World briefs

US-CHINA The Trump administration shouldn’t abandon long-standing U.S. policy on the status of Taiwan, a prominent panel of China specialists said, calling such a move “exceedingly dangerous.” Scholars and former U.S. officials warned in a report that questioning Beijing’s “one-China policy” could destabilize the Asia-Pacific and leave Taiwan more vulnerable. 

PHILIPPINES About 15,000 residents of a shantytown beside Manila’s port have lost their homes in a fire that raged overnight before being put out yesterday morning. Three evacuation centers were opened, and food and water are being provided to the 3,000 families who lost their homes, Philippine officials said.

MALAYSIA Authorities have seized thousands of paint brushes suspected of containing pig bristles after consumers in this Muslim-majority nation demanded a crackdown. 

INDIA-PAKISTAN Pakistan says “unprovoked” Indian fire has killed a civilian in the disputed Kashmir province across the Line of Control dividing the Himalayan region, calling it the latest violation of a 2003 cease-fire agreement.

SRI LANKA says it needs more time to fulfill promises given to the U.N. human rights body to investigate war crime allegations from the nation’s long civil war, which ended nearly eight years ago.

RUSSIA A court yesterday found opposition leader Alexei Navalny guilty in the retrial of a 2013 fraud case, which formally disqualifies him as a candidate for president next year.

SOMALIA groundbreaking presidential election moved into a second round yesterday as the number of candidates dropped from 21 to three, while a security lockdown closed the capital’s international airport and cleared major streets.

ROMANIA’s prime minister says there was no good reason to file a motion of no-confidence in the government, following days of massive protests against a government measure to ease off on the corruption fight.

VATICAN Participants at a Vatican conference on organ trafficking challenged China to allow independent scrutiny to ensure it is no longer using organs from executed prisoners, saying Chinese assurances aren’t enough to prove the transplant program has been reformed.

FRANCE Rioters have again set fire to cars and garbage bins overnight in spreading violence in the suburbs of Paris over the alleged rape of a young black man with a police baton. Police said yesterday that they made 17 arrests.

US-VENEZUELA A bipartisan group of 34 U.S. lawmakers has sent a letter to President Donald Trump urging him to step up pressure on Venezuela’s government by immediately sanctioning officials responsible for corruption and human rights abuses.