1. Obama Administration Authorises $1.83 bln Taiwan Arms Sale
The Obama administration formally notified Congress of a $1.83 billion arms sale package for Taiwan, including two frigates, anti-tank missiles, amphibious assault vehicles and other equipment, drawing an angry response from China.
2. Vietnam Builds Military Muscle to Face China
Vietnam’s military is steeling itself for conflict with China as it accelerated a decade-long modernisation drive, Hanoi’s biggest arms buildup since the height of the Vietnam War.
3. North Korea Sentences Canadian Pastor to Hard Labour For Life
North Korea’s highest court sentenced a South Korea-born Canadian pastor to hard labor for life for subversion, the North’s official KCNA news agency reports. Canada has condemned the punishment as “unduly harsh.”
4. Japan PM Could Again Delay Tax Rise, Call Snap Poll
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe may put off a rise in sales tax and call snap lower house elections next summer, in tandem with the polls for parliament’s upper chamber, imitating a winning strategy he used a year ago, some advisers and political sources say.
5. Pakistan Assembly Seeks to Limit Karachi Military-Backed Crackdown
A Pakistani provincial assembly voted to rein in paramilitary forces in the violent port city of Karachi even as it extended their stay by one year for a cleanup campaign in the country’s largest and wealthiest city.
6. San Bernardino Shooters Buried in Quiet Funeral Following Islamic Rituals
Syed Rizwan Farook and Tashfeen Malik, who opened fire on a San Bernardino holiday party earlier this month, were buried in a quiet, graveside funeral guarded by FBI agents.
7. Cuba Says Obama Welcome to Visit But Not to Meddle
US President Barack Obama is welcome to visit Cuba but not meddle in the country’s internal affairs, a senior Cuban foreign ministry official said on the eve of the first anniversary of the two countries’ historic rapprochement.
8. Will Not Accept Any Restrictions on Missile Program: Iran
Iran’s defence minister is quoted, by the state media, to have said the country will not accept any restrictions on its missile program, after sanctions monitors said Tehran violated a UN Security Council resolution by test-firing a missile.
9. Rights Groups Criticise Britain Over Arms Sales to Saudis
A coalition of human rights groups criticised Britain for weapons transfers to Saudi Arabia, saying arms sales to Riyadh would violate a global treaty regulating trade in munitions.
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)