World briefs

CHINA-US Eleven Chinese migrants were discovered hiding in furniture and appliances inside a truck stopped by agents as it entered the U.S. from Mexico at a Southern California border crossing. At least one person was crammed inside a washing machine and another was curled up inside a wooden chest.

MYANMAR’s former pro-democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi denied that her country’s armed forces committed genocide against the Rohingya minority, telling the U.N.’s top court that the exodus of hundreds of thousands of Muslims was the unfortunate result of a battle with insurgents.

NEW ZEALAND Police released the names of nine people missing in a volcano disaster. They are seven Australian tourists who made a day trip to White Island from a cruise ship that had left Sydney a few days earlier and two tour guides from New Zealand. The list is not complete because they have not been able to speak to all next of kin. Six people were earlier confirmed dead from Monday’s eruption.

UNITED NATIONS Nearly a half-billion people in the Asia-Pacific are still malnourished and eliminating hunger by 2030 requires that millions escape food insecurity each month, according to a report released yesterday by UN agencies. 

BRITISH political leaders rose early yesterday to pursue undecided voters on the eve of a national election, zigzagging across the country. Though opinion polls have consistently shown Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s Conservative Party in the lead, surveys suggest the margin may be narrowing before today’s contest. 

IRAN said American authorities are holding about 20 Iranian nationals in jail, its official news agency reported, a day after Tehran said it was ready for more prisoner swaps with the U.S. A prisoner exchange over the weekend saw Iran free a Chinese-American scholar from Princeton who had been held for three years on widely criticized espionage charges.

US The Oval Office meeting with President Donald Trump yesterday was the second for Russia’s foreign minister. The president of Ukraine is still waiting for his first. Trump sat down with Sergey Lavrov (pictured) at a moment of high drama in Washington — just hours after House Democrats announced articles of impeachment against Trump for his dealings with Ukraine, a U.S. ally that is battling against Russian aggression.

US The mayor of a New Jersey city said it’s “clear” that gunmen targeted a kosher market during a furious shooting that killed six people and raised questions about whether anti-Semitism was involved. A police officer, three bystanders and two suspects all died in the violence yesterday [Macau time] in Jersey City, just across the Hudson River from New York City.