The Kremlin has threatened Europe and the US with “serious consequences”, including tit-for-tat financial seizures or even a break in diplomatic relations, if Russian assets held abroad are given to aid the Ukrainian budget and war effort.

A spokesperson for Vladimir Putin told reporters on Friday that if the Biden administration and European leaders planned to seize Russian central bank assets believed to be in excess of $300bn (£236bn) that were frozen after Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, they should “realise that Russia will never leave those who do it alone”.

Pakistan court grants bail to former PM Imran Khan

Khan and one of his aides were both granted bail in a case where they have been accused of leaking state secrets.

Pakistan’s Supreme Court on Friday granted bail to former Prime Minister Imran Khan in a case where he is accused of making public state secrets.

Khan’s party’s deputy leader, former Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, was also granted bail.

The former prime minister was sentenced in the summer to three years in prison over graft charges. The sentence was suspended, but he remained in jail since August due to other charges against him, including the official Secrets Act case.

“The case has completely collapsed, and Imran Khan and Shah Mahmood Qureshi have finally been granted bail,” lawyer Salman Safdar told reporters outside court.

More than 20 countries join US-led coalition to protect Red Sea shipping

More than 20 countries have joined the US-led coalition to protect Red Sea shipping from attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

The Iran-backed Houthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling militant group Hamas.

“We’ve had over 20 nations now sign on to participate” in the coalition, Pentagon spokesman Major General Pat Ryder told journalists.

Ryder said the Houthis are “attacking the economic wellbeing and prosperity of nations around the world,” effectively becoming “bandits along the international highway that is the Red Sea.”

S Korean court orders 2 Japanese companies to compensate wartime Korean workers for forced labor

By HYUNG-JIN KIM

South Korea’s top court ordered two Japanese companies to financially compensate more of their wartime Korean workers for forced labor, as it sided Thursday with its contentious 2018 verdicts on the firms that caused a huge setback in relations between the Asian neighbors.

But observers said that Thursday’s ruling won’t likely hurt bilateral ties much since Seoul and Tokyo, now governed by different leaders, are pushing hard to bolster their partnerships in the face of shared challenges like North Korea’s evolving nuclear threats and China’s increasing assertiveness.

The Supreme Court ruled that Mitsubishi Heavy Industries must provide between 100 million and 150 million won ($76,700 and $115,000) in compensation to each of four plaintiffs — all bereaved families of its former employees who were forced to work for the company during Japan’s 1910-45 colonial rule of the Korean Peninsula. The court also said Nippon Steel Corp. must give 100 million won (about $76,700) to each of seven Korean plaintiffs, also all bereaved relatives, for similar colonial-era forced labor.

Prominent Chinese business analysts are starting to disappear from social media

Some of China’s most prominent analysts have been subjected to social media restrictions that appear designed to restrict their ability to comment on the country’s ailing stock markets and struggling economy.

At least six analysts are unable to upload new posts or gain new followers on popular social networking platforms, according to their account pages reviewed by CNN.

One of them is Liu Jipeng, an advisor to the Chinese government, who recently asked retail investors in the country to refrain from investing in the stock market. He has not posted on social media since early December and users can no longer follow his accounts.