World briefs

USA A woman from China, Mo Yun, 42, awaiting trial in Iowa on charges she conspired to steal trade secrets from U.S. seed corn companies is asking the government to release her on bond so she can travel to California and to her homeland.

HAWAII China has been boarding ships looking for mock pirates and contraband as it joins the world’s largest maritime exercises for the first time. Chinese sailors from the destroyer Haikou boarded the Coast Guard cutter Waesche for a drill checking cargo as part of Rim of the Pacific exercises the U.S. is hosting in Hawaii waters this month.

VIETNAM When his wife moved to Taiwan nine years ago to work as a maid — earning far more than she could in the rice paddies— Pham Duc Viet took over the household chores and raised their two children on top of his regular work as a farmer and carpenter. Pham is one in many “father-carers,” following a trend in countries with previously well-defined gender roles regarding housework and child-rearing.

AUSTRALIA Australia’s government has repealed a much-maligned carbon tax on the nation’s worst greenhouse gas polluters, ending years of contention over a measure that became political poison for the lawmakers who imposed it.

GREECE  Greek police arrested one of the country’s most wanted men — a fugitive convicted of terrorism — during a shootout this week in Athens’ central tourist district that left four people wounded, authorities said. Police said the wounded included two foreign tourists, a police officer and the fugitive, Nikos Maziotis, 43.

BOLIVIA While most of the world is trying to diminish child labor, Bolivia is on the verge of becoming the first nation to legalize it from age 10. Sponsors of legislation awaiting President Evo Morales’ signature say lowering the minimum work age from 14 simply acknowledges a reality: Many poor families in Bolivia have no other choice.

MEXICO Parents and relatives of children rescued by police from a refuse-strewn group home where employees allegedly beat and raped residents tell of trying to get their loved ones out, only to be met with demands for thousands of dollars for their release.

USA The White House is meeting growing resistance from both the left and the right as it pushes a multibillion-dollar emergency spending bill to tackle the crisis of tens of thousands of unaccompanied children crossing into South Texas. The crisis of unaccompanied youths at the border has burst into U.S. headlines, with the bulk of more than 57,000 young people streaming up from Guatemala, Honduras and El Salvador since last autumn, often fleeing brutal gang violence

USA New York regulators have proposed establishing a framework for commerce in virtual currency that would apply to firms involved in receiving, transmitting and storing it, as well as retail conversions. The proposal by the Department of Financial Services would establish a so-called “BitLicense.”