World briefs

CHINA Rescuers were searching for 12 missing sailors from a Chinese cargo ship that sank yesterday after colliding with another vessel in the mouth of the Pearl River near the southern city of Guangzhou.

VIETNAM A court in central Vietnam yesterday sentenced an activist to seven years in prison for producing online videos and interviews related to an environmental disaster that instigated anti-government protests, in the authorities’ latest crackdown on dissent. 

MYANMAR A court in Myanmar filed an additional charge yesterday against two foreign journalists who already have been sentenced to jail for illegally flying a drone over parliament.

SRI LANKA Police said yesterday that they have arrested 22 people who were attempting to migrate illegally to Australia by boat.

INDIA An appeals court yesterday acquitted 35 crewmembers and security guards of a private U.S. ship, who were sentenced last year to five years in prison on charges of illegally transporting weapons and ammunition in Indian waters in 2013.

RUSSIA Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov announced yesterday that he is ready to step down — a move largely perceived as a publicity stunt. He said he was stepping down because he finds the responsibility of leading the Russian region to be too heavy.

YEMEN Security and tribal officials say a suspected U.S. drone strike has killed three alleged al-Qaida fighters in the country’s central Bayda province.

LEBANON President Michel Aoun (pictured) launched consultations with the country’s political leaders over the government’s future in the wake of Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s suspended resignation.

FRANCE President Emmanuel Macron is heading to Africa to try to revive French influence and move beyond post-colonial tensions, despite skepticism and threats of demonstrations.

HONDURAS Early results from Honduras’ presidential election yesterday showed leftist challenger Salvador Nasralla with a surprise lead over incumbent President Juan Orlando Hernandez.

CUBA Armando Hart, a historic figure of the Cuban revolution who as education minister in the early 1960s oversaw a huge literacy campaign aimed at ensuring all Cubans could read and write, died Sunday at age 87.

VENEZUELA President Nicolas Maduro has tapped a high-ranking general to lead Venezuela’s struggling state oil company. Since taking office in 2013, Maduro has steadily handed more power to military officers, including key Cabinet posts.