China asked India to “refrain from over-interpreting” the map after New Delhi lodged protests against Beijing’s recently released new “standard map” that includes Arunachal Pradesh and Aksai Chin within Chinese territory. Responding to questions over the Indian reaction to the map, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said the release of the map was a “routine practice for China to exercise sovereignty in accordance with the law.”
India has initiated dialogue with the US asking it to release $26 million in funds belonging to two Indian diamond firms, frozen due to their alleged trade links with Russia. The Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) froze the assets of the firms earlier this year, suspecting them to be linked with the sanctioned state-owned Russian diamond major Alrosa, the world’s largest producer of rough diamonds. The Indian firms have denied the US claims and said the payments were meant either for non-sanctioned Russian entities or for orders completed before the sanctions came into effect in April last year.
The US on Tuesday approved $80 million in funding for the first-ever transfer of US military equipment to Taiwan, under a program typically meant for sovereign nations. The fund will “strengthen Taiwan’s self-defence capabilities through joint and combined defence capability and enhanced maritime domain awareness and maritime security capability,” the State Department said.
North Korea launched two short-range ballistic missiles toward the sea on Wednesday night, hours after the US tested long-range bombers for drills with South Korea. There were no reports of damages caused by Wednesday’s launches.
The National Council for the Safeguard of the Homeland, established by Niger’s coup leaders, has asked France to withdraw its armed forces from the nation by 3 September, as reported by Dubai-based Sky News Arabia television. According to the report, a council representative reaffirmed that France had been given 30 days to evacuate its armed personnel from the nation. That deadline will expire in September.
The Palestinian Authority’s list of demands in any US-Israel-Saudi Arabia mega-deal includes Israel giving it more control over some regions of the occupied West Bank and reopening the US consulate in Jerusalem, as stated by US and Israeli officials. According to sources, a senior adviser of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, Hussein al-Sheikh, handling the negotiations with Riyadh on the issue, presented the list of prospective deliverables to Saudi national security adviser Musaed bin Mohammed al-Aiban three months ago.