World briefs

SOUTH CHINA SEA China may or may not be planning to build an environmental monitoring station on the disputed Scarborough Shoal. While the top official in the administrative region covering the island says preparatory work for the station is a priority, the foreign ministry says there is no such plan.

CHINA Fourteen people are being held in police custody for their roles in a power plant construction site accident in southern China’s Guangzhou city that killed nine workers and injured two others Saturday.

EU-PHILIPPINES The European Union has denied allegations by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte that it proposed solving the country’s drug problem by creating treatment clinics where illegal drugs such as methamphetamine or cocaine would be dispensed.

SOUTH KOREA Prosecutors said yesterday that they want to arrest former President Park Geun-hye over the corruption allegations that triggered a huge political scandal and toppled her from power. The move comes after prosecutors grilled Park for 14 hours last week over suspicions that she colluded with a jailed confidante to extort from companies and committed other wrongdoing when she was in office. 

JAPAN An avalanche killed seven Japanese high school students and an instructor yesterday during a mountaineering field trip at a ski resort north of Tokyo, authorities said.

RUSSIA Opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who organized a wave of nationwide protests against government corruption that rattled authorities, was jailed for 15 days yesterday by a Moscow court for resisting police orders. 

SYRIA U.S.-backed forces in northern Syria said yesterday they will pause military operations near a major dam held by the Islamic State group in order to allow engineers to fix any problems after conflicting reports about its stability.

GREECE’s coast guard says a man carrying asylum application papers has been found hanged at the country’s largest port, near Athens. The unidentified man, believed to be a migrant, was found near a passenger departure area at the port of Piraeus.

FRANCE Far-right presidential candidate Marine Le Pen yesterday reiterated her plan to hold a referendum on the euro issue if elected president and said that if it is rejected by the French, she will resign.

SWITZERLAND-TURKEY Swiss and Turkish prosecutors announced separate investigations yesterday after protesters hoisted a banner in Switzerland’s capital showing a gun pointed at an image of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan next to the words, “Kill Erdogan”.