Southeast Asian ministers Friday condemned the lack of progress on a crisis resolution plan for coup-hit Myanmar, demanding the junta take action before a regional summit later this year.. On Friday, the ministers also held regional security talks with their counterparts from the US, China, Russia, Japan and Australia at the East Asia Summit. rbu-lpm/pdw/smw
India's central bank on Friday hiked interest rates for the third time in four months, as Asia's third-largest economy contends with a widening trade deficit and weakening currency.. India's benchmark Sensex index erased early losses to trade 0.56 percent higher on Friday following the interest rate decision. ng/grk/cwl
Betty Garces grew up in an impoverished port city on Colombia's Pacific coast to the rhythm of drums and marimbas, always with a background echo of violence. . Garces is from the city Buenaventura, which ironically translates as "good fortune" but is better known for rampant poverty, crime and drug violence.
Taiwan blasted its "evil neighbour next door" on Friday after China encircled the island with a series of huge military drills that were condemned by the United States and other Western allies.. "(We) didn't expect that the evil neighbour next door would show off its power at our door and arbitrarily jeopardise the busiest waterways in the world with its military exercises," he told reporters.
Chinese missiles flew over Taiwan during Beijing's latest military drills, state media reported Friday, as the country pressed ahead with exercises encircling the island following a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.. And on Friday, a hashtag shared by state media asking "what does it mean for the People's Liberation Army's conventional missiles to pass over Taiwan island?"
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has lashed out at Amnesty International after it accused his forces of violating international law and endangering civilians in their defence against Russia's invasion.. After a four-month investigation, Amnesty said it had found that the Ukrainian military had established bases in schools and hospitals, and launched attacks from populated areas, asserting that the tactics violated international humanitarian law.
US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Friday that the United States will "not allow" China to isolate Taiwan, after her visit to the self-ruled island infuriated Beijing.. On Friday, Pelosi said the United States wanted to find "common ground" with China on issues from rights to climate change.
China was set to press ahead Friday with its largest-ever military exercises encircling Taiwan despite firm statements of condemnation by the United States, Japan and the European Union.. - 'Temperature's pretty high' - China has defended the drills as just countermeasures in the face of provocations by the United States and its allies in Taiwan, which China views as its own territory and which it has vowed to retake.
Ending the war in Ukraine and starting a new one in Syria are expected to dominate talks on Friday between Russian President Vladimir Putin and Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan. . Three more are expected to to set sail Friday under a landmark deal designed to relieve a global food crisis caused by the war.
South Korea's first lunar orbiter successfully launched on a year-long mission to observe the Moon, Seoul said Friday, with the payload including a new disruption-tolerant network for sending data from space.. One of the instruments will evaluate disruption-tolerant, network-based space communications, which, according to South Korea's science ministry, is a world first.
