World briefs

TRADE WAR Vice President Mike Pence is on a quiet mission to advance the Trump administration’s top legislative priority for the year – the troubled U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement. As Trump wagers on a trade war with China and threats of another with Mexico, Pence has been traveling the country trying to build support for the free-trade deal.

TAIWAN Pro-independence ruling party DPP takes a major step toward nominating incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen – a thorn in the side of China – as its candidate for a second presidential term.

SOUTH CHINA SEA The Philippines’ top diplomat said he has filed a diplomatic protest after an anchored fishing boat was hit by a suspected Chinese vessel which then abandoned the 22 Filipino fishermen as the boat sank in the disputed South China Sea. 

CHINA-US A federal prosecutor tells jurors in grisly detail that authorities believe a former University of Illinois doctoral student Brendt Christensen (pictured) kidnapped a visiting scholar from China, and beat her to death with a baseball bat. 

INDIA Authorities evacuate nearly 300,000 people from India’s western coastline ahead of a very severe cyclone that’s expected to make landfall as the year’s second major storm.

AFGHANISTAN The Islamic State group in Afghanistan is a “very worrisome” threat to the United States, and U.S. counterterrorism efforts have yet to shrink its extremist ambitions, Gen. Kenneth “Frank” McKenzie said. 

SCIENCE Giving monkeys a break: More research monkeys are being retired to sanctuaries when their work is done, but funding and quality of care are the biggest roadblocks.

BRITNEY SPEARS A Los Angeles judge is set to consider whether to extend a temporary restraining order taken out in the name of Britney Spears against her former manager.