Taipei

Taiwan will work with the United States to "safeguard peace and freedom" in the region, the island's premier said on Monday, after Washington approved billions in military aid for Taipei in the face of an increasingly assertive China.

Equities retreated on April 15 after Iran ramped up Middle East tensions by launching a barrage of missiles and drones at Israel over the weekend, fuelling fears of a wider conflict in the volatile region.

However, analysts said there was hope among traders that the crisis could be contained.

That sliver of optimism helped drag oil prices lower.

At least nine people were killed and nearly 60 injured Wednesday by a powerful earthquake in Taiwan that damaged dozens of buildings and prompted tsunami warnings that extended to Japan and the Philippines before being lifted.

Officials said the quake and series of aftershocks was the strongest to shake the island in decades, and warned of more tremors in the days ahead.

Power cut in Taipei - Flights suspended in Okinawa - Tsunami warning issued in Japan

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.