China says it summoned European diplomats to the country to protest statements issued by the Group of Seven nations and the European Union criticising threatening Chinese military exercises surrounding Taiwan.

The Foreign Ministry on Aug 5  said Vice Minister Deng Li made solemn representations over what he called wanton interference in China's internal affairs.

China has dispatched navy ships and warplanes and launched missiles into the Taiwan Strait in response to a visit this week by US Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan, which China regards as its own territory to be annexed by force if necessary.

China had earlier summoned US Ambassador Nicholas Burns to protest Pelosi's visit.

A Japanese video journalist detained in Myanmar while covering a brief pro-democracy march has been charged with violating a law against spreading false or alarming news, the Southeast Asian country's military government announced.

Toru Kubota, a Tokyo-based documentary filmmaker, was arrested on july 30  by plainclothes police after taking images of the protest. He is the latest of about 140 journalists arrested since the military seized power last year from the elected government of Aung San Suu Kyi.

More than half have been released, but the media remains under tight restrictions.

A military information office, the Tatmadaw True News Information Team, said in a statement that Kubota was charged with incitement, specifically causing fear, spreading false news, or agitating against a government employee.

It carries a penalty of up to three years in prison. Most of Myanmar's imprisoned journalists were charged under the same law.

Kubota is also charged with violating visa regulations The statement said Kubota arrived in Yangon from Thailand on July 1 with a tourist visa.

Kubota is the fifth foreign journalist detained in Myanmar after US citizens Nathan Maung and Danny Fenster, who worked for local publications, and freelancers Robert Bociaga of Poland and Yuki Kitazumi of Japan.

They were all eventually deported. The army's takeover was opposed by widespread peaceful protests that were suppressed with lethal force.

A graduate of Tokyo's Keio University with a master's degree from the University of the Arts London, Kubota, 26, has done assignments for Yahoo! News Japan, Vice Japan and Al Jazeera English.

His work has focused on ethnic conflicts, immigrants and refugee issues, including the plight of Myanmar's persecuted Rohingya Muslim minority.

South Korea joined the stampede to the moon on Aug 4 with the launch of a lunar orbiter that will scout out future landing spots.

The satellite launched by SpaceX is taking a long, roundabout path to conserving fuel and will arrive in December. If successful, it will join spacecraft from the U.S. and India already operating around the moon, and a Chinese rover exploring the moon's far side.

India, Russia and Japan have new moon missions launching later this year or next, as do a slew of private companies in the U.S. and elsewhere. And NASA is next up with the debut of its mega moon rocket in late August.

South Korea's $180 million mission — the country's first step in lunar exploration — features a boxy, solar-powered satellite designed to skim just 62 miles (100 kilometres) above the lunar surface. Scientists expect to collect geologic and other data for at least a year from this low polar orbit.

It is South Korea's second shot at space in six weeks. In June, South Korea successfully launched a package of satellites into orbit around Earth for the first time using its own rocket. The first try last fall fizzled, with the test satellite failing to reach orbit.

And in May, South Korea joined a NASA-led coalition to explore the moon with astronauts in the coming years and decades. NASA is targeting the end of this month for the first launch of its Artemis program. The goal is to send an empty crew capsule around the moon and back to test the systems before a crew climbs aboard in two years.

Danuri — Korean for "enjoy the moon" — is carrying six science instruments, including a camera for NASA. It's designed to peer into the permanently shadowed, ice-filled craters at the lunar poles. NASA favours the lunar south pole for future astronaut outposts because of evidence of frozen water.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who met External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar in Cambodia ahead of the ASEAN ministerial meeting on Aug 4, said that New Delhi is among Washington's "closest partners".

Both Blinken and Jaishankar are in Cambodia to attend the ASEAN ministerial meeting.

In a statement issued by the Department of State, Blinken said that it is an opportunity for both the leaders to compare notes on various mutual interest areas including the free and open Indo-Pacific and Sri Lanka crisis.

He also noted several challenges in Sri Lanka and Burma.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

The Reserve Bank of India on  Aug 5 has retained its growth projection at 7.2 per cent for the current fiscal as it sees improvement in urban demand and gradual recovery in rural India aided by a normal monsoon.

Unveiling the fourth monetary policy for the current fiscal, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das said the central bank remains committed to price stability to put the country on a sustained path of growth.

The RBI expects growth in the first quarter of the current fiscal at 16.2 per cent, which will taper to 4 per cent by the fourth quarter.

Das, however, cautioned that there are risks from the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war.

The central bank in April slashed the GDP growth projection for 2022-23 to 7.2 per cent from its earlier forecast of 7.8 per cent.

Declaring that the Monetary Policy Committee has taken a unanimous decision to raise the benchmark lending rate by 50 bps to 5.40 per cent, RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das has  said that the IMF has revised downwards economic growth projection and expressed the risk of recession.

Key points from the RBI Governor's address:

With the latest hike, the repo rate or the short-term lending rate at which banks borrow has crossed the pre-pandemic level of 5.15 per cent.

This is the third consecutive rate hike after a 40 basis point in May and 50 basis point increase in June.

In all, the RBI has raised the benchmark rate by 1.40 per cent since May this year.

All six members of the Monetary Policy Committee (MPC), headed by RBI Governor Shaktikanta Das, unanimously voted for the rate hike.

The Consumer Price Index (CPI) based inflation, which RBI factors in while fixing its benchmark rate, stood at 7.01 per cent in June.

Retail inflation has been ruling above the RBI's comfort level of 6 per cent since January this year.

Inflation based on the Wholesale Price Index (WPI) remained in double-digit for 15 months in a row.

The WPI reading was at 15.18 per cent in June.

The latest RBI action follows the Bank of England raising the rate by 50 basis points, the biggest hike in 27 years, to 1.75 per cent.

Within days of conducting 5G auctions, the government has completed the spectrum 'harmonisation' process, paving the way for players' holdings to be streamlined within a particular band for greater efficiency, Telecom Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw has said

The spectrum harmonisation process, critical for 5G services, brings together a bunch of radio wave holdings within a band into one contiguous block with the consensus of all telecom service providers.

Vaishnaw  has said that the government is on course for the timely allocation of radiowaves bought by players (in the auction) by August 12.

The process of approvals from the Committee of Secretaries has also been completed.

The harmonisation of the spectrum leads to greater efficiencies for players, as chunks of radio-wave holdings in one band are brought together or consolidated with the consensus of all players.

India's biggest ever auction of telecom spectrum that concluded on August 1 (Monday) received a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore of bids, with Mukesh Ambani's Jio cornering nearly half of all the airwaves sold with an Rs 88,078 crore bid.

Richest Indian Gautam Adani's group, whose entry in the auction was billed by some as another flash point in the rivalry with Ambani, paid Rs 212 crore for 400 MHz, or less than one per cent of all spectrum sold, in a band that is not used for offering public telephony services.

Telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal's Bharti Airtel made a successful bid of Rs 43,084 crore, while Vodafone Idea Ltd bought spectrum for Rs 18,799 crore.

Of the 72,098 MHz of spectrum offered across 10 bands, 51,236 MHz, or 71 per cent, was sold.

After every auction, the separate holdings of an individual player in a band are brought together through the harmonisation process.

All the players have to be in agreement for such shifting and consolidation to take place, a process that normally takes months.

Reliance Jio Infocomm has obtained 24,740 MHz spectrum in 700, 800, 1800, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz.

Adani Data Networks Ltd obtained a 400 MHz spectrum in the 26 GHz band, suitable for captive networks.

Bharti Airtel has obtained 19,867.8 MHz in 900, 1800, 2100, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz bands.

Vodafone Idea Ltd bought 6,228 MHz spectrum in 1800, 2100, 2500, 3300 MHz and 26 GHz.

Spectrum refers to the radio frequencies allocated to the mobile industry and other sectors for communication over the airwaves.

This includes FM or AM radio broadcasts and even other wireless forms of communication like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

Mobile phones also use this radiowaves to transmit voice calls and data.

These frequencies come in different bands, supporting specific technologies, as well as governing the speed of transmission.

The quantum of spectrum in each band is measured in MHz.

Typically, 5G offers speeds about 10 times faster than 4G, lag-free connectivity, and can enable billions of connected devices to share data in real-time.

Amit Panghal and Jaismine won their respective bouts to take India's medal count in boxing to five at the Commonwealth Games  on Aug 4 .

Panghal ensured a fourth medal from the boxing ring after winning his flyweight (48-51 kg) quarter-final against Scotland's Lennon Mulligan.

Later in the day, Jaismine beat New Zealand's Troy Garton by a 4-1 split verdict in the women's lightweight (60kg) quarter-final.

A 1,200-year-old Hindu temple  in the capital of Pakistan's Punjab province has been formally opened to the public after it was reclaimed from a Christian family following a lengthy court battle.

The Evacuee Trust Property Board (ETPB), the federal body overseeing minority worship places in Pakistan, last month reclaimed possession of the Valmiki Temple situated near the famous Anarkali Bazaar in Lahore from a Christian family, which had grabbed the place of worship more than two decades ago.

Besides the Krishna Temple, the Valmiki Temple is the only functional Hindu temple in Lahore.