
-
Verstappen snatches 'special' pole for Japan GP with lap record
-
Cambodia hails opening of naval base renovated by China
-
Verstappen snatches 'insane' pole for Japan GP in track record
-
Thousands rally for South Korea's impeached ex-president Yoon
-
Myanmar quake death toll passes 3,300: state media
-
India's Modi in Sri Lanka for defence and energy deals
-
'No one to return to': Afghans fear Pakistan deportation
-
Fractious Republicans seek unity over Trump tax cuts
-
America's passion for tariffs rarely pays off, economists warn
-
Trump's global tariff takes effect in dramatic US trade shift
-
North Korea's Kim fires new sniper rifle while visiting troops
-
Norris fastest in McLaren 1-2 as fires again disrupt Japan GP practice
-
Vital European defence startups still facing hurdles
-
'I don't have a voice in my head': Life with no inner monologue
-
Pakistan chasing 265 to win shortened third New Zealand ODI
-
US soybeans, energy: Who is hit by China's tariff retaliation?
-
Green, Sengun lift Rockets over Thunder, Celtics clinch record
-
Ariya downs defending champ Korda to advance at LPGA Match Play
-
Ovechkin ties Gretzky's all-time record of 894 NHL goals
-
Under-pressure Doohan vows to learn from Japanese GP smash
-
Harman goes four clear at Texas Open
-
McLaughlin-Levrone, Thomas cruise to wins at opening Grand Slam Track
-
US cardinal defrocked for sex abuse dies at 94
-
Lula admits 'still a lot to do' for Indigenous Brazilians
-
England, Germany and Spain on mark in women's Nations League
-
Judge orders return to US of Salvadoran man deported in error
-
Amadou of Malian blind music duo dies aged 70
-
Freeman hat-trick eases Northampton into Champions Cup quarters with Clermont win
-
Defiant Trump dismisses stock market's tariff plunge
-
Musiala injury sours Bayern win at Augsburg
-
Peruvian schoolkids living in fear of extortion gangs
-
Top seed Pegula rallies to oust defending champ Collins in Charleston
-
Amadou of Malian blind music duo Amadou & Mariam dies aged 70
-
California to defy Trump's tariffs to allay global trade fears
-
Bayern's Musiala subbed off with injury days out from Inter clash
-
Russian strike kills 16 in Ukraine leader's home city, children among dead
-
NBA fines Grizzlies' Morant for imaginary gun gesture
-
Trump tariffs offer opportunity for China
-
UK comedian Russell Brand charged with rape
-
Marsh, Markram help Lucknow edge Mumbai in IPL
-
Israel attorney general accuses PM of 'conflict of interest' in security chief dismissal
-
Emery glad to see Rashford make landmark appearance
-
Sean 'Diddy' Combs faces more charges ahead of criminal trial
-
Russian missile strike kills 14 in Ukraine leader's home city
-
Trump's tariff Big Bang puts global economy under threat
-
I Am Maximus backed for National as Mullins hot streak continues
-
2014 World Cup winner Hummels to retire at season's end
-
Intercommunal violence kills dozens in central Nigeria
-
Nigerian, S. African music saw 'extraordinary growth' in 2024: Spotify
-
Russell Brand: From Hollywood star to rape suspect
RBGPF | 100% | 69.02 | $ | |
GSK | -6.79% | 36.53 | $ | |
NGG | -5.25% | 65.93 | $ | |
RIO | -6.88% | 54.67 | $ | |
BTI | -5.17% | 39.86 | $ | |
CMSC | 0.13% | 22.29 | $ | |
SCS | -0.56% | 10.68 | $ | |
RELX | -6.81% | 48.16 | $ | |
AZN | -7.98% | 68.46 | $ | |
RYCEF | -18.79% | 8.25 | $ | |
BCC | 0.85% | 95.44 | $ | |
VOD | -10.24% | 8.5 | $ | |
BP | -10.43% | 28.38 | $ | |
JRI | -7.19% | 11.96 | $ | |
BCE | 0.22% | 22.71 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.7% | 22.83 | $ |

US, Asia allies meet to deepen bulwark against China
The top diplomats of the United States, Australia, Japan and India opened talks in Melbourne Friday on deepening their Quad alliance, hoping to blunt China's expanding power across the Asia-Pacific region.
Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison kicked off the day by highlighting the group's importance in building cooperation among democracies, while making a thinly-veiled allusion to his country's troubled relationship with Beijing.
"We live in a very fragile, fragmented and contested world," he told the visiting officials.
"We stand up to those who would seek to coerce us," he said.
Without mentioning China by name, Morrison said it was a "great comfort" that the three fellow Quad members understand "the coercion and the pressure that Australia has been placed under."
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that even though Russia's threat to Ukraine occupies Washington right now, the longer-term issue is China's rising power.
"To my mind, there's little doubt that China's ambition over time is to be the leading military, economic, diplomatic and political power not just in the region but in the world," he told The Australian newspaper on the eve of the talks.
- Tech, health, climate -
The Quad was first launched in 2007, but only took root a decade later after China aggressively projected its military power into the South China Sea, and following violent border clashes with India.
While the four held joint naval exercises in 2020 in the Bay of Bengal, the meetings in Melbourne are aimed at deepening cooperation across other fields like fighting Covid-19 and coordinating on critical information technology issues, including the global rollout of 5G telecommunications networks.
Blinken said they were seeking to develop and "affirmative vision" on a range of challenges, such as agreeing on technology standards, and cooperating on health issues and climate change.
The Covid-19 pandemic has been central to giving the grouping greater meaning beyond its image of trying to "contain" China.
The four countries used the Quad framework to commit to distributing 1.3 billion vaccine doses, with more than 500 million already delivered, according to Payne.
As for Washington, the meeting is a chance to reaffirm its decision to make Asia and the Pacific the centrepiece of foreign and defense policy, even as the White House and Pentagon are currently consumed by the potential for a Russian invasion of Ukraine.
While Ukraine is "front and center" in Washington right now, Blinken said ahead of his arrival in Australia: "The world is a big place."
"Our interests are global and you all know very well the focus that we put on the Asia-Pacific and the Indo-Pacific regions," he said.
J.Oliveira--PC