China is set to raise the wholesale tax rate for cigarettes to 11 percent from 5 percent, the Ministry of Finance said on Friday, in a move to deter smokers in the world's biggest maker and consumer of tobacco.
Newly released images show Vietnam has carried out significant land reclamation at two sites in the disputed South China Sea, though the scale and pace is dwarfed by that of China, a U.S. research institute said.
Japan and the Philippines will hold their first joint naval drill this month in the South China Sea near a disputed shoal claimed by Beijing, sources in Tokyo and the Philippines said.
South Korea on Thursday condemned as "historic distortion" an effort by Japan to register 19th century industrial facilities as U.N. World Heritage sites, urging full disclosure of Japan's use of Korean forced labor.
