Must-Reads from Around the World

The U.S. government tries to sell advanced spy drones to South Korea, China opens the world's longest high-speed rail line and Israel reviews restrictions on women's prayer at Jerusalem's Western Wall.

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Spy Drones — The U.S. is trying to sell advanced spy drones to South Korea to help prepare the country for any attacks from its unruly neighbor North Korea, reports Reuters. South Korea has requested to buy four “Global Hawk” spy drones collectively worth $1.2 billion, according to the Pentagon’s Defense Security Cooperation Agency. The agency also said Seoul needs the drones for intelligence-gathering since it will take over the U.S.-led Combined Forces Command in South Korea in 2015.

High-Speed Rail — China has opened the world’s longest bullet-train route, notes the BBC. The 1,428-mile (2,298 km) rail route runs from the capital Beijing to the southern city of Guangzhou and will have 35 stops. On average, the trains will travel at 186 m.p.h. and travel time will be about eight hours, compared to more than 20 hours in the past.

Israel’s Western Wall — The Israeli government is reviewing laws that allow for gender division and ban women from carrying a Torah or wearing prayer shawls at Jerusalem’s Western Wall, one of Judaism’s holiest sites, reports the New York Times. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has asked the Jewish Agency “to study the issue and suggest ways to make the site more accommodating to all Jews,” writes the Times. The review comes after more than 20 years of civil disobedience by a group called Women of the Wall.