Taipei

LONDON - Serbia will be seeded in the draw for the September 13-15 tennis Davis Cup World Group 1 playoffs, the International Tennis Federation announced on its website on Tuesday.

The draw ceremony is scheduled for February 8.

The other seeds are Croatia, Sweden, Kazakhstan, South Korea, Switzerland, Hungary, Portugal, Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Israel and Colombia.

Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday met U.S. delegates who arrived on the island on the heels of an election won by a pro-sovereignty candidate who Beijing said would bring war to the self-ruled island.

Tens of thousands of supporters of Taiwan's three political parties will rally Friday as candidates make a last push for votes in an election that China has warned could take the island closer to war.

Taiwan's bustling democracy of 23 million people is separated by a narrow 180-kilometer (110-mile) strait from communist-ruled China, which claims the island as part of its territory.

A Chinese satellite launch triggered Taiwan's emergency phone alert system on Tuesday, days before the self-ruled island holds a crucial presidential election that has heightened security worries around the region.

The coming year is one of critically important elections. Those for the presidency of the United States, the Senate, the House of Representatives and state governorships (all on November 5) will determine the future of America and of the rest of the world.

Top U.S. military officer General Charles "CQ" Brown spoke with China's General Liu Zhenli on Thursday, a spokesman said, after a more than year-long halt to high-level defense talks between the two countries.

Stock markets fell yesterday as traders took a step back following last week's rally, with Federal Reserve officials looking to temper expectations the U.S. central bank will cut interest rates several times next year.

Samsung Electronics said on July 7 it expects second-quarter operating profits to fall more than 95 percent on-year to their lowest level in 14 years, as a global glut of semiconductors continues to hurt its core memory sector.

Honduras opened an embassy in Beijing on Sunday, Chinese state media reported, months after the Central American nation broke off relations with Taiwan to form diplomatic ties with China.

Asian and European markets rose yesterday, tracking a rally on Wall Street fuelled by a strong rebound in U.S. regional banks and forecast-beating jobs data that eased fears over a recession in the world's top economy.