QUOTE OF THE DAY “It can become endemic in the entire world if we do not complete the eradication of this disease.” Dr. Bruce Aylward, the World Health Organization official in charge of polio eradication, on the resurgence of the paralyzing virus once thought nearly eliminated, and the recommendation for all residents of Pakistan, Syria and Cameroon to get vaccinated before traveling abroad.

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Jet’s searchers to decide next move

International experts plan to convene in Canberra, Australia’s capital, on Wednesday to coordinate the next phase of the underwater search for the missing Malaysia Airlines Flight 370, with an intensified examination of the ocean floor looking for debris, officials said Monday.

Warren Truss, Australia’s deputy prime minister, said he is sure that the plane landed in the Indian Ocean, but the next phase would require mapping of the ocean bed, conducting an audit of all information collected to date, and deploying new search equipment, some of which would come from commercial operators.

The flight, with 239 people on board, went missing on March 8 after leaving Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on a scheduled flight to Beijing.

Truss said that despite hundreds of hours of searching the ocean surface, no debris from the jet has been found.

Man in China gets 10 years for spying

BEIJING - A Chinese court has convicted a man of spying and sentenced him to 10 years in prison for leaking classified military documents to a foreign spy who also approached more than 50 other people around China, state media said Monday.

The official China Daily newspaper said on its website that the man stole secret military documents and transferred photographs and other useful information to the foreign party. It did not say to which foreign governments the information may have been transferred, and didn’t cite sources for its report.

The China Daily and other official media identified the suspect by the surname Li. They said the recipient of the documents was named Feige, but gave no other information about the person.

The newspaper said Li also gathered information about military bases in the southern province of Guangdong, home to China’s southern fleet that oversees operations in the sensitive South China Sea. The report said Feige also contacted 12 other people in Guangdong, as well as 40 other people in the rest of China, but didn’t specify whether those people had provided information.

Dozens said dead in Syria bloodshed

BEIRUT - Fierce fighting in Syria’s contested northern province of Aleppo killed at least 21 rebels on Monday as rockets slammed into a government-held district in the provincial capital, killing nine people.

The clashes, which erupted after midnight Sunday and continued through the day Monday, also left at least 30 soldiers dead or wounded, said the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. The Syrian government does not publicize its casualties in the war.

President Bashar Assad’s forces, backed by Lebanese Hezbollah militants and pro-government militias, have been trying to wrest as much territory as possible from the opposition in Aleppo and elsewhere in Syria ahead of the June 3 presidential elections.

On Monday, the Obama administration granted a delegation of opposition leaders more U.S. support, giving them a “foreign mission” diplomatic status and pledged $27 million in nonlethal assistance.

U.S., Philippines begin military drills

MANILA, Philippines - U.S. and Philippine military officials said at an opening ceremony that 3,000 Filipino soldiers and 2,500 American military personnel would take part in the annual “Balikatan,” or shoulder-to-shoulder, exercises, the largest of several military drills the allies stage each year.

American and Philippine officials said the two weeks of maneuvers would focus on maritime security and disaster response, but avoided linking the war games with their concern about China, which they have criticized for its increasingly assertive behavior in disputed South China Sea territories.

The Philippines, the oldest of Washington’s five defense treaty allies in Asia, has turned to the U.S. to modernize its ill-equipped military amid the increasingly tense territorial rifts with China.

Front Section, Pages 6 on 05/06/2014