Briefly

UNITED STATES

Navy ships on way toward Venezuela

US President Donald Trump announced on Wednesday that US Navy ships are being moved toward Venezuela as his administration beefs up counter-narcotics operations in the Caribbean following a US drug indictment against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro. The deployment is one of the largest US military operations in the region since the 1989 invasion of Panama to remove general Manuel Noriega.

AUSTRALIA

Disgraced cardinal awaits appeal ruling

Australia's High Court said on Thursday that it will rule on Cardinal George Pell's appeal against child sex abuse convictions on April 7, giving the senior cleric another chance to clear his name and leave jail. The 78-year-old former Vatican treasurer is trying to overturn a six-year sentence for sexually assaulting two 13-year-old choirboys in the 1990s. Pell, who once helped elect popes, is the highest-ranking Catholic Church official ever convicted of child sex crimes.

Agencies Via Xinhua