Australian man charged with murder over death of a teenage girl in Thailand’s Pattaya

BANGKOK (AP) — An Australian man was charged with murder and concealment of a body in connection with the death of a teenage girl in an eastern tourist city in Thailand, police said Tuesday.

The 17-year-old girl was reported missing Friday. Police said she was last seen on security footage walking into a condominium with the suspect, Simon Peter Carman, in the popular beach city of Pattaya about 150 kilometers (93 miles) east of Bangkok.

Carman was later seen leaving the building alone with a large suitcase and security footage showed him loading the suitcase onto a motorbike and riding into a deserted area along the railway, local police said.

Carman was arrested early Saturday at a Bangkok airport before boarding a flight bound for Perth, Australia, and charged with raping a minor. The suitcase containing the girl's body was found shortly after he was arrested, leading to the additional charges, police said.

Self-exiled Chinese billionaire Guo Wengui gets 30 years in US prison for fraud conviction

NEW YORK (AP) — A self-exiled billionaire Chinese business tycoon once believed to be among China's wealthiest men was sentenced Monday to 30 years in a U.S. prison for a massive financial fraud that a federal judge said cost over 1,000 people worldwide hundreds of millions of dollars.

Guo Wengui, who fled China a decade ago and reinvented himself as a U.S.-based Communist Party critic, was sentenced in a Manhattan courtroom packed with his supporters by Judge Analisa Torres. She said he “preyed on those seeking to bring Democracy to China,” taking their money so he could live lavishly.

Before he was sentenced, Guo protested his treatment in jail, saying he was taken to the hospital early Monday. He disputed a prosecutor's portrayal of him as a malingerer faking illness, saying he repeatedly vomited as he was returned to jail before being brought to court.

“When I came here, I said: ‘I have a tummy ache, I need to go to the bathroom, I don’t feel well,’” Guo said through an interpreter of his courthouse arrival. Later, Guo wiped his mouth repeatedly with a tissue.

Britain sets out a plan for future defense with a focus on drones and a fight over money

LONDON (AP) — Self-flying fighter jets, uncrewed submarines and drones will be at the center of Britain’s future military under a defense plan being announced Tuesday that reflects a world of conflicts transformed by technology.

The Defense Investment Plan has been repeatedly delayed as military leaders and Treasury officials wrangled over the cost of equipping the U.K. military for an increasingly dangerous world. Like other NATO countries, the U.K. is under pressure to increase defense spending to counter a more aggressive Russia and less reliable United States.

Prime Minister Keir Starmer said the plan will keep Britain safe in “a more dangerous and volatile world than at any time for decades."

But the blueprint does not commit to spending 3% of U.K. GDP on defense by 2030, one of the factors that spurred John Healey to resign as U.K. defense secretary on June 11

Trump’s fixation on voting has had mixed results. He still has ways to affect November’s elections

ATLANTA (AP) — President Donald Trump has tried many ways to tighten his grip on U.S. elections, from signing executive orders to pushing restrictive legislation in Congress. Monday's Supreme Court ruling siding with states that accept late-arriving mail ballots was the latest example showing the limits of his reach.

It followed back-to-back rulings last week that barred his two sweeping executive orders seeking to change national election rules, more court rulings preventing his Department of Justice from obtaining detailed state voter data and his stalled attempts to get the Senate to pass the SAVE Act. That measure would eliminate nearly all absentee voting, require citizenship documents to register to vote and impose photo identification requirements nationwide right before the midterm elections.

“It’s been a mixed bag for Republicans,” said University of Notre Dame law professor Derek Muller. But the president, he added, “has come up mostly empty-handed.”

Trump's efforts have not been entirely fruitless. Republican-run states have satisfied his demands to redraw congressional district lines, efforts buoyed by the Supreme Court striking down a key section of the Voting Rights Act, and he has been directing his Department of Justice to investigate voting and election operations, which Democrats see as a possible prelude to their involvement in November.

Iran war turns Asia toward diversifying energy supplies, undermining climate goals

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian nations hit hard by the Iran war's price shocks are rushing to diversify and strengthen their energy security, potentially undermining their commitments to curb climate change.

As negotiations on ending the war drag on, countries in energy hungry Southeast Asia are exploring nuclear power and promising renewable rollouts. But they are also investing in coal power to provide a buffer during times of crisis.

The Iran war has not shaken coal's status as a pillar of Southeast Asia’s energy security, said Sandeep Pai at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability.

Until recently, coal was slowly being phased out to reduce climate change-causing emissions and address air quality concerns. But the conflict has complicated that scenario.

A rare dinosaur fossil from Antarctica is found tucked away in a drawer

The bone was discovered in 1985 during an expedition to Antarctica's James Ross Island; decades later, a paleontologist spotted the bone in the British Antarctic Survey's collections and wondered whether it might be a dinosaur.

He survived 2 natural disasters in Venezuela’s La Guaira. Now he vows never to return

Venezuelan merchant Grian Serrano has survived two of the country's worst natural disasters: the devastating 1999 mudslides that ravaged the coastal state of La Guaira and, 26 years later, two powerful earthquakes that struck the same region.

Bruised around his left eye and across much of his body, 46-year-old Serrano is recovering from the ordeal he endured with his son and mother Wednesday.

The three were buried beneath rubble and twisted steel when their eight-story apartment building collapsed in the city of Caraballeda in La Guaira, the state hardest hit by the magnitude 7.2 and 7.5 earthquakes.

“It is a miracle from God,” Serrano said as he recalled how, in total darkness, he clawed through debris with his bare hands before rescuing his 8-year-old son and 69-year-old mother with the help of two passersby.

China’s factory activity expands in June with boost from tech exports

HONG KONG (AP) — China’s factory activity picked up pace in June, an official survey showed Tuesday, as demand for artificial intelligence hardware made exports robust.

The official manufacturing purchasing managers index, or PMI, expanded to 50.3 from 50 in May, better than economists’ expectations, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. That’s despite worries over China’s economy losing steam.

On a 0 to 100 scale, a reading above 50 reflects expansion, while below 50 indicates contraction.

The sub-index for new orders climbed to 51.2 in June from 49.9 in May, and the sub-index on production also expanded to 51.4 from 51.2.

Monaco explosion injures 3 including Ukrainian tycoon, as suspect flees to France

MONACO (AP) — Monaco ’s chief prosecutor said Tuesday that the suspect who placed an explosive device that injured three people, including a reported Ukrainian tycoon, acted alone and remains at large.

Police in the principality have opened an attempted murder investigation into Monday's incident but aren’t qualifying it as a terrorism investigation, Prosecutor Stephane Thibault told reporters. The motive remains unclear.

One of the three injured is a woman in life-threatening condition, he said. The other is a man who is no longer in life-threatening condition and a child whose life isn’t in danger, he said. He didn’t provide their identities.

The suspected attacker fled into neighboring France, authorities have said.

Les Mills, the New Zealand Olympian who founded a chain of gyms, dies at 91

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) — Les Mills, the New Zealand Olympian who founded the gym chain that bore his name, died Monday at age 91, his company said.

A statement posted to the website of the company Mills founded said he died “peacefully.” The statement didn’t cite a specific cause.

Leslie Roy Mills represented New Zealand at four Olympics, competing in discus and shot put, and won five Commonwealth Games medals. He was the mayor of Auckland, New Zealand’s largest city, from 1990 to 1998.

His name is best known in connection with the fitness brand he founded, beginning with the first Les Mills gym opened in Auckland in 1968. A chain of 12 gyms now operates throughout New Zealand.

Michigan parents charged with murder in death of 7-year-old son who weighed 255 pounds

The parents of a 7-year-old Michigan boy who weighed 255 pounds (116 kilograms) when he died have been charged with murder, torture and child abuse, prosecutors said.

“Clearly the parents were feeding the child improperly, to say the least,” Genesee County Prosecutor David Leyton said Monday. “He wasn’t getting the nutrition he needed.”

Casper O'Brien died last November after first responders were called to the family's home in Flint because he'd stopped breathing, prosecutors said. His parents — Damien O’Brien, 40, and Jessica O’Brien, 41 — have each been charged with second-degree murder, torture and three counts of second-degree child abuse.

The couple were arraigned last week and are being held on no bond in jail in Genesee County, about an hour's drive northwest of Detroit. A probable cause hearing is set for Thursday.