group is a loosely affiliated activist network named after the start of the 2011 uprising that has helped promote and organize demonstrations. Little is known about the al-Ashtar Brigades and the Resistance Brigades, though the former has claimed responsibility for violent attacks in Bahrain in the past.

The report did not say why the three groups had been singled out.

Attackers hit Libya’s official TV station

TRIPOLI, Libya - Gunmen launched an attack on Libya’s official television station Tuesday, firing rocket-propelled grenades at the troops guarding it before they were driven off by reinforcements, officials said. There were no reports of casualties.

The officials said the attackers were likely the followers of militia leader Jumaa al-Shahm, who had controlled the Libya TV station building in the capital Tripoli for months. They were ousted by government forces last week, and al-Shahm was arrested.

Three years after the ouster and slaying of longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, Libya’s central government still has little authority. The military and police are in disarray, out manned and outgunned by rival militias.

Also Tuesday, a well-known air force colonel, Adam Faraj al-Abdali, was found shot dead hours after he vanished in the country’s east, another security official said.

Vietnam sentences ‘bad light’ blogger

HANOI, Vietnam - A dissident blogger was sentenced to two years in prison Tuesday for posting online criticism of Vietnam’s authoritarian government, drawing an immediate rebuke from the United States.

The verdict against Truong Duy Nhat was the latest in an intensifying crackdown against advocates of free speech and greater democracy in the communist-ruled country.

After a half-day trial in the central city of Danang, Nhat was convicted of “putting the country’s leadership in a bad light,” in a series of articles on his blog, his lawyer Tran Vu Hai said. He said Nhat maintained his acts did not constitute a crime.

In a statement, the U.S. Embassy said it was “deeply concerned” about the sentence and called on the government to release “all prisoners of conscience, and allow all Vietnamese to peacefully express their political views.”

Front Section, Pages 5 on 03/05/2014

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