US And S. Korean Troops Start Drills Amid N. Korea Standoff

U.S. and South Korean troops kicked off their annual drills Monday that comes after President Donald Trump and North Korea exchanged warlike rhetoric in the wake of the North's two intercontinental ballistic missile tests last month.

The planned joint military drill between the United States and South Korea known as 'Ulchi-Freedom Guardian' is reportedly heightening tension in the Korean Peninsula. Although both countries believe the annual 10-day military drills which will commence on August 21 are defensive in nature, North Korea leader, Kim Jong UN claims the military exercise may be intended to facilitate possible invasion of N. Korea. Kim who has called for the cancellation of the exercise warned that

The UN migration agency, International Organization for Migration (IOM), said on Wednesday that up to 50 migrants from Somalia and Ethiopia were "deliberately drowned" when a smuggler forced them into the sea off Yemen's coast, calling the incident "shocking and inhumane."

The President of Taiwan, Tsai Ing-wen was forced to apologise for a nationwide power blackout caused by 'human error' at a major power station as four units broke down, which affected millions of households on Tuesday. The nationwide outage also led to the resignation of Taiwan's Economic Affairs Minister Lee Chih-kung.

Iran's parliament has reportedly voted overwhelmingly to boost budgetary allocation to Tehra's Intercontinental Ballistic Missile Programme and the Elite Revolutionary Guards. The Parliament which made this known on Sunday during a brief session stated that the move was in retaliation for new sanctions imposed by the United States Government. According to Al Jazeera, a total of 240 out of 244 Politicians voted in support of the release of $520m to strengthen nuclear programme as well as paramilitary troops.

A 7.0 magnitude earthquake has killed at least 13 people and injured scores more in China's south-western province of Sichuan.