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BEIJING (AP) — The United States and China have pledged to stabilize their badly deteriorated ties during a critical visit to Beijing by U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met Monday with Chinese President Xi Jinping. Xi pronounced himself satisfied with progress made during talks in Beijing. But, Blinken told media, China refused to resume military-to-military communications, a U.S. priority. It remains to be seen whether the two countries can resolve their most important disagreements, many of which have international financial, security and stability implications. The two sides expressed a willingness to hold more talks, but there was little indication that either is prepared to bend from its positions on issues including trade, Taiwan, human rights conditions in China and Hong Kong, Chinese military assertiveness in the South China Sea, and Russia’s war in Ukraine.
BALLIA, India (AP) — A scorching heat wave in two of India’s most populous states has overwhelmed hospitals, filled a morgue to capacity and disrupted power supply, forcing staff to use books to cool patients, as officials investigate the number of deaths that has reached nearly 170. In the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, 119 people have died from heat-related illnesses over the last several days while neighboring Bihar state reported 47 fatalities, according to local news reports and health officials. “So many people are dying from the heat that we are not getting a minute’s time to rest. On Sunday, I carried 26 dead bodies,” Jitendra Kumar Yadav, a hearse driver in Deoria town, 110 kilometers (68 miles) from Ballia, told The Associated Press.
CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — Australia’s Senate voted Monday to hold a referendum this year on creating an Indigenous Voice to Parliament, an advocate aiming to give the nation’s most disadvantaged ethnic minority more say on government policy. Dozens of mainly Indigenous people stood up the public galleries and applauded when senators passed the referendum bill 52 votes to 19. The Senate vote means the referendum must be held on a Saturday in a two-to-six-month window. Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, the first Indigenous woman to hold the job, described the Senate vote as the “final hurdle” toward the referendum. “Today the political debate ends.
SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Top North Korean officials vowed to push for a second attempt to launch a spy satellite as they called their country’s first, and failed, launch last month “the most serious” shortcoming this year and harshly criticized those responsible, state media reported Monday. In late May, a North Korean rocket carrying a military reconnaissance satellite crashed soon after liftoff, posing a setback to leader Kim Jong Un’s push to acquire a space-based surveillance system to better monitor the United States and South Korea. The failed launch and North Korean efforts to modernize its weapons arsenal were discussed extensively at a three-day ruling party meeting that ended Sunday, with the presence of Kim and other top officials.
BERLIN (AP) — Chinese Premier Li Qiang has started a visit to Germany and France that comes as Europe seeks to balance concerns over economic dependence on China and about its stance toward Ukraine and Taiwan with a desire to engage Beijing on issues such as climate change. Li, on his first trip abroad since taking office, was received by German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday. Li and a large delegation of Chinese ministers meet with Chancellor Olaf Scholz and their German counterparts on Tuesday, the seventh such gathering. Top officials from both sides also will meet business representatives. Li, a former Communist Party secretary for Shanghai, took office in March as China’s No.
BANGKOK (AP) — An earthquake was recorded off the southern coast of Myanmar on Monday with tremors also felt in Thailand, but there were no immediate reports of major damage. The 5.1 magnitude quake was recorded about 152 kilometers (95 miles) south of Yangon, Myanmar’s biggest city, at 10 kilometers (6 miles) below the surface at 8:10 a.m., according to Myanmar’s meteorology department. Thailand’s meteorological department reported the earthquake as 6.0 magnitude at 8:40 a.m. and said tremors were felt in the capital Bangkok and nearby Nonthaburi province, about 450 kilometers (280 miles) from the epicenter. The United States Geological Survey measured the earthquake at 5.6 magnitude.
YOKOHAMA, Japan (AP) — An American push to establish “green shipping corridors” is key to reducing carbon emissions from the shipping industry, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said Monday while touring the port of Yokohama near Tokyo. Buttigieg was in Japan to attend a meeting over the weekend of transport ministers of the Group of Seven advanced economies, who reaffirmed a commitment to reducing emissions from the transport industry and to keeping navigation free and open in the Asia-Pacific region. The U.S. is seeking to develop and strengthen partnerships with “like-minded countries” to improve maritime security and keep shipping and aviation corridors open, he told The Associated Press in an interview.
ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan on Monday widened its manhunt for human traffickers after a tragedy off the Greek coast last week that left more than 500 migrants feared drowned, including many Pakistanis, officials said. With no definitive casualty numbers announced, families feared for the fate of their loved ones and the nation observed a day of mourning Monday, declared by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif’s government. The Pakistani flag was flying at half-staff, and lawmakers in the National Assembly, the lower house of the parliament, expressed their condolences. The fishing trawler packed with migrants overturned and went down early Wednesday off southwestern Greece in one of the deadliest-ever incidents in the central Mediterranean Sea.
TOKYO (AP) — Wages are rising in Japan more than they have in decades, at least for some workers. But so are prices, leaving many people feeling they must scrimp more than ever. In May, the consumer price index was up 3.2% from a year earlier, well above the central bank’s target of about 2%. That’s great news for policymakers trying to get the world’s third largest economy out of the doldrums by keeping credit super cheap to spur demand and push prices higher. But a government survey of companies with five or more employees found real wages, taking into account higher prices, fell 3% from a year earlier in April, marking the 13th straight month of declines.
TOKYO (AP) — Five people were killed and 12 others taken to the hospital after a truck collided with a bus in Hokkaido in northern Japan, according to local media reports. Police said the truck might have strayed into oncoming traffic, Kyodo news agency reported. The bus was carrying 15 passengers at the time of the accident, which occurred on Sunday. The drivers of both vehicles died in the crash, Kyodo said. Video from broadcaster NTV showed the mangled wreckage of the two vehicles stuck on the road in the aftermath of the crash. The bus was traveling from Sapporo to Hakodate, and the truck was carrying pigs from Hakodate to Yakumo, Kyodo said.
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