POLITICS

Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, bowing to pressure from his party's hard right, gave the go-ahead on Tuesday for an impeachment investigation into US President Joe Biden.

China's BRI is a decade old, but beyond its ambitious promises of trans-national connectivity, the initiative is looked at with skepticism and is seen as a debt trap for developing countries.

India has been one of the frontrunners in demanding for UNSC reforms that would include changes to its permanent and non-permanent membership. But this would only be possible with the consensus of the current veto powers.

Many observers hailed Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's bid to cement his country's position as the Global South's "voice" and a "bridge" to the West during the G20 summit as a success.

The U.S., India, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, France, Germany, Italy and the European Union announced a Memorandum of Understanding to develop the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEEC).

The United States and Vietnam warned on Monday against the "threat or use of force" in the disputed South China Sea, days after the latest clash involving Chinese vessels. President Joe Biden and Vietnam's Communist Party chief Nguyen Phu Trong said the competing claims on the strategic waterway must be settled under international norms.Beijing claims almost the entire sea, through which trillions of dollars in trade passes annually, and has ignored an international court ruling that its assertion has no legal basis.

US President Joe Biden hailed closer ties with Vietnam on Sunday as the two countries struck a deal to deepen relations and cooperation on strategic supplies in the face of growing competition from China.

Half a century ago, Chile's La Moneda presidential palace went up in flames after being bombed by air force jets.

The G20 Summit in New Delhi is expected to become a venue for a power showdown between India and China, and with Xi Jinping's absence, Japan is expected to prop up its ally in becoming the "voice" of the Global South.

India's assumption of the G20 presidency took place when the world was still reeling from the effects of the pandemic and when alliances were being rethought due to the Ukraine crisis.

Geopolitical tensions that have seen Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese leader Xi Jinping skip the talks mean the group is unlikely to even achieve the traditional final communique, let alone robust climate pledges. That sets up a "potentially catastrophic" failure by nations that account for 80 percent of global power sector emissions, Amnesty International warned Thursday.

China has been asserting its territorial claims across virtually the entire South China Sea through its 9-dash line in the past years, and while it has faced resistance from other claimants, opposition to its new 10-dash line appears to be more serious.

As New Delhi takes the global stage by leading the Group of 20 summit, President Joe Biden will be there as a cheerleader, even as U.S. policymakers come to accept that India's interests will at times be at odds with Washington's.

Mexico's ruling party on Wednesday named former Mexico City mayor Claudia Sheinbaum as its candidate for the 2024 presidential election, ensuring that for the first time the two main rivals to lead the Latin American power will be women.

At a time when relations between the U.S. and China have soured, Beijing passed a foreign state that "stipulates the rules for Chinese courts to handle civil cases involving a foreign State and its property."

Biden will discuss "a range of joint efforts to tackle global issues" including climate change and "mitigating the economic and social impacts of Russia's war in Ukraine", National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said ahead of the summit.

Tried in secret for "abusing democratic freedoms" and detained in a psychiatric hospital, journalist Le Anh Hung knows well the price of standing up to Vietnam's communist government.

The G20 summit, which will take place on Sept. 9-10 in New Delhi, was seen as an opportunity for the two leaders to meet after their last encounter on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Indonesia.

More than two years after Myanmar's military junta overthrew the government, unity in the ASEAN bloc is being questioned – Myanmar remains barred from attending summits and Thailand seems to be ready to welcome the country back against an adamant majority.

The leader of Germany's powerful Bavaria state said Sunday he would keep his deputy in the job despite a row over an old anti-Semitic leaflet, hoping to draw a line under the scandal ahead of a regional election.

Malaysia became the first ASEAN member to reject China's claims in its new map, followed by the Philippines. The tensions come as ASEAN countries prepare for its 43rd summit.

Premier Li Qiang might make the trip to New Delhi instead of the Chinese president, according to officials from India and China.

The U.S. military is in talks with the Philippines about building a civilian port on its remote northernmost islands that face Taiwan.

The State Department informed Congress on Tuesday of the $80 million package, which is small compared with recent sales to Taiwan but marks the first assistance to Taipei under the Foreign Military Financing program, which generally involves grants or loans to sovereign countries.

The so-called "standard map" of China, released Monday, includes the Indian state of Arunachal Pradesh and the Aksai Chin plateau--a disputed region controlled by Beijing, but claimed by India--as Chinese territory.

For India, what complicates the issue is that its Quad partner, the U.S., vehemently opposes Bangladesh's current prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, who emerged as one of India's closest allies in the neighborhood since her emergence to power in 2009.

Biden will be traveling to Hanoi on Sept. 10 to discuss ways to "further deepen" the U.S.-Vietnam cooperation, the White House said in a Monday announcement. The visit is set to take place as Washington's concerns remain over China's growing economic and military muscle in the region.

U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo met with Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao on Monday, with the two sides agreeing to set up a working group to iron out the laundry list of trade disputes between them. They also agreed to set up what Washington called an "export control enforcement information exchange."

Trump will have trials in at least three different criminal cases during the Republican presidential nominations.