by Benjamin CARLSON with Jan HENNOP in The Hague BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing furiously rejected an international tribunal ruling Tuesday that rendered its claims in the South China Sea invalid and dealt a devastating diplomatic blow to its ambitions in the resource-rich region. China asserts sovereignty over almost all of the strategically vital waters, despite rival claims from its Southeast Asian neighbors, most notably the Philippines. But on Tuesday a UN-backed tribunal in The […]