World News Roundup: Australia closes state border; South China Sea drills and more

Following is a summary of current world news briefs.

Die in detention or at home? U.S. pandemic forces cruel choice on asylum seekers

In early June, asylum seeker Jose Munoz decided it was time to flee for his life - by getting deported from a Texas immigration detention center where coronavirus was sweeping through the population and going home to El Salvador. As the number of COVID-19 cases rose in the Houston Contract Detention Facility - it has had at least 105, according to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) data - Munoz said he had few ways to protect himself from exposure except for a cloth face mask. On June 1, there were 375 detainees housed in the facility, according ICE data.

Australia closes state border for first time in 100 years after COVID-19 spike

The border between Australia's two most populous states will close from Tuesday for an indefinite period as authorities scramble to contain an outbreak of the coronavirus in the city of Melbourne. The decision announced on Monday marks the first time the border between Victoria and New South Wales has been shut in 100 years. Officials last blocked movement between the two states in 1919 during the Spanish flu pandemic.

Austria investigating political motive in Chechen dissident's killing

Austria is investigating whether the weekend killing of a Chechen dissident was politically motivated, the prosecutors' office handling the case said on Monday after two suspects were arrested. The 43-year-old, whom police have declined to identify, was shot dead on Saturday near a shopping center on the edge of Vienna. The two suspects are both Chechens who like the victim have lived in Austria for years, a spokesman for the prosecutors' office in the nearby town of Korneuburg said.

U.S. Navy carriers conduct South China Sea drills as Chinese ships watch

Two U.S. Navy aircraft carriers are conducting exercises in the contested South China Sea within sight of Chinese naval vessels spotted near the flotilla, the commander of one of the carriers, the USS Nimitz, told Reuters on Monday. "They have seen us and we have seen them," Rear Admiral James Kirk said in a telephone interview from the Nimitz, which has been conducting flight drills in the waterway with the Seventh Fleet carrier, the USS Ronald Reagan, that began on the U.S. Independence Day holiday of July 4.

Israel feels exposed as U.S. drops satellite-imaging cap

An Israeli official flagged a possible security risk on Monday following a U.S. move to allow American providers to sell clearer satellite images of Israel and the Palestinian territories. Under a 1997 U.S. regulation known as the Kyl-Bingaman Amendment, satellite images of Israel and the Palestinian territories used in services like Google Earth could show items no smaller than 2 metres (6.56 ft) across.

Japan floods, mudslides kill at least 44 as streets turn to rivers

Torrential rain hit Japan's southwestern island of Kyushu on Monday, with at least one more river bursting its banks, as the death toll from three days of floods and mudslides rose to 44, including 14 at an old people's home. Evacuation orders were issued for more than half a million island residents, as well as evacuation advisories for tens of thousands more in western Japan, broadcaster NHK said.

Hong Kong court denies bail to first person charged under new law

A Hong Kong court denied bail on Monday to the first person charged with inciting separatism and terrorism under the city's new national security law after he carried a sign saying "Liberate Hong Kong" and drove his motorbike into police. Tong Ying-kit, 23, was arrested after a video posted online showed him knocking over several officers at a demonstration last Wednesday, less than 24 hours after Beijing imposed sweeping national security legislation on its freest city.

China begins pulling back troops near site of India border clash, Indian sources say

China began pulling back troops from along its contested border with India on Monday, Indian government sources said, following a clash between the two countries last month in which 20 Indian soldiers were killed. Troops fought for hours with rods and clubs on the night of June 15, with some falling to their deaths in the freezing waters of the Galwan river in the western Himalayas.

Ahead of run-off vote, Polish president proposes constitutional ban on LGBT adoption

Poland's President Andrzej Duda on Monday proposed changing the constitution to ban LGBT couples from adopting children ahead of Sunday's presidential run-off in which the candidates are polling neck-and-neck. The opposition centrist Civic Platform (PO) candidate, Warsaw mayor Rafal Trzaskowski, said this weekend that he is also against the adoption of children by LGBT couples.

Britain set to use new powers to impose sanctions over rights

Britain will list on Monday the first foreign nationals to face asset freezes and visa bans for alleged human rights abuses under a new post-Brexit sanctions scheme that follows the 2012 U.S. Magnitsky Act. Britain's exit from the EU gives it the power to impose its own sanctions, rather than acting collectively as part of the bloc's single market.

(With inputs from agencies.)