JAKARTA, July 13 — G20 finance leaders will meet in Bali this week for talks that are due to include issues like global food security and soaring inflation, as host Indonesia tries to ensure frictions over the war in Ukraine do not blow discussions off course.

TOKYO, July 13 — Japan recorded more than 76,000 new coronavirus cases on Tuesday, more than double from a week earlier and topping the 70,000 mark for the first time since March 3 amid signs the nation is undergoing the seventh wave of infections.

BEIJING, July 13 — Several Chinese cities broke new records for high temperatures on Tuesday as scorching heat and contrasting relentless rains wreaked havoc, with local forecasters expecting the weather extremes to linger for days.

GENEVA, July 13 — The head of the World Health Organisation said he was concerned Covid-19 cases and deaths were climbing, stretching health systems while monkeypox was also rising with 9,200 cases reported in 63 countries, reported Anadolu Agency.

SEOUL, July 13 — Daily Covid-19 infections in South Korea have jumped above 40,000 for the first time in two months, with the government warning of a potential five-fold surge in the coming months.

COLOMBO, July 13 — The Rajapaksa dynasty dominated Sri Lankan politics until April when street protests against fuel and food shortages began to slip out of control.

COLOMBO, July 13 — Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country early on Wednesday, two sources told Reuters, hours before he was due to step down amid widespread protests over his handling of a devastating economic crisis.

WILMINGTON, US, July 13 — Twitter Inc sued Elon Musk on Tuesday for violating his US$44 billion deal to buy the social media platform and asked a Delaware court to order the world's richest person to complete the merger at the agreed US$54.20 per Twitter share.

KUALA LUMPUR, July 13 — Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas) said it viewed the action of alleged seizure of its assets as baseless and is working vigorously to defend its legal position on this matter.

TOKYO, July 12 — Japan on Tuesday prepared to bid farewell to Shinzo Abe, a polarising figure who dominated Japanese politics for decades as the country's longest-serving premier, before being gunned down at a campaign rally last week.

LONDON, July 12 — Britain's new prime minister will be announced on September 5, with the first votes to begin eliminating candidates in a crowded and increasingly unpredictable and divisive contest to replace Boris Johnson coming this week.

COLOMBO, July 12 — Sri Lanka's parliament will elect a new president on July 20, its speaker said on Monday, after protesters stormed the residences of the current president and prime minister, who have both offered to quit amid an economic meltdown.

BANGKOK, July 11 — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Sunday urged China and members of the Southeast Asian bloc Asean to put pressure on Myanmar's rulers to return to democracy and to hold it accountable for a peace deal agreed with the group.

PUTRAJAYA, July 11 — Malaysians intending to visit Sri Lanka have been advised to defer non-essential travel for the time being following public unrest in the island nation, due to the unprecedented financial crisis in the country.

TOKYO, July 11 — Japan's ruling bloc, the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) and Komeito scored a sweeping victory in Sunday's House of Councilors election, with the LDP alone securing a majority of contested seats, according to the election results published on Monday morning.

CANBERRA, July 10 — The Australian government said on Sunday that eligibility for "potentially lifesaving" Covid-19 antiviral treatments will be widened from Monday.

NARA, July 10 — The man arrested for Shinzo Abe's killing believed the former Japanese leader was linked to a religious group he blamed for his mother's financial ruin and spent months planning the attack with a homemade gun, police told local media on Saturday.

MEXICO CITY, July 10 — Former Mexican President Luis Echeverria Alvarez, a leading figure in the country’s dirty war, died Saturday.

SAN FRANCISCO, July 9 — Tesla chief executive officer Elon Musk said on Friday he was terminating his US$44 billion deal to buy Twitter, blaming the company for withholding information on its number of spam and fake accounts, Xinhua reported.

KUALA LUMPUR, 9 July — The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque announced the success of the first phase of the operational plan for the 1443 Hijrah Haj season with no ‘incidents’ among pilgrims being reported.