Despite no immediate evidence that they were connected, the detentions of two vocal commentators on Myanmar triggered alarm in the business and research communities.

Analysts are scrutinizing recent Chinese maritime operations near Scarborough Shoal, an uninhabited but strategically located atoll near the Philippine island of Luzon, U.S. officials said.

Japan is positioning itself as a focal point for defense cooperation among U.S. partners.

While the U.S.-supplied system known as HIMARS has been tested before, the latest live-fire exercise was the first time its rockets were fired into the waters of the narrow Taiwan Strait that separates the self-governing island from China.

BEIJING, June 12 (Reuters) - China's new bank lending rose less than expected in May after contracting the previous month, as a prolonged property downturn continued to weigh on household borrowing. China's new yuan loans rose to 520 billion yuan ($77 billion) in May,

The FBI has seized more than a dozen websites that officials say were part of a Chinese effort to target American workers who have access to classified or sensitive government information.

A task force confirmed the presence of a 20-foot by 20-foot floating structure and what appears to be an antenna in the disputed Scarborough Shoal.

By Neha Arora and Sarita Chaganti Singh NEW DELHI, June 10 (Reuters) - Indian industrial groups Reliance, Vedanta and Adani have shown interest in developing facilities to process Andhra Pradesh state's significant reserves of increasingly important rare-earth minerals,