South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will hold talks with officials in Washington on Thursday amid flaring tensions with North Korea after Pyongyang blew up an inter-Korean liaison office and threatened military action.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met China's top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, in Hawaii on Wednesday, the State Department said, amid a deep deterioration of relations between strategic rivals that are the world's two top economies.

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met China's top diplomat Yang Jiechi on Wednesday and discussed the need for full transparency and information sharing between the two nations to combat the coronavirus pandemic and prevent future outbreaks.

Low standards of hygiene in China's wholesale food markets and vulnerabilities in its food supply chain need to be urgently addressed after a new coronavirus outbreak in Beijing, a leading body of the ruling Communist Party said.

China said on Thursday its top diplomat, Yang Jiechi, and U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo held constructive discussions during their meeting in Hawaii and that the two sides agreed to continue engagement and communication.

China on Thursday warned of countermeasures in response to U.S. President Donald Trump signing legislation calling for sanctions over the repression of China's Uighur Muslims, demanding that Washington stop interfering in its affairs.

A North Korean defector-led group on Thursday prepared hundreds of plastic bottles stuffed with rice which they plan to float into North Korea, despite a legal challenge from South Korean authorities and threats from Pyongyang.

A former governor of the Mexican state of Coahuila has pleaded guilty to charges that he laundered money to conceal bribes paid to him in return for road-building contracts, the U.S. Department of Justice said on Wednesday.

South Korea's chief nuclear negotiator will visit officials in Washington on Thursday amid flaring tensions with North Korea after Pyongyang blew up an inter-Korean liaison office and threatened military action.

China reported 28 new coronavirus cases in the mainland as of end-June 17, 21 of which were in the capital of Beijing, the country's health commission said on Thursday.

Beijing confirmed 21 new COVID-19 cases as of June 17, China's health authority said on Thursday, down from 31 a day earlier.

Mexico's health ministry reported on Wednesday 4,930 new confirmed cases of coronavirus infections and 770 additional fatalities, bringing the total in the country to 159,793 cases and 19,080 deaths.

Many people in Jordan are struggling to meet basic needs after a more than two-month lockdown to fight the coronavirus pandemic, a United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) study said on Wednesday.