News brief: Big stories of the day

Washington wants to quickly deploy new intermediate-range missiles in Asia, US Defence Secretary Mark Esper said Saturday in a move likely to anger China.

External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar on Saturday said the Indian government is working for the early release and repatriation of all the 18 Indian crew members on board the British-flagged tanker which has been detained by the Revolutionary Guards of Iran (IRGC) in the Strait of Hormuz.

Footage emerged Saturday of the moment a bomb exploded in a Bangkok mall as the city hosted a major summit, the device hidden inside a cuddly toy animal.

Four people died and several were injured after a powerful undersea earthquake rocked Indonesia's heavily populated Java island, triggering a brief tsunami warning, the national disaster agency said Saturday.

Russian police on Saturday detained prominent opposition activist Lyubov Sobol ahead of a planned protest in Moscow to demand free elections.