Biden vows to defend Taiwan

Speaking in Japan, US President Joe Biden vowed to intervene militarily to protect the island if it is attacked by China. The White House insisted there had been no departure from a long-standing US policy in the region. Mr Biden also drew a parallel with Russia's invasion of Ukraine, prompting an angry rebuke from Beijing. Also in the programme: the challenges the new Australian Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese, is facing in the international arena; and a court in Ukraine has sentenced a Russian soldier to life in prison for killing an unarmed civilian, in the first war crimes trial since the invasion. (Photo: U.S. President Joe Biden attends a joint news conference with Japan’s Prime Minister Fumio Kishida. Credit: Reuters.)