Chittagong / AFP China accused the Philippines on Wednesday of ignoring requests for dialogue about their maritime dispute, as tensions rise before an international tribunal’s ruling on the territorial row. The Philippines has “unilaterally closed the door of settling the South China Sea issue with China through negotiation”, China’s foreign ministry said in a lengthy statement published by the …

  Washington/ AFP Two Chinese jets conducted an “unsafe” intercept of a US spy plane over the East China Sea, officials said, but the Pentagon downplayed the encounter and blamed it on shoddy piloting. According to US Pacific Command spokesman Commander David Benham, two Chinese J-10 fighter jets flew close to an American RC-135 reconnaissance plane that was on a …

  Sydney / AFP Giant waves and high winds have prevented any search operations for missing Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 for the past month with the hunt now not expected to be complete until August, authorities said on Wednesday. Australia is leading the painstaking search for MH370 in the remote Indian Ocean, but the wild weather has not allowed the …