Kishida's support fell to 32.3 percent from 44.3 percent a month before, according to the survey by Jiji news agency conducted at the weekend - approaching what is widely seen as a "danger level" of 30 percent that signifies a government may run into trouble carrying out its political agenda.

Xi, who is making his first foreign trip since the beginning of the pandemic, is attending a meeting this week of the China- and Russia-led Shanghai Cooperation Organisation in the Uzbek city of Samarkand.

The Commerce Department intends to publish new regulations based on restrictions communicated in letters earlier this year to three US companies -- KLA Corp, Lam Research Corp and Applied Materials Inc, the people said, speaking on the condition of anonymity.

India has not condemned Russia's February invasion of Ukraine, instead calling for negotiations and peace. Russia is India's biggest foreign supplier of defence hardware, and India's imports of Russian crude oil and coal have soared since the war.

The US administration of President Joe Biden said it welcomes the bipartisan backing for Taiwan and that it wants to work with Congress to strengthen it further. But it reacted with caution to the bill, which is certain to anger China if it becomes legislation.

The centre-left Labor Party leader is an avowed republican but has refused to be drawn into that debate in the aftermath of Queen Elizabeth II's death.

Xi and Putin will be joined by the leaders of India, Pakistan, Turkey, Iran and several other countries for the meeting of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) in the Uzbek city on Thursday and Friday.

As the rest of the world gradually lifts COVID restrictions, China continues to lock down enormous parts of society and conduct mass testing to eradicate the coronavirus. It has not approved any foreign COVID vaccines and relies on several domestically developed shots.

A ministry statement on Telegram said crews from both sides were conducting joint tactical manoeuvres and carrying out exercises involving artillery and helicopters.

The talks between Japanese Defense Minister Yasukazu Hamada and his US counterpart Lloyd Austin at the Pentagon -- their first in-person meeting since Hamada's appointment last month -- came amid heightened tensions over Taiwan following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi's recent trip to the self-ruled island.

Myanmar will not participate in the upcoming ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting with the United Nations Secretary-General and the President of the 77th UN General Assembly (AUMM), Indonesia says.

Goodyear, one of the world's largest tire makers, declined to say how much it paid out, but the workers said settlement agreements signed this year ranged from about 50,000 ringgit ($11,061.95) to 200,000 ringgit ($44,247.79) per worker depending on the length of their employment.

In his first sit-down interview since he won the presidency in May, Marcos said that he wants to run an anti-drug campaign that is holistic, focusing more on prevention and rehabilitation.

Prayut, who seized power in a 2014 coup before formally becoming prime minister a few months later, is currently suspended while the court deliberates on the case filed by the opposition. 

The sources said the deliberations in Washington and Taipei's separate lobbying of EU envoys were both at an early stage -- a response to fears of a Chinese invasion which have grown as military tensions escalate in the Taiwan Strait.

The French Navy considers Indonesia as a priority in conducting port visits in the Indo-Pacific region and would include the country in the next midshipman tour.

Former Cold War allies with a tempestuous relationship, China and Russia have drawn closer in recent years as part of what they call a "no limits" relationship acting as a counterweight to the global dominance of the United States.

Malaysia's top court on Aug. 23 rejected Najib's appeal to set aside his conviction on graft and money laundering charges in a case linked to a multibillion-dollar scandal at state fund 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB). 

In the first study to quantify the impact of industrial mining on tropical forest loss, an international team of scientists found that just four countries are largely to blame: Brazil,Indonesia, Ghana and Suriname. 

The visit will coincide with a summit of the Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) in the Uzbek city of Samarkand, and Xi will meet with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev and Uzbek President Shavkat Mirziyoyev, a ministry statement said.

The Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) has since 1986 retrieved about $5 billion from the family of incumbent President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, but about $2.4 billion is still caught up in litigation.

Prayuth, 68, was suspended from duty by the court last month over a petition filed by the main opposition Pheu Thai party that argued Prayuth's time spent as head of a military junta after a 2014 coup should count towards his constitutionally stipulated eight-year term limit.

The trip, Xi's first abroad since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, shows just how confident he is about his grip on power in China and just how perilous the global situation has become.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida may decide as early as this week on the easing, which would also allow individual travellers to visit Japan without travel agency bookings, FNN reported. Japan did not require tourist visas for 68 countries and regions before the pandemic.

He has a fan in his cell, takes cold showers and is served food five times a day with the same meals dished out to other prisoners, the Malay-language newspaper quoted one source as saying.

Indonesian and US forces have commenced the seven-day annual Gema Bhakti joint exercise to enhance operational capabilities and crisis management capacity.

Residents in northern towns near the epicentre reported intense shaking mid-morning that cracked roads and rattled the cladding off buildings. 

In a message to King Charles III, Xi extended sincere sympathy to the British royal family, government and people, noting that the queen was the first British monarch to visit China, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

In New Zealand, the proclamation of Charles as monarch, taking over from Queen Elizabeth who died on Thursday aged 96, took place in the parliament in Wellington.

The US Geological Survey, which reported the quake, issued a tsunami warning but subsequently said the threat "has now passed".