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US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will meet top South Korean political leaders on Thursday, a day after she concluded her high-profile visit to Taiwan by renewing Washington’s “ironclad” commitment to defending democracy on the self-governing island despite vehement protests from China, Associated Press reported.

Pelosi and other members of Congress flew to South Korea on Wednesday evening as part of their Asian tour that already took them to Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan. After South Korea, they will travel to Japan.

On Thursday, Pelosi will meet South Korean National Assembly Speaker Kim Jin Pyo and other senior members of Parliament for talks on regional security, economic cooperation and climate issues, according to Kim’s office.

Later in the day, Pelosi planned to visit an inter-Korean border area that is jointly controlled by the American-led UN Command and North Korea, a South Korean official said requesting anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to media on the matter.

If that visit occurs, Pelosi would be the highest-level American to go to the Joint Security Area since then-President Donald Trump went there in 2019 for a meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un.

Sitting inside the 4-kilometer (2.5-mile) -wide Demilitarized Zone, a buffer created at the end of the 1950-53 Korean War, the JSA is the site of past bloodshed and a venue for numerous talks. US presidents and other top officials have often travelled to the JSA and other border areas to reaffirm their security commitment to South Korea.

On Wednesday, North Korea’s Foreign Ministry slammed the United States over Pelosi’s Taiwan trip, saying that “the current situation clearly shows that the impudent interference of the US in internal affairs of other countries.”

Also on Thursday afternoon, Pelosi will speak by phone with South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, who is on a vacation this week, according to Yoon’s office. No face-to-face meeting has been arranged between them. Yoon, a conservative, took office in May with a vow to boost South Korea’s military alliance with the United States and take a tougher line on North Korean provocations, according to Associated Press.

Pelosi’s Taiwan visit, the first by an incumbent House speaker in 25 years, has infuriated China, which views the island nation as a breakaway province to be annexed by force if necessary. China views visits to Taiwan by foreign officials as recognizing its sovereignty. 

“Today the world faces a choice between democracy and autocracy,” Pelosi said in a short speech during a meeting with Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on Wednesday. “America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad.”

The Biden administration and Pelosi have said the United States remains committed to the so-called one-China policy, which recognizes Beijing but allows informal relations and defense ties with Taipei. The administration discouraged but did not prevent Pelosi from visiting.

In response to Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan, China announced it would launch its largest military maneuvers aimed at Taiwan in more than a quarter of a century. China also already flew fighter jets and other war planes toward Taiwan, and blocked imports of citrus and fish from Taiwan, Associated Press reported.

A 62-year-old French man survived for 16 hours at sea by using an air bubble inside his boat after it capsized, BBC reported.

The 12-metre vessel, which had set sail from Portugal's capital Lisbon, sent out a distress signal late on Monday evening from the Atlantic Ocean.

Spanish coastguards found the upturned boat, but the sea was too rough to rescue him - so the sailor had to wait until morning.

The man's survival was "verging on the impossible", said coastguard divers.

His boat sent a distress signal at 20:23 local time on Monday, 14 miles (22.5 km) from the Sisargas Islands, near Spain's north-west Galicia region.

A rescue ship carrying five divers as well as three helicopters set off to find and rescue the man, who has not yet been named. 

A diver was winched onto the ship's hull to seek signs of life and the man responded by banging from inside.

The sea was rough and the sun had gone down, so the rescue team attached buoyancy balloons to the boat to stop it from sinking and waited until morning.

The next day, two divers swam under the boat to help the sailor out, who they found wearing a neoprene survival suit and submerged in water up to his knees, according to BBC.

The man then jumped into freezing water and swam under the boat towards the sea's surface. 

In a tweet, Spain's Maritime Safety and Rescue Society said: "Each life saved is our biggest reward."

China is gearing up for big military exercises in the seas around Taiwan following top US politician Nancy Pelosi's trip to the island, BBC reported.

The drills are due to begin at 12:00 local time (04:00 GMT) and in several areas are due to take place within 12 miles of the island.

Taiwan faced "deliberately heightened military threats", President Tsai said.

Ms Pelosi made a brief but controversial visit to Taiwan, which China regards as a breakaway province.

The drills - China's biggest ever around Taiwan - are Beijing's main response to the visit, although it has also blocked some trade with the island.

The exercises will take place in busy waterways and will include long-range live ammunition shooting, Beijing says. 

Taiwan said it scrambled jets to warn off Chinese warplanes on Wednesday.

Its military had also fired flares to drive away unidentified aircraft, probably drones, which were flying over the Kinmen islands, located close to the mainland, 

Taiwan's defence ministry also said it had suffered cyber attacks, following similar attacks on other government websites earlier in the week, according to BBC.

Taiwan has asked ships to find alternative routes to avoid the drills and is negotiating with neighbouring Japan and the Philippines to find alternative aviation routes. 

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said the military drills were irresponsible and warned they could spiral out of control.

The US hoped Beijing would avoid "escalation that could lead to a mistake or miscalculation" in the air or on the seas, he said in an interview with National Public Radio on Wednesday.

Japan has also expressed concern to China over the areas covered by the military drills, which it says overlaps with its exclusive economic zone (EEZ).

Tokyo expects issues surrounding Taiwan to be "resolved peacefully through dialogue", chief cabinet secretary Hirokazu Matsuno said on Wednesday.

The boundaries of Japan's EEZ have been contentious among its neighbours, and includes some islets also claimed by Beijing, BBC reported.

In response, Chinese government spokeswoman Hua Chunying said the waters in this area had not been delimited and Beijing did not accept the "so-called" Japan EEZ.

The ruling coalition leaders have agreed to hold the federal and provincial elections in November.

A meeting of the leaders held at the Prime Minister's official residence in Baluwatar on Wednesday agreed to hold the elections on November 20.

Rastriya Janamorcha Party Vice-Chairman Durga Paudel, who attended the meeting, said that the leaders have agreed to hold the elections on November 20.

She said that the next meeting of the Council of Ministers will announce the date for the elections.

Nepal reported 915 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday.

According to the Ministry of Health and Population, 3, 091 swab samples were tested in the RT-PCR method, of which 590 returned positive. Likewise, 2, 911 people underwent antigen tests, of which 325 were tested positive.

The Ministry said that no one died of the virus in the last 24 hours. The Ministry said that 301 infected people recovered from the disease.

As of today, there are 5, 433 active cases in the country.

The Nepal Stock Exchange (NEPSE) plunged by 6. 72 points to close at 2,186.76 points on Wednesday.

Similarly, the sensitive index dropped by 0. 63 points to close at 420. 50 points.

A total of 9,542,626 units of the shares of 218 companies were traded for Rs 4. 02 billion.

Meanwhile, Samling Power Company Limited was the top gainer today with its price surging by 9. 99 percent. Likewise, Standard Chartered Bank Limited was the top loser with its price dropped by 3. 92 percent.

At the end of the day, the total market capitalization stood at Rs 3. 12 trillion.

A Nepali Airlines plane preparing to fly to Mumbai of India from Nepal has been stopped.

The aircraft was stopped after police received information that there was a suspicious person on board and could pose a threat to security.

A team of Crime Investigation Bureau (CIB) is carrying out checks by taking the plane under control.

Meanwhile, police have arrested a suspicious person from the aircraft.

China has dispatched a military ship to Sri Lanka’s port city of Hambantota in the midst of the rapidly changing political situation in the island nation, voanews.com reported.

The move has raised questions about whether China is trying to establish a strong military presence on Sri Lanka’s Indian Ocean coast.

China’s People’s Liberation Army describes the vessel, Yuan Wang 5, as a survey ship, meant to conduct research in the Indian Ocean. But analysts are asking whether the ship, due to arrive in Hambantota on Aug. 11 and packed with sophisticated electronics for space and satellite tracking, is meant to serve a strategic purpose.

“China’s goal is to put the Hambantota port to dual use, commercial and military. It is trying to build the capability to move and maneuver ships at the port with a military purpose,” Dayan Jayatilleka, a former Sri Lankan diplomat, told VOA.

China has some say about using the port because the Sri Lankan government handed it over to Chinese companies on a 99-year lease in 2017. Colombo was forced to give up control of the port after it failed to repay Chinese loans used to build it.

Sri Lanka’s recently ousted president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is believed to have given his consent to berthing the vessel at the Sri Lankan port. The new government that replaced him after a massive protest movement is unlikely to revoke the decision and stop the vessel from using the port.

“Sri Lanka needs financial assistance, and it would not want to displease China by revoking the permission,” Jehan Perera, executive director of the National Peace Council of Sri Lanka, told VOA.

“China’s purpose is to make sure its military ships have easy access to the Sri Lankan port. As long as this goal is met, it has no need to actually build a military base,” said K.P. Fabian, a former deputy high commissioner of India to Sri Lanka.

Sri Lanka is seeking a bailout loan from the International Monetary Fund (IMF). IMF rules stipulate that a loan-seeking country should reschedule the payment timetable of past debt in order to qualify.

China has refused Sri Lanka’s request to reschedule project loans amounting to nearly $10 billion that have fallen due. Without China’s cooperation, Colombo would be unable to obtain IMF financing and sink deeper into a financial mire.

“[The] Sri Lankan government is hopeful Beijing will come around and accept the request. It also wants a currency swap arrangement to buy Chinese goods,” Perera said.

Sri Lanka is almost without foreign exchange reserves and facing higher world oil prices, which has resulted in a serious energy shortage. The country is also facing a food crisis with millions of people without jobs.

It is possible that China might try to use its influence as a lender to pressure Sri Lanka to allow the creation of Chinese military facilities, which could be used to target China’s rival, India.

“For India, it is a matter that is causing serious concern. China has been trying to create military challenges for India, and this is one such effort,” said Fabian.

A move to establish a Chinese military presence in Sri Lanka will cause concern not only in India but also in other parts of the world because Indian Ocean sea routes connect Asia and Europe.