Vietnam

U.S. President Barack Obama said April 21 that Washington and the Arab monarchies of the Gulf were united in their commitment to defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL).

"We remain united in our fight to destroy [ISIL]," Obama was quoted as saying by AFP in Riyadh at the close of a Gulf Cooperation Council summit on April 21.

Beijing landed a military plane on a disputed South China Sea reef it has built up into an artificial island, officials said on April 18, in the first confirmation of such a flight.
 
An air force plane landed on Fiery Cross reef in the Spratlys archipelago on April 17 to evacuate sick workers, a news report posted online by China's defence ministry said.
 

Greece ranked 29th among the best countries in the world for visiting, according to the readers of British newspaper Telegraph.

It is also chosen as the second most popular tourist destination in Mediterranean by British travelers.

China is "strongly dissatisfied" with a Group of Seven (G-7) statement calling for restraint in disputed waters, the foreign ministry said April 12, as worries grow in Asia over Beijing's territorial and military ambitions.

"China is strongly dissatisfied with relevant moves taken by G-7," foreign ministry spokesman Lu Kang said in a statement.

The number of known executions worldwide went up by more than 50 percent last year to at least 1,634, the highest figure recorded since 1989, Amnesty International said on April 6.
 
The surge was largely fuelled by Iran, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia, the London-based human rights organisation said in its annual report on death sentences and executions worldwide.
 

Turkish power company Gama has set its sights on Africa, Iran and the Far East due to a slowdown in energy projects in Europe, problems with Russia and rising security concerns, according to the company's CEO.

CJ CGV Co Ltd, South Korea's largest movie theater chain operator, and its partners will acquire 100 percent of Turkey's MARS Entertainment Group for 605 million euros ($687.82 million), Reuters has reported. 

The United Nations Security Council on March 2 unanimously adopted a resolution that dramatically expands existing U.N. sanctions on North Korea in response to its Jan. 6 nuclear test, a measure largely negotiated by Washington and Beijing. 

Mars announced it has recalled a selected group of its chocolate bars sold in Turkey and more than 50 other countries in a written statement on Feb. 25, after a piece of plastic was found in one snack made in its Dutch factory. 

The U.S.-based company said three different types of chocolate bars will be recalled in a limited number in the Turkish market as "a precautionary step." 

Chocolate giant Mars on Feb. 23 ordered a massive recall of Mars and Snickers bars from 55 countries after a piece of plastic found in one bar was traced back to its Dutch factory.