08 Mar 2019; AFP: China threw its weight behind Huawei's legal battle against the United States on Friday, saying the telecom giant will not be a "silent lamb to the slaughter" and vowing to defend the rights of Chinese companies.

Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced Beijing's support as Huawei mounts a legal and public relations campaign to counter US warnings that the company's networks and equipment could serve as Trojan horses for Chinese intelligence services.

DENVER (AP) — A Colorado man strangled his pregnant wife in their bed before driving her body and their two daughters to a worksite where he smothered the girls with a blanket, according to records of an interview he gave police from prison.

Christopher Watts made the statements during authorities’ prison visit on Feb. 18, three months after he was sentenced to life in prison. Authorities said they believe the grim account of the killings represent Watts’ first full confession.

BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhua) -- China will surely become stronger, but will not become assertive, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday.

Wang made the remarks at a press conference on the sidelines of the country's annual legislative session.

He stressed that assertiveness has never been part of the Chinese tradition and hegemony will never be its choice, even the country grows stronger.

TEHRAN, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Iran has criticized Britain for providing diplomatic protection to an Iranian-British national, Nazanin Zaghari, who is imprisoned in Iran over espionage charges, Iranian Ambassador to London Hamid Baeidinejad said on Friday.

"Governments may only exercise such protection to their own nationals. As UK government is acutely aware, Iran does not recognize dual nationality. Irrespective of UK residency, Ms Zaghari thus remains Iranian," Baeidinejad tweeted on Friday.

WASHINGTON, March 7 (Xinhua) -- Paul Manafort, U.S. President Donald Trump's former campaign chairman, was sentenced to 47 months in federal prison for tax and bank fraud on Thursday, much shorter than it had been expected.

LONDON, March 7 (Xinhua) -- British Chancellor of the Exchequer Philip Hammond said Thursday a crucial vote on Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit deal by next Tuesday could be the last chance for Britain to leave the European Union (EU) on its planned March 29 departure date.

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump’s 2020 budget proposal will include $100 million for a global women’s fund spearheaded by his daughter Ivanka Trump.

A White House official told The Associated Press that the budget, expected to be released Monday, will include the funding for the Women’s Global Development and Prosperity Initiative. The administration last month launched the government-wide project, led by the Republican president’s daughter and senior adviser.

PYONGYANG, March 7 (Xinhua) -- The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on Thursday blasted South Korea and the United States for holding a joint military exercise, saying it was a violation of summit agreements they reached with the DPRK last year.

It is a violent violation of the joint declarations and statements that the DPRK reached with the United States and South Korea last year, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a report.

LOS ANGELES, March 7 (Xinhua) -- A federal judge based in Los Angeles Thursday dismissed adult-film actress Stormy Daniels' lawsuit against U.S. President Donald Trump over a hush-money settlement, which was alleged by Daniels to cover her affair with Trump in 2016.

In a 14 pages order, Central District of California Judge S. James Otero ruled that the suit was irrelevant after Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen agreed to rescind a non-disparagement agreement that Daniels signed in exchange for a 130,000 U.S. dollars payment.

HELSINKI, March 8 (Xinhua) -- Finnish President Sauli Niinisto accepted the resignation of the government led by centrist Prime Minister Juha Sipila, national broadcaster Yle said on Friday morning.

Officials said the resignation was mainly due to the virtual failure of the coalition government's plan to reform the public healthcare system, which has been crucial to the ruling coalition's plan to balance public finances.

BEIJING, March 8 (Xinhua) -- China and the United States stand to gain from cooperation and lose from confrontation, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Friday.

"This is the most important thing we can learn from the past," Wang said at a press conference on the sidelines of the country's annual legislative session.

Though a lot of changes have taken place in the world and in both countries since they established diplomatic relations four decades ago, this valuable lesson still holds true today and must be adhered to and safeguarded, Wang added.

08 Mar 2019; AFP: India has signed a $3 billion deal to lease a third Russian nuclear-powered submarine for 10 years, giving Delhi a boost in the Indian Ocean against arch-rivals Pakistan and China, media reports said.

The deal -- which according to the reports took months to negotiate -- comes as tensions run high between India and Pakistan following their biggest standoff in years, and as Chinese influence grows in the region.