Maggie Garred

The United States Embassy in Harare and leading human rights groups are urging the Zimbabwean government to show restraint in the face of a major opposition demonstration planned for Friday in the capital. The opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) has called for a string of protests starting Friday to protest what they say is a broken economy that has led to empty gas stations, empty wallets, empty shelves, and empty stomachs.

South Korea’s navy dispatched a unit to fight pirates the Gulf of Aden Tuesday, fueling speculation that the ship could join up with the U.S. Navy patrolling the Strait of Hormuz amid rising tensions with Iran. South Korean Defense Ministry spokeswoman Choi Hyun-see told reporters that the destroyer is carrying out a “routine mission.” But she added that South Korea is “reviewing various options” to protect Korean vessels in a region that supplies much of the country’s oil.

Americans of both major parties are expressing a rising level of suspicion and hostility toward China and say they now see Beijing as a clear security threat, according to a new survey Tuesday from the Pew Research Center. China is now tied with Russia at 24 percent as the country that poses the greatest threat to the U.S., the new survey found. A decade ago, just 12 percent saw Beijing as a top rival.