Reuters, Manila
Defense officials from the Philippines and Vietnam will meet this week to explore possible joint exercises and navy patrols, military sources said, shoring up a new alliance between states locked in maritime rows with China.
Ties have strengthened between the two Southeast Asian countries as China’s assertiveness intensifies with a rapid buildup of man-made islands in the Spratly archipelago, to which Vietnam and the Philippines lay claim.
Turkey shells targets in Syria border town
Reuters, Diyarbaki
Turkey’s military returned fired into an Islamic State-controlled area of Syria after rockets hit the southeastern Turkish border town of Kilis for the third straight days on Wednesday, security sources said.
There were no casualties in Kilis after multiple rockets landed in an empty field, Mayor Hasan Kara told Reuters. The security sources said the Turkish military fired howitzers into Syria in response.
Two French soldiers die in Mali
Reuters, Paris
Two French soldiers have died in Mali after their heavy armored vehicle hit a land mine, taking the number of people killed in the incident to three, French President Francois Hollande’s office said on Wednesday.
One soldier was announced dead on Tuesday after the vehicle struck an explosive device during a patrol in the restive north of the country.
NATO, Russia to meet on April 20
Reuters, Brussels
NATO envoys will hold their first formal meeting with Russia in almost two years on April 20, the Western alliance said on Tuesday, with the crisis in Ukraine, reducing military risks and Afghanistan on the agenda.
“It is not a return to business as usual, but we do need dialogue,” said a NATO spokeswoman.
Kansas SC to consider right to abortion
AP, Topeka
The Kansas Supreme Court has agreed to consider a groundbreaking ruling that determined the conservative state’s constitution protects abortion rights independently from the U.S. Constitution.
The appeal came after the Kansas Court of Appeals refused to implement the state’s first-in-the-nation ban on a common second-trimester abortion method.
North Korea lifts veil on arms programme
Reuters, Seoul
Ahead of a rare ruling party Congress next month, secretive North Korea is revealing details of its weapons development programme for the first time, showcasing its push to develop long-range nuclear missiles despite international sanctions.
Until recently, information on the North’s weapons programme was hard to come by, with foreign governments and experts relying on satellite imagery, tiny samples of atomic particles collected after nuclear tests and mangled parts and materials recovered from long-range rocket launches.
