World Briefs

CHINA strongly condemned the United States after a U.S. warship deliberately sailed near one of the Beijing-controlled islands in the hotly contested South China Sea to exercise freedom of navigation and challenge China’s vast sea claims.

SINGAPORE Southeast Asia’s fickle weather forced the organizers of the Singapore Open to delay the completion of the final round until today, just as Jordan Spieth was making a late charge for the title.

NIGERIA A survivor hidden in a tree says he watched Boko Haram extremists firebomb huts and heard the screams of children among people burned to death in the latest attack by Nigeria’s homegrown Islamic extremists.
USA Hillary Clinton is holding onto a slim lead over Bernie Sanders in Iowa as Democrats prepare for today’s caucuses, though an outpouring of young voters and those who say the system is rigged could enable Sanders to pull off an upset, according to a new poll.

RUSSIAN officials say a fire at a textile workshop in Moscow has killed 12 people, including three children. The Investigative Committee, the top state investigative agency, says the fire that erupted late Saturday in northeastern Moscow engulfed an area of 3,000 square meters. It says it’s looking at arson as one of the possible causes.

UK Terry Wogan, whose warm Irish brogue and sly, gentle humor made him a star of British television and radio for decades, has died. He was 77. Wogan died yesterday surrounded by his loved ones “after a short but brave battle with cancer,” his family said in a statement.

TURKEY A boat carrying Syrians attempting the short sea journey from Turkey to Greece struck rocks and capsized at dawn on Saturday, causing at least 37 people to drown, among them several babies and young children. Images of dead children on a beach on Saturday were another soul-searing reminder that Europe’s migrant crisis keeps destroying lives and families by the day.

EGYPT At least 21 people were killed and 16 injured in a massive multi-car pile-up on a road south of Egypt’s capital. The Health Ministry said in a statement that fog and excessive speed had led to the massive crash yesterday near Beni Suef, about 95 kilometers south of Cairo, keeping the road closed for three hours. Deadly traffic crashes claim over 10,000 lives annually in Egypt, where roads are poorly maintained and traffic rules often ignored.