By the numbers: Since December, the authorities have closed more than 140,000 blogs and deleted more than 500,000 articles, according to the state-run news media, saying that they contained false information, distortions or obscenities. Philippines: The country formally withdrew from the International Criminal Court as it faced a preliminary inquiry into whether President Rodrigo Duterte had engaged in mass murder and crimes against humanity in his bloody and extrajudicial drug crackdown. On Thursday, Mr. Duterte publicly released a new list of people that he claims are “narcopoliticians” — including many who are his political opponents. Cyclone: More than 150 people were killed in a huge cyclone that hit Malawi, Mozambique and Zimbabwe. Hundreds more were missing, and tens of thousands of others were stranded in mainly poor, rural areas, officials said.

Source: New York Times March 17, 2019 20:00 UTC