BEIJING (AP) — Pressure from the West is strengthening Russia’s ties with China, Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin said in a meeting with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing Wednesday. Mishustin’s visit comes as Russia is increasingly turning to China for diplomatic and economic support amid growing isolation over its invasion of Ukraine. In opening remarks at his meeting Wednesday with Chinese Premier Li Qiang, Mishustin did not mention the 15-month-old war that China, in deference to Moscow, has refused to criticize, focusing instead on economic cooperation between the neighbors that have partnered in challenging the U.S. lead in global affairs. Relations between the two countries are “at an unprecedented high level,” influenced by the “pressure of illegitimate sanctions from the collective West,” Mishustin said.
SYDNEY (AP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi struck new agreements Wednesday with his Australian counterpart Anthony Albanese on migration and green hydrogen, while raising concerns about attacks on Hindu temples in Sydney. Modi was welcomed Tuesday by around 20,000 cheering fans, many chanting “Modi,” at a Sydney stadium for his second visit to Australia as India’s leader. But his visit has also been protested by activists who accuse his government of restricting Muslim and other minorities’ rights, as well as press freedom. Anti-Modi posters appeared around Sydney, and Hindu temples in Sydney’s west were recently vandalized. Sikhs have also used the visit to demand a separate state.
Miran Shah, Pakistan (AP) — A suicide bomber targeted a security checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing two soldiers, a policeman and a civilian, security officials said. It was the second attack to hit Pakistan in as many days. The bombing happened in North Waziristan, a district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province that borders Afghanistan and is a former stronghold of the militant Pakistani Taliban group, also known as Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan or TTP. A number of civilians were also wounded in the attack, according to Rehmat Khan, a local police official. No one claimed responsibility for the attack but suspicion is likely to fall on the Pakistani Taliban.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — South Korea canceled its planned launch Wednesday of its first commercial-grade satellite due to a technical issue, days after rival North Korea reaffirmed its push to place its first military spy satellite into orbit. The cancellation was announced about two hours before South Korea’s homegrown Nuri space launch vehicle carrying eight satellites — including the main, commercial-grade one — was scheduled to lift off from a southern launch facility. Oh Tae-seok, the first vice-minister of science, told a televised news conference a communication anomaly between the launch control computer and the launch pad control computer was found during the launch preparation process.
HAGATNA, Guam (AP) — Typhoon Mawar aimed its fury at the tiny U.S. territory of Guam on Wednesday as residents with nowhere to go hunkered down to face the devastating winds and torrential rains from what was expected to be the worst storm to hit the Pacific island in decades. The U.S. military sent away ships, residents stockpiled supplies and anyone not living in a concrete house was urged to seek safety elsewhere ahead of the typhoon, which was forecast to arrive as a Category 4 storm with winds of 140 mph (225 kph) but could possibly strengthen to a Category 5, the most powerful.
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) — The head of a major international aid agency said Tuesday that key Taliban officials told him in meetings that they are close to finalizing guidelines that will allow Afghan women to resume working for nongovernmental organizations. But they were unable to give a timeline or details when pressed. The Taliban last December barred Afghan women from working at NGOs, allegedly because they were not wearing the hijab — the Islamic headscarf — correctly and were not observing gender segregation rules. In April, they said this ban extended to U.N. offices and agencies in Afghanistan. There are exemptions in some sectors like health care and education.
RAICHUR, India (AP) — In the searing heat that often envelops Raichur, an ancient town in southern India, a ceiling fan that spins without interruption brings sweet relief for the newborn babies and their mothers at the Government Maternity Hospital. But such respite wasn’t always guaranteed in a region where frequent power cuts to India’s overmatched electrical grid can last hours. It wasn’t until the hospital installed rooftop solar panels a year ago that it could depend on constant electricity that keeps the lights on, patients and staff comfortable and vaccines and medicines safely refrigerated. The diesel generator that used to provide emergency backup — spewing planet-warming gases and toxic smoke within breathing distance of newborns every time it was running — is gone.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s new ambassador to the U.S. is taking office amid disputes over trade, access to computer chips and Washington’s support for self-governing Taiwan. Xie Feng arrived in New York on Tuesday and told reporters at JFK Airport that relations between the world’s two largest economies face “serious difficulties and challenges.” “We hope that the United States will work together with China to increase dialogue, to manage differences and also to expand our cooperation, so that our relationship will be back to the right track,” Xie said in remarks delivered in English. The “Taiwan question” would be among the sensitive issues at the top of his agenda, Xie said.
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Three Cambodian land rights activists who were arrested on charges of plotting against the government planned to provoke a peasant revolution by teaching farmers about class divisions between rich and poor, an official said Tuesday. Theng Savoeun, president of the Coalition of Cambodian Farmer Community, and his colleagues Nhel Pheap and Than Hach were charged Monday by a court in the country’s northeast with plotting against the state and incitement to commit a felony, said Am Sam Ath of the local rights group Licadho. He said plotting against the government carries a possible prison term of five to 10 years, while incitement to commit a felony is punishable by six months to two years.
BEIJING (AP) — China’s foreign minister pressed his Dutch counterpart Tuesday for access to advanced chipmaking technology that has been blocked on security grounds and warned against allowing what he said were unfounded fears of Beijing to spoil relations. Chinese frustration with curbs imposed by the Netherlands, Washington and Japan on chip technology has added to political strains at a time when Beijing is threatening to attack Taiwan and is increasingly assertive toward other Asian neighbors. There was no indication the Netherlands changed its restriction on the supply of lithography machines available only from a single Dutch company that use ultraviolet light to etch tiny circuits on next-generation processor chips.
