News Snapshot:
A fleet of Chinese ships that sparked a diplomatic row after parking at a reef off the Philippines for weeks are now scattered across the contested Spratly Islands, a government agency said Wednesday, condemning Beijing's "unlawful presence" in the area. Over two hundred ships were first spotted on March 7 at Whitsun Reef, around 320 kilometres (175 nautical miles) west of Palawan Island in the South China Sea. Manila ordered Beijing to withdraw the ships, calling their presence an incursion into its sovereign territory. China -- which claims almost the entirety of the resource-rich sea -- has claimed the vessels...
