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Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, on Friday made an address at the meeting celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland and the inaugural ceremony of the sixth-term government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region.

Chinese President Xi Jinping's remarks at the celebration of the 25th anniversary of Hong Kong's return to the motherland have drawn a blueprint for the development of Hong Kong, and clarified the direction of the steady and sustained implementation of the "one country, two systems" principle, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson said on Friday.

China's top diplomat on Saturday arrived on his first visit to Myanmar since the military seized power last year to attend a regional meeting that the government said was a recognition of its legitimacy and opponents protested as a violation of peace efforts.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Special Envoy to Myanmar has again requested that the junta let him speak with detained opposition chief Aung San Suu Kyi, amid criticism that his mission to resolve the country's political crisis will be fruitless without meeting all stakeholders.

Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-o-cha and the Royal Thai Air Force chief on Friday played down a brief incursion by a Burmese fighter jet into the nation's airspace amid fierce fighting across the border, saying Myanmar and Thailand have "a good relationship."

The United Kingdom and New Zealand are committed to a stable Indo-Pacific and emphasize the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, the prime ministers of the two countries said in a joint statement on Friday.

Two members of the United States House of Representatives have introduced a bill to Congress that seeks to track and expedite deliveries of U.S. arms sales to Taiwan, amid growing tensions between Taipei and Beijing.

A new U.S. Congressional bill seeking to improve the transparency of weapons sales to Taiwan could have a significant impact on the timely delivery of arms shipments from Washington, according to defense experts.

Two Sikorsky Black Hawk UH-60M helicopters from the Air Force's Air Rescue Group conducted live-fire drills in Penghu County from June 27-28, a military source told CNA Saturday.

Ukraine has repeatedly claimed that Belarus "attacked" it even though the country's military is not taking part in Russia's special military operation launched on 24 February. Kiev considers Belarus a part of the conflict because it provided a foothold for the Russian military as both are parts of the Union State.

A senior Pentagon official has said that Ukrainian forces are successfully using US missiles to target Russian command posts.

Russia says it has destroyed five Ukrainian army command posts in the Donbas and Mykolaiv regions with high-precision weapons.

Russian-backed separatists claim they have "completely" surrounded Lysychansk in eastern Ukraine, but Ukrainian officials rejected the assertion and say its defenders are holding on in the key town on the Siverskiy Donets River.

Ever since Moscow's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February, the war has been an uneven fight of sweeping breakthroughs, tactical withdrawals, and grinding attrition that has made progress in the conflict difficult to gauge.

Britain's Foreign Office has condemned what it called the "exploitation" of prisoners of war and civilians for political purposes following the capture of two British men by Russian forces in Ukraine.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met with visiting Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store on Friday to discuss further support for Kiev, the presidential press service said.

The following are the latest developments in the Ukraine crisis:

The United States on Friday announced a new round of security assistance to Ukraine that included advanced anti-aircraft and aerial defense systems as well as additional ammunition for advanced rocket systems.

Ukraine's bid to join the European Union (EU) is "within reach" but requires "hard work, determination and above all unity of purpose," European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

Millions of Ukrainians are suffering from acute shortages of food, water, shelter and other basic needs more than four months after Russia's invasion, U.N. agencies say.