Top Asian News 2:15 a.m. GMT

Associated Press

Updated 26 July 2024 at 10:15 pm·1-min read

Grappling with maritime disputes and Myanmar crisis, ASEAN top diplomat meetings joined by US, China

VIENTIANE, Laos (AP) — Top diplomats from Southeast Asia convened Saturday in the Laotian capital with their powerful dialogue partners in the last of the three-day regional talks that have grappled with tensions over territorial claims in the South China Sea, escalating fighting in Myanmar, and regional rivalry. Meetings on Saturday will bring together in the same room allies of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — including the United States, China, Russia, Japan, India and Australia — to bolster their relationships and discuss key security issues and other regional affairs. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived Saturday in Vientiane to meet with the ASEAN foreign ministers.

Reuters
Turkish lawmakers discuss Mideast in closed session after Erdogan's Israel claim
ANKARA (Reuters) -Turkey's lawmakers held a closed-door session on Tuesday to discuss the spread of war in the Middle East, a week after President Tayyip Erdogan made an unsubstantiated claim that Israel eventually aimed to encroach on Turkish territory. Israel has not publicly responded to Erdogan's claim, which analysts and opposition lawmakers say is far-fetched and is intended primarily to deflect public attention away from Turkey's economic woes. Israel has also not commented publicly on Tuesday's closed-door parliamentary session in Ankara, which is titled "Israel's occupation of Lebanon and developments in the region".
Reuters
US says ceasefire call shows Hezbollah 'getting battered'
Hezbollah's call for a ceasefire on Tuesday shows the militant group is on the back foot and "getting battered," U.S. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller told a regular briefing on Tuesday. Hezbollah's deputy leader Naim Qassem said in a televised address on Tuesday the Iran-backed group's capabilities were intact and its fighters were pushing back Israeli ground incursions, despite the "painful blows" inflicted by Israel in recent weeks. Qassem said the group supported the efforts of Lebanon's Speaker of Parliament Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, to secure a ceasefire, without providing further details on any conditions demanded by Hezbollah.
The Daily Beast
Melania Sheds a Little Light on Trump’s Bedroom Habits
Melania Trump has been married to her husband for 19 years, during which time she had a front-row seat to the former president’s bedtime routine. She spilled on one detail of that regimen in a Tuesday appearance on Fox News Tuesday, suggesting that Donald Trump sleeps in something other than pajamas. She joined The Five to promote her new memoir, aptly titled Melania, which hit shelves earlier in the day.Read more at The Daily Beast.Get the Daily Beast's biggest scoops and scandals delivered rig
INSIDER
Kevin O'Leary says the US needs to go 'DEFCON 19 against China' and break the country with heavy tariffs
"You squeeze them because the Chinese only understand the stick," Kevin O'Leary told Fox News presenter Trey Gowdy.
AFP News
N. Korean soldiers 'highly likely' killed in Ukraine: Seoul
North Korean soldiers are likely fighting in Ukraine alongside Russian troops, with some believed already killed and more expected to be deployed, Seoul's defence minister said Tuesday.Seoul's defence minister, Kim Yong-hyun, told lawmakers Tuesday that it was "highly likely" that the report was true.
HuffPost
Kamala Harris Did 1 Thing On TV That The Last 2 Presidents Never Did
Stephen Colbert noted to the audience that production had "asked Harris ahead of time" if she was OK with the activity.
The Guardian
Chinese stocks suffer worst fall in 27 years over growth concerns
Investors disappointed after hoped-for policy plans by Beijing to stimulate economy failed to materialise
HuffPost
‘Bibi, What The F**k?’: Biden Allegedly Sparred With Netanyahu Over Lack Of Gaza Strategy
Despite publicly appearing as friends, the president is privately enraged at the Israeli prime minister's rogue behavior, according to Bob Woodward's new book.
The Independent
Melania Trump reveals how Barron has settled into life at NYU after professors sign critical letter against Donald
Professors signed onto 2020 letter that claimed Donald Trump ‘peddles in lies’ and ‘incites violence’
Reuters
Netanyahu says Israel has 'taken out' Nasrallah's successors
JERUSALEM (Reuters) -Israeli forces have killed the would-be successors of late Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday, without naming them. Netanyahu did not identify by name Nasrallah's replacement that he claimed Israel had killed.
HuffPost
Donald Trump: 'Wait Until You See What I’m Going To Do' To The New York Times
The former president issued an ominous threat to the venerable newspaper.
Reuters
EU Commission chief: Hungary's Russia, China policies pose security risk
Hungary is putting European security at risk, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Wednesday in an unusually blunt speech blasting Budapest’s relationship with Russia and China. Speaking at a debate with nationalist Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, von der Leyen took aim at Budapest's reluctance to join EU partners in helping Ukraine against Russia's invasion, and its decisions strengthening ties with Moscow and Beijing.
The Telegraph
North Korea severs all road and rail links to South Korea
North Korea’s military has said it would completely sever road and railway connections to South Korea as a “self-defensive measure” in the latest sign of deteriorating relations between the two countries.
The Guardian
Israel launches intense wave of airstrikes on 120 sites in Lebanon
Military says 100 aircraft used in attack on targets in south of country as Israeli operations expand on multiple fronts
The Telegraph
Deadliest month for Russian army as ‘meat wave’ assaults take their toll
September was the deadliest month for Russia’s army since the start of the war in Ukraine, British military intelligence said on Monday.
The Daily Beast
Trump Lashes Out at ‘Dumb Women’ Hosts of ‘The View’ After Harris Interview
Former President Donald Trump lashed out at the hosts of The View, labelling them “degenerates” and “dumb women” after Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris appeared on the show.Trump took to Truth Social and X on Tuesday in the latest attack on the daytime talk show hosts that have irked the former president for years. Trump appeared to be particularly irate over an answer the vice president gave when asked if she would have done anything differently from President Joe Biden.Though Harr
The Daily Beast
Kamala Tells Howard Stern His Old Pal Trump Is a Wannabe ‘Dictator’
Kamala Harris expressed outrage Tuesday over revelations that Donald Trump secretly mailed covid tests to the “murderous dictator” of Russia in 2020 even as he was telling Americans at home to inject “bleach in their blood.”“I believe Donald Trump has this desire to be a dictator,” Harris told Howard Stern on his SiriusXM show.“He admires strongmen, and he gets played by them because he thinks that they’re his friends,” she said. “And they are manipulating him full time and manipulating him by f
Bloomberg
Malaysia must cut petrol subsidy to meet budget aim, World Bank says
Malaysia will have to unwind blanket state support for its most widely used gasoline by this year for the government to meet its own subsidy spending target, according to the World Bank.
The Independent
Trump stuns social media as he dances along to YMCA at the end of speech about October 7 attacks
The event was billed by the Trump campaign as an October 7 ‘remembrance event’
HuffPost
Jimmy Fallon Wallops Trump In A Sensitive Spot After Elon Musk's Rally Appearance
The "Tonight Show" host teased the former president on a subject that's known to get under his skin.

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