The World in Brief

A man selects a newspaper from a shop in Shah Alam, Malaysia, on Monday. Malaysia’s government has proposed legislation to harshly punish the purveyors of fake news.
A man selects a newspaper from a shop in Shah Alam, Malaysia, on Monday. Malaysia’s government has proposed legislation to harshly punish the purveyors of fake news.

Malaysia proposes to outlaw fake news

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia -- Malaysia's government proposed new legislation Monday to outlaw fake news and punish offenders with a 10-year prison sentence, a move slammed by critics as a bid to crack down on dissent ahead of a general election.

Prime Minister Najib Razak has been dogged by a multibillion-dollar corruption scandal involving an indebted state fund, and rights activists fear the new law could be used to criminalize news reports and critical opinions on government misconduct. A general election must be held by August but is widely expected to be called in the next few weeks.

The anti-fake news bill, which must be approved by parliament, calls for penalizing those who create, offer, circulate, print or publish fake news or publications containing fake news with a 10-year prison term, a fine of up to $128,000 or both. The bill covers all mediums and extends to even foreigners outside Malaysia as long as Malaysia or its citizens are affected.

"This is an attack on the press and an attempt to instill fear among the [people]" before the general election, opposition lawmaker Ong Kian Ming tweeted.

Report: Alarms silent at deadly mall fire

MOSCOW -- Witnesses say fire alarms were silent and mall employees nowhere to be seen when a fire at a shopping mall packed with children and their parents on the first weekend of the school recess killed 64 people in Russia's Siberia.

The fire Sunday at the Winter Cherry mall in Kemerovo, a city about 1,900 miles east of Moscow, was extinguished by Monday morning after burning through the night.

Sixty-four deaths were confirmed after firefighters finished combing through the four floors of the mall, Emergency Situations Minister Vladimir Puchkov said at a televised briefing. Six of the bodies had not yet been recovered. Some of the dead were found inside a cinema, which one witness said had been locked shut.

Investigators said Monday that emergency exits were blocked and a security guard turned off the public announcement system when he received a call about the blaze, but they provided no information why that happened.

Four people have been detained in connection with the deadly fire, including one of the mall's tenants.

Netanyahu reinterrogated in graft case

JERUSALEM -- Israeli police on Monday questioned Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, as well as his wife and son, in a corruption case involving the country's telecom giant, one of a slew of scandals that have engulfed the long-ruling Israeli leader.

It was the second time that Netanyahu has been questioned in the case, in which he is suspected of promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to the Bezeq telecom company. In return, Bezeq's popular news site, Walla, allegedly provided favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his family.

Two Netanyahu confidants, a former family spokesman and a former Communications Ministry director, have agreed to testify against the prime minister in exchange for immunity.

EU membership still a goal, Turkey says

SOFIA, Bulgaria -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Monday that membership in the European Union remains a "strategic goal" for his country despite the uneasy relationship with the 28-member bloc.

Erdogan spoke ahead of a summit with EU leaders in the Bulgarian Black Sea resort of Varna.

Erdogan said he would urge the EU to remove "political and artificial" hurdles against Turkey's membership and revive stalled accession negotiations during talks with European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and European Council President Donald Tusk.

"As Turkey, we have been continuing on our way with the goal of full membership [of the EU] despite all the mines that were planted on our path and barriers in front of us," he told reporters. "Today, membership in the European Union remains a strategic goal for us."

photo

AP/KAYHAN OZER

Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, with a picture of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk in the background, talks to reporters Monday at the Istanbul airport before departing for a European Union summit in Bulgaria.

A Section on 03/27/2018

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