Editor’s Note: This listicle is part of a weekly series by The Ball State Daily News summarizing five stories from around the world. All summaries are based on stories published by The Associated Press.
U.S. and China relations come to a new low, Europe faces setbacks after opening to tourists, Vietnam's new virus cases, a mock aircraft carrier increases tension between U.S. and Iran and Najib Razak faces the fate of his charges all make up this week’s five international stories.
Chinese policemen march past the former United States Consulate in Chengdu in southwest China's Sichuan province on Monday, July 27, 2020. Chinese authorities took control of the former U.S. consulate in the southwestern Chinese city on Monday after it was ordered closed amid rising tensions between the global powers. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
Consulate closures an inflection point in China-US relations
Mistrust and rancor surrounding disputes over alleged technology theft, national security, human rights, Hong Kong, Taiwan and the South China Sea are now the main drivers in a relationship that had long sought to compartmentalize such issues to prevent them from impeding trade ties and cooperation in managing issues such as North Korea’s nuclear program and conflicts in the Middle East and Africa.
Tourists and locals ride a tram in town of Sóller in the Balearic Island of Mallorca, Spain, Monday, July 27, 2020. Britain has put Spain back on its unsafe list and announced Saturday that travelers arriving in the U.K. from Spain must now quarantine for 14 days. (AP Photo/Joan Mateu)
European tourism faces turbulence only weeks after restart
European countries started opening up to each other’s tourists in mid-June, but recent events have shown that the new freedom to travel is subject to setbacks. The U.N. health agency’s emergencies chief, Dr. Michael Ryan, stressed the need to “keep pressure on the virus.”
A woman wearing a face mask stands on a beach in Vung Tau city, Vietnam, Sunday, July 26, 2020. Vietnam on Sunday reimposed restrictions in one of its most popular beach destinations after a second person tested positive for the virus, the first locally transmitted cases in the country in over three months. (AP Photo/Hau Dinh)
80,000 people fleeing Vietnamese city after new virus cases
Vietnam, widely seen as a success in dealing with the coronavirus, reimposed a social distancing order in Da Nang following the confirmation of the cases, the first known to be locally transmitted in the country in over three months. The ministry also said the virus is a new strain that has not previously been found in Vietnam. The mutated strain has a faster speed of infection, but its harmfulness compared to the previous strain is not yet known, it said.
In this Feb. 15, 2020, satellite photo provided on July 27, 2020, by Maxar Technologies, a mockup aircraft carrier built by Iran is seen at Bandar Abbas, Iran, before being put to sea. Satellite photographs released Monday, July 27, showed Iran has moved the aircraft carrier out to sea likely for naval drills amid heightened tensions between Tehran and the U.S. (Maxar Technologies via AP)
Iran moves mock aircraft carrier to sea amid US tensions
Iran has moved a mock aircraft carrier to the strategic Strait of Hormuz amid heightened tensions with the United States, satellite photographs released on Monday show, likely signalling the Islamic Republic soon plans to use it for live-fire drills. The replica resembles the Nimitz-class carriers that the U.S. Navy routinely sails into the Persian Gulf from the Strait of Hormuz, the narrow mouth of the waterway.
Read More: Iran
In this May 24, 2018, file photo, former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak gestures as he leaves the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) Office in Putrajaya, Malaysia. After years of insisting on his innocence, Najib learns his fate this week in his first corruption trial linked to one of the world’s biggest financial scandals - a verdict widely seen as a test for the rule of law five months after a new government took power. July 28, 2020's ruling is being closely watched amid a stunning reversal of fortune for Najib’s Malay party, which returned to office as a key player in the new ruling alliance. (AP Photo/Vincent Thian, File)
Graft verdict for Malaysia ex-leader a test of rule of law
After years of insisting on his innocence, former Malaysian leader Najib Razak learns his fate this week in his first corruption trial linked to one of the world’s biggest financial scandals — a verdict widely seen as a test for the rule of law five months after a new government took power. Najib faces a total of 42 charges — ranging from from abuse of power to money laundering — in five separate trials linked to the 1MDB fiasco.
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