CHINA: The government placed sanctions on seven companies today in response to recent US announcements of military sales and aid to the breakaway Chinese island of Taiwan.

The sanctions are also an response to the recent approval of the US government’s annual defence spending Bill, which a Chinese Foreign Ministry statement said “includes multiple negative sections on China.”

ECUADOR: A probe into the military’s role in the disappearance of four children this month was delayed for almost two weeks, even though police had access to surveillance videos showing soldiers taking two of the children, it was reported today.