World briefs
OFF SINGAPORE The USS John S. McCain docks at Singapore’s naval base with “significant damage” to its hull after an early morning collision with an oil tanker as vessels from several nations searched for 10 missing U.S. sailors.
CHINA Scholars are petitioning Cambridge University Press to restore more than 300 politically sensitive articles removed from its website in China after a request from authorities, underscoring concerns about freedom of speech and the Chinese government’s increasing leverage over academic organizations.
KOREAS U.S. and South Korean troops kick off their annual drills that come after President Donald Trump and North Korea exchanged warlike rhetoric in the wake of the North’s two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month. South Korean President Moon Jae-in (pictured, center) said the drills are “defensive in nature.”
AUSTRALIA’s 116-year-old constitutional ban on dual citizens sitting in Parliament has become a major political problem that not so long ago the country didn’t know it had and could now struggle to fix.
NEW ZEALAND Three weeks ago, the National Party appeared to be cruising to a fourth straight election victory. But much has changed since then due to the rise of opposition leader Jacinda Ardern, and the latest polls indicate the election will be closely contested. The latest ruction came when United Future leader Peter Dunne (pictured) resigned.
SPAIN Catalan police said an operation in Subirats, a town 45 km west of Barcelona, is still going on due to the presence of a “suspicious person.” The Spanish newspaper La Vanguardia reported that the fugitive suspect in the deadly Barcelona van attack has been captured there, but police won’t confirm that.
RUSSIA A flight attendant is suing the Russian flagship airline Aeroflot for taking her off sought-after long-haul flights, alleging that claims that several hundred of what she jokingly calls the airlines “old, fat and ugly” stewardesses have fallen victim to the company’s new stringent policy on physical appearance.
FOOTBALL Even without star midfielder Paulinho (pictured), following his departure for Barcelona, Guangzhou Evergrande head coach Luiz Felipe Scolari is confident of completing an unprecedented double in China and Asia.
