Myanmar'S junta sentences Aung San Suu Kyi to 4 years in prison

Today's headlines: Modi and Putin kick off strategic summit. Chinese owned Evergrande hits new low. Contested Solomon Islands premier passes no-confidence vote despite riots. Japan contains Omicron variant of Covid-19. Palestinian youth killed after attacking Israeli checkpoint. Azerbaijan and Armenia reach agreement on minefields and prisoners between .

MYANMAR

A court today sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi, the leader of the civilian government overthrown by Burmese generals on February 1, to four years in prison. She was charged with inciting dissent and violating anti-Covid regulations. This morning's is the first verdict out of 11 indictments for the democracy icon. Former President Win Myint was also convicted.

INDIA-RUSSIA

The annual strategic summit between Delhi and Moscow opens today. Despite the health situation over the new Covid-19 variant, Russian President Vladimir Putin will meet Indian PM Narendra Modi in the Indian capital - their first face-to-face talks since November 2019.

CHINA

Evergrande, the Chinese real estate giant that is facing bankruptcy, slumped 12% on the stock exchange today. The group has debts of more than 300 billion dollars and has declared that there are no guarantees it can pay the next due date. Its default is threatening the national economy.

SOLOMON-CHINA-TAIWAN

Despite recent riots in the Solomon Islands, mainly targeting Chinatown in the capital Honiara, the controversial Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare has survived a parliamentary  no confidence vote. His government is accused of selling the country out to Beijing and of breaking diplomatic relations with Taipei.

JAPAN

Almost 90% of Japanese people are satisfied with the measures taken by the Kishida government to deal with the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19. according to a Yomiuri Shimbun poll. So far, three cases of the new infectious strain have been detected in the country.

ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Israeli security forces killed a young Palestinian man this morning as he tried to drive his car through a checkpoint near Tulkarem in the West Bank. According to Israeli sources, one of its soldiers was seriously injured. There has been no comment yet from the Palestinian side.

AZERBAIJAN-ARMENIA

The Armenians handed over to Baku the maps of the minefields in the territories recaptured last year from the Azeris. The delivery is said to be the "result of negotiations between the parties", with Russian mediation. A few days ago Azerbaijan returned 10 prisoners of war to Armenia.