World briefs

CHINA is unhappy with the first visit by a U.S. Navy aircraft carrier to a Vietnamese port since the Vietnam War and is monitoring developments, a Communist Party newspaper said yesterday. 

PAPUPA NEW GUINEA A powerful earthquake that struck the country last week has left at least 55 people dead and authorities fear the toll could exceed 100, as survivors faced more shaking early yesterday from the strongest aftershock so far.

JAPAN A government-commissioned group of experts concluded that a costly underground ice wall is only partially effective in reducing the ever-growing amount of contaminated water at the destroyed Fukushima nuclear plant, and said other measures are needed as well.

PHILIPPINES The embattled Supreme Court chief justice urged Filipinos to stand up against authoritarianism and threats to human rights, in an indirect criticism of the country’s volatile leader, who has long called for her removal.

INDIA Architect and educator Balkrishna Doshi, best-known for his innovative work designing low-cost housing, has been awarded the 2018 Pritzker Architecture Prize, the first Indian to win architecture’s highest honor in its 40-year history.

PAKISTAN has approved India’s proposals for exchanges of civilian detainees, the foreign ministry said yesterday, a statement believed to also cover some of those held over the Kashmir conflict.

SRI LANKA Religious violence flared anew in the hills of the country yesterday despite a state of emergency, with Buddhist mobs sweeping through towns and villages, burning Muslim homes and businesses and leaving victims barricaded inside mosques.

SYRIA Government forces carried out punishing airstrikes against an opposition-held suburb of Damascus yesterday, seeking to divide the besieged enclave in two and further squeeze rebels and tens of thousands of civilians trapped inside, state-run media and opposition activists reported.

PORTUGAL As the country starts preparing for what might be a bumper tourist season this summer, people in the industry are beginning to worry about being able to cope with the influx of visitors.