In a speech to lawmakers, Turkish Recep Tayyip Erdogan refuted claims made by the opposition that his government illegally traded central bank reserves to protect the value of the country’s embattled currency, noting that international economic developments in 2019 and 2020 forced the bank to make large foreign exchange transactions, Bloomberg reported April 21.
The U.N.-led peace summit in Turkey was postponed until after Eid-al-Fitr due to non-participation from the Taliban, Al Jazeera reported on April 21.
The U.S. Treasury Department blacklisted state-owned companies Myanmar Timber Enterprise and Myanmar Pearl Enterprise due to their role in generating revenue for Myanmar’s military government, CNBC reported April 21.
Russian President Vladimir Putin promised a "swift, asymmetrical and severe" response to hostile actions that crossed unspecified Russian "red lines” in his annual address to parliament, presumably referencing tensions with the West over Ukraine, the Moscow Times reported April 21.
The European Commission unveiled new proposed regulations covering artificial intelligence (AI) in what would be the world's first strict rules covering the fast-evolving technology, The New York Times reported April 21.
Negotiators from the European Parliament and the European Council reached an agreement on a landmark climate law needed to implement the ambitious goals laid out in the bloc’s ambitious Green Deal, the European Commission announced April 21.
The Seoul Central District Court ruled that South Korean women forced into prostitution by Imperial Japan during World War II could not seek damages from the Japanese government, citing Japan’s sovereign immunity from foreign civil suits and the risk of diplomatic escalation, the Korea Times reported April 21.
According to leaks, Japanese investigators suspect that China’s military instructed the Chinese cyberespionage group “Tick” to hack nearly 200 Japanese companies and research institutes beginning in 2016, including the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), NHK reported April 20.
In a televised address, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he would send military vessels into the South China Sea to assert his country’s claims to hydrocarbon and mineral resources in the region, noting such efforts would be “bloody” and result in violence, the South China Morning Post reported April 19.
China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it has deployed advanced long-range rocket launchers to its brigade charged with monitoring the Indian border in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region, ThePrint reported on April 20, citing an article published in the PLA’s official newspaper.
