The US Defense Department unveiled the designations just weeks after President Donald Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, with both sides seeking to maintain stability in the bilateral relationship

For a while, experts linked the decline to the recession that struck in 2008 when the global financial system nearly imploded, driving millions of people into hardship. But when the economy picked up, a rebound in births never came

China will not swerve from its commitment to safeguarding common interests with North Korea or waver in its support for Kim Jong Un, President Xi Jinping told Pyongyang’s leader yesterday during a rare summit.

A Russian attack killed five and injured fourteen in Ukraine’s southeastern Zaporizhzhia region, the regional governor said on Telegram yesterday.

Iran and Israel yesterday said that hostilities between them had halted, after the two countries exchanged strikes that threatened to reignite the Middle East war.

US President Donald Trump said that Israel and Iran must stop "shooting," as the two countries attacked each other for the first time since the ceasefire

Tehran was exchanging messages with Washington in an atmosphere of "extreme suspicion".

Iranian media today said Israel had struck a petrochemical company in southwestern Iran, as the warring countries traded fire hours after US President Donald Trump called for restraint.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi rebels announced a missile attack on Israel on Monday and declared a ban on Israeli shipping in the Red Sea, raising the spectre of a return to major disruption on the key route

Commissioner Sardar Waheed, the top civilian official in the city of Rawalakot, where the latest clashes took place, told AFP three civilians were killed and 40 wounded.

More than 100 people injured

China's President Xi Jinping hailed an "invincible friendship" with Pyongyang on arrival in North Korea today, his first trip abroad this year after hosting back-to-back summits in Beijing.

Jet fuel prices are forecast to reach US$152 (S$196.2) per barrel in 2026, up from less than US$100 per barrel in 2025

Bear attacks, including in urban areas, have been on the rise in Japan, prompting the government to set up a task force this year to reduce casualties

Tehran's demands to end the war include the release of billions of dollars in frozen assets, as well as the lifting of U.S. and international sanctions and recognition of its sway over the Strait of Hormuz

Iran fired a salvo of missiles at Israeli targets in retaliation, putting U.S.-Iran peace talks at risk

The new attacks, including a strike on an Iranian petrochemical complex, came hours after US President Donald Trump called on Israel to refrain from retaliating against Tehran's missiles.

Circumstances of the stabbing were not immediately clear.

Japanese authorities separately issued a tsunami advisory for swathes of its Pacific coast

'The Israeli army must stop its attacks on southern Lebanon and the suburbs,' says General Ali Abdollahi,