World briefs

SINGAPORE As the health of the founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew deteriorated on the weekend, thousands of Singaporeans visit his hospital and a community center to leave flowers, gifts and emotional messages of support. More on p14

JAPAN Four years after a towering tsunami ravaged much of Japan’s northeastern coast, efforts to fend off future disasters are focusing on a nearly 400-kilometer chain of cement sea walls, at places nearly five stories high. Opponents say it will harm the environment while doing little to protect residents.

AUSTRALIA A country of just 24 million that is thousands of miles from Syria and Iraq has been unusually fertile ground for Islamic State recruiters. More on p13

Afghanistan  Women’s rights activists dressed head-to-toe in black broke with tradition yesterday to carry the coffin of a woman who was beaten to death by a mob in the capital Kabul over allegations she had burned a Quran. The mob of men beat 27-year-old Farkhunda before throwing her body off a roof, running over it with a car, setting it on fire and throwing it into a river near a well-known mosque.

USA-AFGHANISTAN  Slowing the pace of U.S. troop withdrawals from Afghanistan will headline President Barack Obama’s talks with visiting Afghan President Ashraf Ghani, yet America’s exit remains tightly hinged on the capability of Afghan security forces even after more than a decade of training and billions of U.S. dollars.

USA-ISRAEL President Barack Obama said he takes Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu “at his word” for saying that an independent Palestinian state will never co-exist with Israel as long as he is in office, yet another sign of the strained relations between longtime allies.

USA A machete-wielding man who was shot during a bizarre rampage at New Orleans’ international airport died Saturday afternoon, shortly after authorities revealed that he had also been carrying a bag of Molotov cocktails when the melee began. Richard White, 63, was shot Friday night as he chased an unarmed Transportation Security Administration agent through a concourse full of frightened travelers.

MEXICO  The son of a Mexican wrestling legend died early Saturday from a blow suffered in the ring, the Baja California state prosecutor’s office said. Pedro Aguayo Ramirez, known as Hijo del Perro Aguayo, fell unconscious on the ropes, apparently after receiving a flying kick from fellow wrestler Oscar Gutierrez, known as Rey Mysterio Jr., according to video of the match in a municipal auditorium in Tijuana.

TUNISIA  A third attacker in the deadly assault on the Bardo museum is on the run, Tunisia’s president said yesterday, declaring his country at war with the extremists who killed 21 people at one of North Africa’s most revered cultural institutions. President Beji Caid Essebsi said the attack involved “three aggressors” and the third man escaped.