Pyongyang on Monday warned the UK, Canada, Germany, France, New Zealand and Australia to immediately stop their ‘blatant military intervention’ under the pretext of monitoring UN sanctions violations.

Russian President Vladimir Putin tapped a civilian economist as his surprise new defence minister in an attempt to gird Russia for economic war by trying to better utilise the defence budget and harness greater innovation to win in Ukraine.

Although convicted hacker Su Bin ‘may have had improper connection to (Chinese) agents this was unknown to our client’.

Announcement from the PLA’s Southern Theatre Command comes a day after the end of annual US-Philippine Balikatan drills in the area.

New Delhi isn’t ‘overly concerned’ by the development, analysts say – unless Dhaka decides to grant access to Chinese warships and submarines.

The armed forces’ modernisation, spurred by maritime skirmishes with China, has seen it acquire military assets and revamp its defence strategy.

In a letter to the navy and air force chiefs, 13 Congress members said ‘China can attack all US bases in the region’, demanding the Pentagon boost passive defences.

A survey found over 70 per cent of Okinawans are against the new base, but analysts say the opposition is unlikely to sway Tokyo’s position.

Of the three Aukus aspirants, New Zealand would likely find it easiest to slot into the pact’s security framework – and all would face opposition from China.

However, the US State Department report stops short of saying military aid should be cut off, citing lack of evidence due to the chaos of war.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said a “fierce battle” was under way after Moscow launched a surprise new offensive on Friday morning.

India pulled out its last remaining soldiers stationed in the Maldives on Friday, meeting a deadline for their withdrawal that had strained ties between the two neighbours.

The wartime destruction of Gaza and killing of thousands has highlighted the role of the United States, Israel’s biggest arms supplier.

China’s lower level military authorities could be ‘overzealous’ because they believe Beijing desired an aggressive response, possibly resulting in the skirmish.

Israel’s prime minister struck a defiant tone against US President Joe Biden after the US withheld a shipment of bombs as a warning to its top Middle East ally not to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Head of State Protection Department was dismissed after two of his officers were detained for allegedly passing secret information to Russia’s FSB security service.

China feels the Philippines has broken its word and badly damaged political trust, observer says.

Russia’s new development on the Kuril Islands aims to ‘punish’ Japan for supporting international sanctions and providing aid to Ukraine, analysts say.

Emerging alliance expected to undertake more maritime exercises and provide greater security help to the Philippines in its South China Sea claims.

Israeli forces massed tanks close to built-up areas of Rafah, after US President Joe Biden vowed to withhold weapons from Israel if its forces launched a major invasion of the southern Gaza city.

Long-opposed to the measure and having criticised Moscow’s mobilisation of prisoners to fill its ranks, Kyiv has recently U-turned amid fresh Russian advances on the battlefield.

The pilot ejected after the plane experienced an issue during take-off, the Defence Ministry said.

Both China and Australia lodged official protests and blamed each other for a Chinese warplane’s extraordinary use of flares against an Australian navy helicopter on Saturday.

Vice-Admiral Alberto Carlos has no mandate to strike a deal with China, who may have been attempting to shift the blame to Manila, analysts say.

Analysts say the move is insurance against an accelerating “arms race” in the region, as lessons are learned from recent flare-ups such as Iran’s drone and missile attack against Israel last month.

Taipei’s de facto diplomatic envoy to the US under president-elect William Lai Ching-te also says most on the island ‘prefer the status quo’.

An island-retaking exercise in the far north of the Philippines appears to be in preparation for hostilities breaking out over Taiwan, observers say.

‘They shouldn’t have been at any risk’, Anthony Albanese said of Australian defence personnel who he said were operating in international airspace enforcing UN sanctions on North Korea.