World Briefs

CHINA has reclaimed more than 3,200 acres of land in the southeastern South China Sea. But the country’s focus has shifted to developing and weaponizing those man-made islands so it will have greater control over the maritime region without resorting to armed conflict, according to a new Pentagon report.

INDONESIA Rescuers yesterday found the bodies of six university students who were among nearly two dozen who went missing in rain-triggered floods and landslides at a waterfall in western Indonesia, an official said. The disaster occurred Sunday as more than 70 students were visiting the Air Terjun Dua Warna waterfall in North Sumatra province.

NEPAL Supporters of ethnic minority groups demanding changes in Nepal’s new constitution clash with police and block main streets near the prime minister’s office, as their newly started protests enter their second day.

INDIA Rescuers have recovered 18 bodies from a river in eastern India’s West Bengal state where an overcrowded boat sank following a village fair over the weekend.

PAKISTAN‘s prime minister defended his financial record yesterday, denying that he used any Pakistani funds to buy property in London or establish a steel mill in Saudi Arabia. Nawaz Sharif’s speech came against the backdrop of the Panama papers, leaked financial documents indicating that his children hold offshore assets worth millions of dollars.

PHILIPPINES President-elect Rodrigo Duterte said yesterday he will reimpose the death penalty, offer Cabinet posts to communist rebels, and move to amend the constitution to give more power to the provinces.

SOUTH AFRICA’s rand fell for a second day, heading for its weakest level against the dollar in two months, after reports that police are set to arrest Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan over alleged irregularities at the nation’s revenue service.

USA Federal investigators and local authorities are working to determine what caused a charter bus to crash in far South Texas, killing eight people and injuring 44 others in a one-vehicle rollover.

LIBYA’s U.N.-established presidency council effectively gave the go-ahead for 18 government ministers to start work, even though they have not received backing from the parliament based in the country’s east.