World Briefs

CHINA-RUSSIA With President Vladimir Putin heading to China this weekend, officials in both countries extoll a blossoming “strategic partnership” between the two former communist rivals.

CAMBODIA plans to deport 21 Taiwanese arrested for suspected fraud to China instead of the self-ruled island. The Taiwanese citizens, along with 14 Chinese also arrested this month, will be sent tomorrow to China because Cambodia regards Taiwan as part of China. Those arrested allegedly defrauded victims in China using phone calls made over the internet.

JAPAN’s election campaign kicked off yesterday in the first nationwide balloting after the voting age was lowered to 18 from 20. Up for grabs in the July 10 vote are 121 seats. The pro-business ruling party is hoping for a show of support for Shinzo Abe’s “Abenomics” program to revive the economy, while the opposition is criticizing his efforts to have Japan play a bigger global security role.

KOREAS In a remarkable show of persistence, North Korea fires two suspected powerful new Musudan midrange ballistic missiles, its fifth and sixth such attempts since April. More on p12

UK Campaigners on both sides of the crucial vote today on whether or not Britain should remain in the European Union crisscrossed the country yesterday, their last day to win support from the undecided.

MARKETS Asian shares were mostly higher yesterday, with investors focused on today’s vote on Britain’s possible withdrawal from the European Union and after relief over U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s statement that the Fed would remain cautious in raising interest rates.

INDIA Lightning has killed 74 people, mostly farm laborers working in fields, across the eastern India state of Bihar over the past 24 hours. At least 24 others were injured when thunderstorms and monsoon rains lashed 14 districts of the state. Scores of cattle also perished after being struck by lightning.

ITALY’s highest court has made it easier for gays to adopt a partner’s biological child but the decision does not give long-sought automatic recognition to the families of same-sex couples.

USA Selma Blair is apologizing for her outburst on a flight. The actress says in a statement to Vanity Fair that she mixed alcohol with medication which caused her to black out and make statements that she regrets on a Monday flight from Cancun to Los Angeles. TMZ reported Blair was crying and talking about an abusive man. The site says she was attended to by nurses on the plane and taken off on a stretcher at Los Angeles International Airport.