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To acquire Activision Blizzard, Microsoft needs the approval of 16 countries that will review the deal and judge whether it risks creating an antitrust situation where Microsoft has an unfair competitive advantage over its competitors. While Serbia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia already approved this $69 billion deal, other antitrust organizations are still reviewing the acquisition and haven’t yet revealed their decisions. RELATED: Microsoft Accuses FTC of Violating the Constitution...

Discussing the threat posed by Beijing and Moscow in an interview with the Financial Times published Tuesday, Julianne Smith, U.S. ambassador to NATO, said: “Those two are increasingly sharing a toolkit that should concern the NATO alliance.” Her comments come as Beijing and Moscow increase military exercises and foreign policy alignment against the West. China announced on Tuesday that joint drills with the Russian Navy will be held off the coast of Zhejiang province, south of Shanghai, from Wednesday until the following Tuesday....

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lashed out at the Chinese Communist Party during the Tokyo meeting, saying cooperation among the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue “is more critical now than ever that we collaborate to protect our people and partners from the CCP’s exploitation, corruption, and coercion.” But a spokesperson at the Beijing’s embassy in Washington dismissed this portrayal of China in the region. “China is committed to the path of peaceful development and firmly safeguards its sovereignty, security and development interests,” the spokesperson told Newsweek....

The 16-paged document, entitled “Pacific Partnership Strategy of the United States” and obtained by Newsweek, details a push by the Biden administration to forge stronger influence in a region that “spans nearly 15 percent of the Earth’s surface — part of an ‘ocean continent’ eight times the size of the United States.” The strategy includes four major objectives, including building “a strong U.S.-Pacific partnership,” achieving a “united Pacific islands region connected to the world,” realizing “a resilient Pacific islands regions prepared for the climate crisis and other 21st century challenges” and supporting “empowered and prosperous Pacific islanders....

Trump said last Thursday that he’s seen evidence that gives him a high degree of confidence that the new disease originated from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. Pompeo strongly echoed the president’s allegation on Sunday, telling ABC News that there’s “enormous evidence” that the virus originated in the lab and the Chinese government purposely downplayed the severity of the outbreak. “The huge drama of blame-shifting in the United States has already been heavily spoiled, and continuing the drama is meaningless,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying said today....

Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig were detained under accusations of endangering China’s national security. Their arrests came days after U.S. authorities requested Canada detain Meng Wanzhou, Huawei Technology’s chief financial officer, following misdealings between the company and Iran. On Friday, Meng was released in Canada following an agreement that the U.S. Department of Justice drop her case. She arrived back in China on Saturday, while Spavor and Kovrig were released on Monday after over 1,000 days in jail....

Both teams made a few changes to their starting line-ups in the last game of the four-team tournament which also features Croatia and Czech Republic, reports Xinhua. Japanese striker Daisuke Sakai came close to scoring in the 13th minute but his shot from outside the box was parried away by China’s goalkeeper Zhang Yan. Japan continued to dominate in the second half but was not able to turn their superiority into goals....

China claims Taiwan under its “one country, two systems” policy, but democratically run Taiwan functions independently of the mainland and tensions have been high for decades. However they have increased over the past year as Taiwan has complained about repeated incursions of its airspace by Chinese military planes. On Sunday, Taiwan’s air force scrambled against 19 Chinese military aircraft, Reuters first reported. Taiwan’s defense ministry said that the incursion included 10 J-16 and four Su-30 fighters....

The second seed was leading 4-2 in the first set of his semi-final against fourth seed Tomas Berdych, 28, when the Czech was forced to retire. The Spaniard, 27, needed to make the final in Beijing to reclaim top spot ahead of Novak Djokovic, 26, in the new ATP rankings, which will be announced on Monday. The Serbian has been the world number one for 101 weeks. Nadal will overtake Djokovic, even if he defeats French fifth seed Richard Gasquet in Saturday’s other semi-final and successfully defends the title on Sunday....

In women’s singles, PV Sindhu had no problems in dispatching Saena Kawakami in the first round match. In the first game, both players fought for each point till 7-7. At the interval Sindhu led 11-7. After the interval, the World Championship silver medallist looked in control and won first set 21-15, despite the Japanese taking points in latter half of the game. The second game saw Sindhu race away to a 6-1 lead before the Japanese made a fight back....

The analysis, which was shared exclusively with Reuters before its publication, reportedly contains previously unavailable research produced by Chinese academics and officials on Beijing’s birth control policies in Xinjiang. Reuters noted that official data shows birth rates decreased by 48.7 percent in the region between 2017 and 2019. The analysis comes from German researcher Adrian Zenz, an anthropologist known for his work studying Xinjiang and Uighurs. Reuters called his new research “the first such peer-reviewed analysis of the long-term population impact of Beijing’s multi-year crackdown” in the western region of Xinjiang....

With the Winter Olympics in Beijing less than two weeks away, a cluster of COVID-19 infections have authorities testing and isolating millions, as well as imposing new restrictions on those traveling and announced that anyone who bought cough, fever or other medicines in the past two weeks is required to take a COVID test within 72 hours, the Associated Press reported. Officials are also conducting a second round of mass testing in Fengtai, a district of two million, where most of the positive cases are found....

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) annexed Tibet in 1950—a year after Mao Zedong founded the PRC—and has governed it as a nominal autonomous region ever since. Tibet’s spiritual leader, the 86-year-old Dalai Lama, has been living in exile in India since 1959. Beijing considers him a separatist and has refused to recognize his legitimacy. On Monday, Secretary of State Antony Blinken announced the appointment of Uzra Zeya to the role of special coordinator for Tibetan issues....

The U.S. strategy, announced Wednesday by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, has been titled the “Clean Network” program. It aims to keep suspected Chinese Communist Party-affiliated services out of U.S. mobile networks, app stores, cloud services and undersea cables, as well as to prevent U.S. companies from making their apps available for certain Chinese smartphone manufacturers. Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Hua Chunying hit back Thursday on social media, tweeting: “Talking CLEAN while doing DIRTY....

This comes amid recent chatter about the need for more confidence-building measures to avoid accidental clashes in regional hotspots. At a monthly Chinese defense ministry press briefing on Thursday, spokesperson Tan Kefei said the Biden administration’s Indo-Pacific strategy “intentionally hypes up conflict and confrontation” by encouraging military alliances and “cliques.” Clique is often used by Beijing to identify the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, a coalition between the U.S., Japan, India and Australia—four influential powers spanning the Indian and Pacific oceans....

The ranking GOP members spread across seven House committees, who are also congressional allies of President Donald Trump, on Monday sent a letter to Education Secretary Betsy DeVos accusing Beijing of providing funds and resources to universities in America. The members said Beijing attempted the operation to spread propaganda and impede U.S. research into COVID-19. The group also asked DeVos to provide further information pertaining to their allegations. Congressman Jim Jordan, the top Republican on the House Oversight committee, led the group in the letter, which was also reportedly signed by members of the GOP on the Homeland Security, Science, Armed Services, Education and Intelligence and Foreign Affairs committees....

The bellicose retort by Hu Xijin—chief editor of the Communist Party newspaper the Global Times—was later also used by China’s Foreign Ministry on Tuesday. In a popular post on Weibo, China’s main social media service, Hu called Taro Aso a “big mouth,” referring to striking recent comments by Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister. Aso, who is also finance minister, hinted at defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion of the island, a situation the official felt could threaten Japan’s own survival and trigger security clauses in the country’s otherwise pacifist post-war constitution....

Kenley and Owen Bolger and their parents were with the children’s grandmother, Melissa Bazley, near the town of Winterset when a tornado touched down at about 4:30 p.m., Madison County Sheriff Jason Barnes said. Bazley, Michael Bolger and two of his three younger children, both under age 5, were killed. Kuri Bolger, the children’s mother, and the couple’s other child were injured. A GoFundMe page for the family says Kuri remains in the hospital with serious injures, but the other child was released with minor injuries....

The report, dated May 1 and obtained by The Associated Press, said Chinese officials “intentionally concealed the severity” of COVID-19 in early January so they could organize sufficient shipments of medical supplies to help their citizens respond effectively to the pandemic. The document revealed that Beijing increased imports and decreased exports of medical supplies during a period in January when they were also downplaying the severity of the novel disease....