The euphoria surrounding possible reconciliation in the Korean Peninsula has now been dampened after North Korea threatened to pull out from talks with the United States (US) earlier today. This came after Pyongyang backed out of a high-level meeting with Seoul and threatened to do the same with Washington. US President Donald Trump was scheduled to meet head of the North Korean dictatorial regime, Kim Jong-un in Singapore on 12 June.

The World Bank will scale back loans to China. No matter, China wins anyway.That's because China will boost its shareholding in the Washington-based lender, under a capital increase approved by bank members late last month. The U.S. and Japan will each see their stakes trimmed a tad, though they will remain the two biggest voting shares.The World Bank was created by wealthy countries in 1944, to rebuild a war-shattered world and to reduce global poverty by lending to developing nations.

Markets are quivering as fears of a U.S.-China trade war ebb and flow. Thus far, they've mostly been focused on tariffs that President Donald Trump wants to impose on a range of Chinese goods, and China's threats to retaliate. But investors may be overlooking a bigger risk in this dispute.It's true that duties on U.S. imports would hurt – hands are already wringing in farm country – but there's a limit to how much pain they can really inflict.

Earlier this week, a United States (US) navy aircraft carrier made its way to Vietnam for the first time since the end of the Vietnam war in 1975. The central coastal city of Da Nang saw the arrival of the USS Carl Vinson which had more than 5,000 crew members along with a cruiser and destroyer. Da Nang was also the first location where US troops landed during the Vietnam war, making the visit even more significant.

The eagle and the bear will never back down from one another. That has been the status quo of US-Russia relations in the postwar era.

Never one to be shy at taking shots at China, United States (US) President, Donald Trump has rocked the boat again with his recent speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos last month.

The scene was mesmerising as South Korean and North Korean athletes marched together under a single flag during the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games in Pyeongchang, South Korea on 9 February. The athletes were introduced simply as the ‘Korea’ contingent. The march past was followed by a presentation built along the theme of ‘Peace in Motion’ and followed by a candlelight formation in the symbolic shape of a dove and the singing of John Lennon’s 1971 hit, ‘Imagine’.