Reuters

SEOUL (Reuters) - Russian President Vladimir Putin said he plans to lift relations with North Korea to a higher level and pledged his unwavering support, Pyongyang's state media KCNA reported on Tuesday ahead of his planned visit to the country.

In a letter published in North Korea's Rodong Sinmun, a ruling Workers' Party mouthpiece, Putin said the two countries have developed good relations and partnerships over the past 70 years based on equality,... (continue reading...)

BRASILIA (Reuters) - Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday urged his government to speed up actions in the Amazon to combat organized crime that has contributed to destruction of the world's largest tropical rainforest.

Lula complained that it had taken a year for a security plan for the Amazon, known as AMAS, to get off the ground, and said there was still much to be done to set up an international police center in Manaus.

CARACAS (Reuters) - Venezuela's opposition coalition said on Monday that four activists from two of its political parties have been detained in recent days, as tensions rise ahead of a July presidential contest.

Gabriel Gonzalez, Javier Cisneros, Jeancarlos Rivas and Juan Iriarte, of the Popular Will and Vente Venezuela parties were arrested between Friday and Monday by security forces who have accused them of instigating hate and of conspiracy,... (continue reading...)

(Reuters) - Merck said on Monday the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved its next-generation vaccine to protect adults against pneumococcal disease.

The drugmaker's vaccine, branded Capvaxive, helped produce an immune response against all 21 serotypes, or variations of the bacteria, that the shot targeted in a variety of adult populations across studies.

Merck competes with Pfizer in the U.S. market for pneumococcal vaccines... (continue reading...)

By Jamie McGeever

(Reuters) - A look at the day ahead in Asian markets.

The start of the trading week has shown that it is becoming increasingly difficult to navigate, never mind predict, markets right now, with many asset correlations being weakened by strong cross-currents of news flow and drivers.

Some markets, like the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, are taking on a momentum of their own, and others, like the U.S. Treasury market... (continue reading...)