The world in brief

EU warns British against Brexit rewrite

BRUSSELS -- The president of the European Union's executive arm said Wednesday that the United Kingdom cannot unilaterally change the bilateral Brexit agreement without destroying global trust in the country.

Insisting that chances for a future trade deal were slipping away by the day, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers that plans by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson to renege on parts of the U.K.-EU withdrawal agreement dimmed those hopes even further.

Johnson has called his plan to unilaterally rewrite Britain's divorce deal with the EU an insurance policy against any unreasonable behavior by the bloc.

The prime minister said his proposed law gives the U.K. government the power to override portions of the withdrawal agreement because the EU might "go to extreme and unreasonable lengths" in its treatment of former member Britain.

During a parliamentary committee hearing Wednesday, Johnson was asked whether the EU was "negotiating in good faith."

"I don't believe they are," he said. Johnson added later in the hearing: "It is always possible that I am mistaken, and perhaps they will prove my suspicions wrong."

9 Bosnian Serbs arrested in '92 massacre

SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- Authorities in Bosnia on Wednesday arrested nine former Bosnian Serb military officers and troops who are suspected in the killings of 44 civilians during the 1992-95 Bosnian War.

So far, 11 people are suspected of killing the Bosnian civilians in September 1992 in the area of Sokolac, in southeastern Bosnia, the Bosnian prosecutor's office said in a statement. It said the investigation was continuing.

Of the 11 suspects, one is still at large and one is already in prison.

Bosnian Serbs separated men and boys from women and girls in the village of Novoseoci before taking the male civilians to a nearby waste dump and killing them, the statement said.

The bodies of the victims, ages 14-82, were left at the dump site and covered in waste. Bosnian Serbs later blew up a local mosque in Novoseoci and threw its parts over the bodies at the dump area.

All but one of the victims' remains have been exhumed from the site, prosecutors said. They had a total 178 wounds inflicted by firearms.

The suspects detained Wednesday were members of the "crisis committee" that was formed when Bosnian Serbs took control of the area in 1992.

Administration changing, Libyan says

CAIRO -- The head of Libya's U.N.-supported government said Wednesday night that he wants to hand over power to a new administration in October after talks on ending the country's conflict.

Fayez Serraj made the announcement in a televised speech from the capital, Tripoli.

Libya's rival factions are expected to convene soon for peace talks. They agreed earlier this month to hold elections within 18 months and appoint a new government.

Libya was plunged into chaos when a NATO-backed uprising in 2011 toppled longtime ruler Moammar Gadhafi, who was later killed. The country has since split between rival east- and west-based administrations, each backed by armed groups and foreign governments.

Sarraj, a member of the eastern parliament in Tripoli, was appointed in 2015 to lead the presidential council, created by a political agreement that was signed by Libya's factions in Skhirat, Morocco.

Israeli strikes answer Gaza rocket fire

JERUSALEM -- The Israeli military struck Hamas militant sites in the Gaza Strip early Wednesday in response to rocket fire toward Israel the previous night that coincided with the signing of normalization agreements between Israel and two Arab countries at the White House.

The barrage against Israel began Tuesday night just as the ceremony in Washington was getting underway to formalize the new agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. Two Israelis were wounded.

The rocket fire continued overnight, with sirens sounding across southern Israel. The military said five projectiles landed in open areas with the rest intercepted by Israel's rocket defense system. In response, the military said it struck about 10 sites belonging to Gaza's militant Hamas rulers, including a weapons and explosives manufacturing factory, underground infrastructure and a military training compound.

In addition to the bilateral agreements signed by Israel, the UAE and Bahrain, all three signed a document dubbed the "Abraham Accords" after the patriarch of the world's three major monotheistic religions.

The Palestinians are opposed to the agreements with the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain.

Upon his departure back from Washington, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was not surprised by the rocket attack or the timing of the militants.

"They want to take peace backwards but they won't succeed," he said. "We will strike hard against all those who seek to harm us and reach out a hand in peace to all those whose hand is reached out to peace with us."