Reuters: World

Turkey's Erdogan cancels election rallies for health reasons Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan canceled his scheduled campaign rallies on Wednesday and Thursday for health reasons, weeks before May 14 presidential and parliamentary elections. "Today, I will rest at home with the advice of my doctors," Erdogan wrote on his Twitter account on Wednesday. Later, AK Party deputy chair Erkan Kandemir said Erdogan would attend a ceremony at the Akkuyu nuclear power plant in the southern Mersin province via videolink on Thursday. read more

Singapore executes citizen for cannabis trafficking Singapore on Wednesday executed a man convicted of drug trafficking, a representative for his family said, despite pleas from his relatives and activists for clemency. Tangaraju Suppiah, 46, had been convicted for abetting the trafficking in 2013 of more than 1 kg (2.2 pounds) of cannabis, double the threshold for the death penalty in the city-state, which is known for its tough laws on narcotics. Kokila Annamalai, a Singapore-based rights activist representing the family, confirmed Suppiah had been executed by hanging after the president had rejected pleas for clemency on the eve of the execution. read more

Fox News, Tucker Carlson part ways days after Dominion lawsuit settlement Fox News Media and its top-rated host Tucker Carlson have agreed to part ways, less than a week after parent company Fox Corp (FOXA.O) settled for $787.5 million a defamation lawsuit in which Carlson played a starring role. The outspoken Carlson embraced conservative issues and delivered his views with a style that made his prime-time show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight", the highest-rated cable news program in the key 25-to-54 age demographic on the most-watched U.S. cable news network. Shares of Fox closed 2.9% lower on the news, which the company announced on Monday. Dominion Voting Systems alleged in its lawsuit that Carlson allowed debunked election-fraud claims about the voting-technology firm to air on his show, while casting doubts on the plausibility of those claims in private messages that emerged in legal filings. read more

At UN, Russia's Lavrov warns world at 'dangerous threshold' U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said on Monday that the risk of conflict between global powers was at an "historic high" and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov warned the world was at a threshold "possibly even more dangerous" than during the Cold War. Guterres, seated next to Lavrov in the U.N. Security Council, criticized Russia's invasion of Ukraine for causing massive suffering and devastation in the country and fueling global economic dislocation caused by the coronavirus pandemic. "Tensions between major powers are at an historic high. So are the risks of conflict, through misadventure or miscalculation," Guterres told the meeting of the 15-member body on multilateralism and the founding U.N. Charter. Lavrov chaired the council meeting because Russia holds the council's monthly rotating presidency for April. read more

China respects ex-Soviet states as sovereign nations - foreign ministry China respects the status of the independent sovereign nations that emerged from the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Chinese foreign ministry said on Monday, after Beijing's envoy to Paris sparked a diplomatic storm by questioning their sovereignty. Ambassador Lu Shaye said in an interview aired on French television on Friday that former Soviet countries like Ukraine lacked "actual status in international law", prompting foreign ministers from several EU member states to label his comments as totally unacceptable. China's foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning set out the official stance of the government during a regular news conference in Beijing, when asked if China stood behind the envoy's remarks. read more

US urges South Korea not to fill chip shortfalls in China if Micron banned, Financial Times reports The United States asked South Korea to urge its chipmakers not to fill any market gap in China if Beijing bans memory chipmaker Micron Technology Inc (MU.O) from selling chips, the Financial Times reported on Sunday. The news comes ahead of South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol's visit to the U.S. on Monday for a summit with President Joe Biden. Yoon's April 24-29 trip will be the first state visit to the U.S. by a South Korean leader since 2011 and will mark the 70th anniversary of the countries' alliance. read more

Meghan hits out at UK media over King Charles letters Meghan, the wife of Britain's Prince Harry, criticised the British media on Saturday over reports that letters exchanged with King Charles played a part behind her decision not to attend his coronation, her latest confrontation with the press. The Daily Telegraph reported Meghan had written to the now king to express her concerns about unconscious bias in the royal family. It said the letter was sent following her 2021 comments in an interview with Oprah Winfrey that the family had raised concerns about how dark her son's skin would be. It reported the Duchess of Sussex did not feel she had received a satisfactory response to her concerns. "The Duchess of Sussex is going about her life in the present, not thinking about correspondence from two years ago related to conversations from four years ago," a spokesperson for Meghan said. read more

Indian police arrest Sikh separatist after month-long hunt Indian police have arrested Sikh separatist Amritpal Singh after searching for him for more than a month, a state police official said on Sunday, a move against the revival of an independent homeland in the state of Punjab bordering Pakistan. The rise of Singh, a preacher in the northwestern state of Punjab where Sikhs are in the majority, has revived talk of an independent Sikh homeland and stoked fears of a return to violence that killed tens of thousands of people in the 1980s and early 1990s during a Sikh insurgency. "Amritpal Singh has been arrested from the Rode village in Moga district, Punjab on the basis of specific intelligence," Sukhchain Singh Gill, a top official of the Punjab police told reporters. read more

Japan prepares to shoot down North Korea satellite if it falls on Japan Japan's Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Saturday ordered the country's military to prepare to shoot down a North Korean spy satellite should it fall within Japan's territory. Hamada ordered the Self-Defense Forces to make necessary preparations as he could potentially "order the destruction of ballistic missiles", the Defense Ministry said in a statement. Preparations included making arrangements to deploy troops to the southern prefecture of Okinawa to "minimise damage should a ballistic missile fall." read more

Mexico's presidential jet sold to Tajikistan, in latest twist to political saga Mexico's presidential jet has been sold to Tajikistan, the government said on Thursday, seemingly closing the final chapter on a political saga that President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador used repeatedly to assail the excesses of his predecessors. Lopez Obrador announced in a post on Twitter that the agreed sale price for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner used by his predecessor Enrique Peña Nieto - but never by him - was about 1.66 billion pesos, or about $92 million. In a video accompanying the post, the president said the sale demonstrated how Mexican politics has changed under his leadership. "It's important that everyone knows how people thought before, how the authorities acted, like little pharaohs," he said, sitting in a high leather-backed seat, flanked by officials. read more

China's foreign minister: Both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China China's Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Friday that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China, and that it is right and proper for China to uphold its sovereignty. Qin made the remarks at the Lanting Forum in Shanghai, where he discussed a wide range of topics from debt, the global economy, and Taiwan. "Recently there has been absurd rhetoric accusing China of upending the status quo, disrupting peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait," Qin said. "The logic is absurd and the conclusion dangerous." "It is not the Chinese mainland, but the Taiwan independence separatist forces and a handful of countries attempting to disrupt the status quo," Qin said. "Those who play with fire on Taiwan will eventually get themselves burned." read more

Macron, Biden talk, but statements differ on Taiwan French President Emmanuel Macron spoke with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden on Thursday, but statements the two leaders released differed over Taiwan just 10 days after Macron had drawn criticism with allies over the issue. In an interview with French daily Les Echos and news portal Politico, Macron called for the European Union to reduce its dependence on the U.S. and to become a "third pole" in world affairs alongside Washington and Beijing, and he cautioned against being drawn into a crisis over Taiwan driven by an "American rhythm and a Chinese overreaction". The comments came on a trip to China that was meant to showcase European unity on China policy, with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen also taking part, but highlighted differences within the EU and angered Washington. A readout from the French presidency made no direct mention of Taiwan, merely saying that both sides desired to "support international law, including freedom of navigation, throughout the Indo-Pacific region." read more