Mexico
Protesters shut bridge linking Mexico, Texas
CIUDAD VICTORIA — At least 200 demonstrators blocked a major commercial bridge between Mexico and Texas to protest the disappearance of dozens of people in the border city of Nuevo Laredo, snarling traffic in both directions for most of Monday.
The protest began around 9:30 a.m. at the bridge, which is used exclusively by cargo trucks traveling between Tamaulipas state and Laredo, Texas, and was still going on as of late afternoon.
Thousands of trucks make the crossing each day, and long lines of tractor-trailers backed up along the highway.
Demonstrators were protesting what they consider a weak response by authorities to 43 complaints filed with prosecutors over disappearances in Nuevo Laredo.
Nuevo Laredo is a key smuggling corridor for rival drug gangs, and the city has been experiencing a wave of violence.
Israel
Paraguay inaugurates embassy in Jerusalem
JERUSALEM — Paraguay opened its new embassy in Jerusalem on Monday, following in the footsteps of the United States and Guatemala.
President Horacio Cartes dedicated the embassy, making Paraguay the third country to transfer its diplomatic mission in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
Romania, the Czech Republic and Honduras have said they are considering doing the same.
Russia
Oligarch Abramovich has UK visa issues
MOSCOW — An associate of Chelsea soccer club owner Roman Abramovich confirmed Monday that the Russian billionaire’s British visa has not been renewed. Abramovich was noticeably absent when Chelsea won England’s FA Cup final on Saturday.
The associate said that Abramovich’s visa renewal application is taking longer than usual, but the reason for the delay was unclear.
Britain pledged to review the long-term visas of rich Russians in the aftermath of the March poisonings of Russian former spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter in Salisbury. Britain blames Russia for the pair’s exposure to a nerve agent, an allegation Moscow denies.
France
Gunmen try to corner cops reacting to shots
PARIS — Police officials say a group of people, some armed with guns, shot into the air in the French city of Marseille and tried to corner officers who responded to the sound of gunfire.
Christophe Reynaud of the Marseille police
ruled out terrorism and said the shooting probably was drug-related.
Japan
Sexual misconduct alleged in survey
TOKYO — A survey of women working for Japanese newspapers and TV networks has found 150 cases of alleged sexual misconduct reported by 35 women, about one-third of it involving lawmakers, government officials and law enforcers, a researcher said Monday.
Osaka International University professor Mayumi Taniguchi, a gender-studies expert, said the survey was prompted by a recent and widely publicized case of alleged sexual mistreatment of a journalist by a senior finance ministry official.
She said 40 percent of the cases reportedly occurred at the journalists’ workplaces and the remainder involved their news sources or others.
Australia
Archbishop convicted of sex abuse cover-up
NEWCASTLE — An Australian archbishop has become most the senior Roman Catholic cleric in the world to be charged with covering up child sex abuse.
Magistrate Robert Stone handed down the verdict against Archbishop Philip Wilson in Newcastle Local Court, north of Sydney, on Tuesday following a magistrate-only trial.
