Reuters: World

China hails 'progress' in U.S. relations after Xi-Blinken talks China's Xi Jinping hailed "progress" in talks with U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Beijing on Monday, the final engagement of a closely-watched trip aimed at ensuring the superpower's disputes do not spiral into conflict. Blinken, the first holder of his post to meet the Chinese leader since 2018, strode towards Xi with his hand outstretched at the Great Hall of the People, a venue China often uses for greeting heads of state - positive signals in the choreography of diplomacy. The two shook hands, then the delegations faced each other across a conference table bedecked with pink lotus flowers, with Xi at the head and Blinken just to his right. read more

Asian stocks pause rally, eyeing China stimulus, Powell testimony Asian shares fell on Monday, consolidating gains after their best weekly run in five months, while investors looked ahead to China's rate decision and U.S. Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell's testimonies for clues on the path ahead. Europe is set to extend the decline when markets there open, with pan-regional Euro Stoxx 50 futures down 0.7%. U.S. markets are closed for the Juneteenth holiday, with Wall Street futures , mostly flat in Asia. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS) slumped 0.8% on Monday, after hitting a four-month high the previous session and finishing up 3% for the week, the best since January. read more

Evidence suggests Russia blew Kakhovka dam in Ukraine: NYT Evidence suggests this month's destruction of the huge Kakhovka dam in a Russian-controlled area of Ukraine resulted from an inside explosion set off by Russia, the New York Times said. Citing engineers and explosive experts, the newspaper said on Friday that its investigation found evidence suggesting an explosive charge in a passageway running through the dam's concrete base detonated, destroying the structure on June 6. "The evidence clearly suggests the dam was crippled by an explosion set off by the side that controls it: Russia," the Times said. read more

Putin rebuts key elements of African peace plan for Ukraine Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday gave African leaders seeking to mediate in the war in Ukraine a list of reasons why he believed many of their proposals were misguided, pouring cold water on a plan already largely dismissed by Kyiv. The African leaders were seeking agreement on a series of "confidence building measures", even as Kyiv last week began a counteroffensive to push back Russian forces from the swathes of southern and eastern Ukraine that they occupy. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said after meeting them in Kyiv on Friday that peace talks would require Moscow to withdraw its forces from occupied Ukrainian territory, something Russia has said is not negotiable. read more

Putin says Russia positions nuclear bombs in Belarus as warning to West President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his deployment of tactical nuclear weapons to Belarus, something he confirmed for the first time had already happened, was a reminder to the West that it could not inflict a strategic defeat on Russia. Speaking at Russia's flagship economic forum in St Petersburg, Putin said Russian tactical nuclear warheads had already been delivered to close ally Belarus, but stressed he saw no need for Russia to resort to nuclear weapons for now. "As you know we were negotiating with our ally, (Belarusian President (Alexander) Lukashenko, that we would move a part of these tactical nuclear weapons to the territory of Belarus - this has happened," said Putin. read more

China's Xi meets Bill Gates, calls him 'an old friend' Chinese President Xi Jinping called Bill Gates "an old friend" and said he hoped they could cooperate in a way that would benefit both China and the United States, in Xi's first meeting with a foreign entrepreneur in years. In a meeting at Beijing's Diaoyutai state guest house, where China's leaders have traditionally received senior foreign visitors, Xi said he was very happy to see the Microsoft (MSFT.O) co-founder and philanthropist after three years, and that Gates was the first American friend he had met this year. "I often say the foundation of U.S.-China relations lies with its people. I place my hopes on the American people," a video published by state broadcaster CCTV showed Xi as saying. read more

Australia's visa overhaul leaves Chinese millionaires in limbo In 2018 Paul Wang left his home in Beijing to start a new life in Australia, investing A$1 million ($680,000) in a food processing business in the hopes of qualifying for permanent residency under the country's investment visa scheme. Five years on, his hopes for his family of three remain on hold as the government has put the controversial "Golden Visa" programme on the back burner, causing processing times to blow out, leaving wealthy migrants like Wang in limbo. "We were not expecting it would take this long," said Wang, 44. "And our life is a mess because of that. We simply cannot plan ahead with all of the uncertainty." When Australia introduced the Business Innovation and Investment Programme (BIIP) in 2012, the hope was that wealthy business owners, investors and entrepreneurs would boost the economy by bringing in capital and driving innovation. read more

Magnitude 6.3 earthquake strikes northern Philippines An earthquake of magnitude 6.3 struck the Philippines' main island on Thursday, authorities said, halting some railway operations in the capital Manila. No casualties or major damage were reported after the quake, which struck out at sea at a depth of 10 kilometres (6.21 miles) and was felt in nearby provinces, the Philippine seismology agency said. Operations of the three elevated railway lines in Manila were stopped due to the earthquake, the transport ministry said. read more

Exclusive: US pushing India to seal big armed drone buy for Modi visit Ahead of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's state visit to Washington, the Biden administration is pushing New Delhi to cut through its own red tape and advance a deal for dozens of U.S.-made armed drones, two people familiar with the matter said. India has long expressed interest in buying large armed drones from the United States. But bureaucratic stumbling blocks have hampered a hoped-for deal for SeaGuardian drones that could be worth $2 billion to $3 billion for years. U.S. negotiators are counting on Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's White House visit on June 22 to break the log jam. Since the date for Modi's visit was fixed, the U.S. State Department, Pentagon and White House have asked India to be able to "show" progress on the deal for as many as 30 armable MQ-9B SeaGuardian drones made by General Atomics, two sources said. read more

'Outright lie': India denies threatening to shut down Twitter India threatened to shut Twitter down unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts, co-founder Jack Dorsey said, an accusation the Indian government dismissed as an "outright lie". Dorsey, who quit as Twitter CEO in 2021, said on Monday that India threatened the company with a shutdown and raids on employees if it did not comply with government requests to take down posts and restrict accounts that were critical of the government over protests by farmers in 2020 and 2021. "It manifested in ways such as: 'We will shut Twitter down in India', which is a very large market for us; 'we will raid the homes of your employees', which they did; And this is India, a democratic country," Dorsey said in an interviewwith YouTube news show Breaking Points. read more

Silvio Berlusconi: former Italian prime minister has died at 86 Silvio Berlusconi, the billionaire media mogul and former Italian prime minister who transformed the nation's politics with polarising policies and often alarmed his allies with his brazen remarks, died on Monday aged 86. Berlusconi, Italy's longest-serving premier who counted Russian President Vladimir Putin as a friend and gained notoriety for his "bunga bunga" sex parties, had suffered from leukaemia and recently developed a lung infection. He died at Milan's San Raffaele hospital, where he was admitted on Friday. Four of his five children and his brother Paolo were at his bedside, ANSA reported shortly before his death was announced. A state funeral will be held in Milan on Wednesday. read more

Bus accident kills 10 wedding guests in Australia At least 10 people died and 25 were injured after a chartered bus carrying wedding guests rolled off a ramp at a roundabout in Australia's New South Wales (NSW) state, police said on Monday. The accident occurred around 11:30 p.m. (1330 GMT) on Sunday near the town of Greta about 180 km (112 miles) northwest of Sydney, in the Hunter region famous for its vineyards and wedding spots. "I understand they had been at a wedding together, it's my understanding they were travelling together ... presumably for their accommodation," NSW Police Acting Assistant Commissioner Tracy Chapman said during a televised media briefing. At this stage, it appeared to be a single-vehicle accident, Chapman said. Police were still trying to identify all the passengers, she said. read more