China blocked imports of citrus and fish from Taiwan in retaliation for a visit by Nancy Pelosi, a top American lawmaker, to the self-ruled island but has avoided disrupting one of the world's most important technology and manufacturing relationships.

The two sides, which split in 1949 after a civil war, have no official relations but multibillion-dollar business ties, especially in the flow of Taiwanese-made processor chips needed by Chinese factories that assemble the world's smartphones and other electronics.

Lebanon's prosecutor general decided a Syrian ship allegedly carrying Ukrainian grain stolen by Russia may leave a port in the country's north, officials said Tuesday. The move came after an investigation showed the vessel wasn't carrying stolen goods.

However, the Laodicea cannot immediately leave the port of Tripoli because a judge ordered Monday that it may not sail for 72 hours at the request of Ukrainian authorities. If the judge does not extend the order, the ship could sail in two days, a move likely to anger Ukraine.

Hino Motors, a truck maker that's part of the Toyota group, systematically falsified emissions data dating back as far as 2003, according to the results of an investigation released Tuesday.

President Satoshi Ogiso bowed deeply at a hastily called news conference and apologized to customers and other stakeholders.

Sri Lankans who have endured months of fuel and food shortages are bracing for more pain as a newly installed government scrambles to find solutions to the Indian Ocean nation's economic emergency.

Like many others, fish monger Gamini Mallawarachchi says he is pinning his hopes on President Ranil Wickremesinghe 's ability to revive the economy and restore stability after months of turmoil and protests.

The United States is working with Japan and other likeminded countries to counter China's efforts to use its economic might to force political change around the world, the U.S. ambassador to Japan said Tuesday in an interview with The Associated Press.

Rahm Emanuel, who was previously mayor of Chicago and chief of staff for President Barack Obama, is pushing what he calls "commercial diplomacy," the idea that the United States and Japan will be more eager to do business with each other and with similar secure and stable countries amid worries caused by the COVID pandemic, the war in Ukraine and Chinese economic coercion.

Asian and European stock markets fell Tuesday as investors dumped risky equities on spiking U.S.-China tensions over a possible visit by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.

"Tensions ramped up on reports that Pelosi is due to visit Taiwan later this evening," noted CMC Markets analyst Michael Hewson.

Iran on Tuesday slammed as "destructive" new U.S. sanctions targeting its crucial energy sector and vowed a response, at a time when nuclear talks have stalled for months. 

U.S. President Joe Biden's administration "is not stopping this unproductive and destructive action even at a time when efforts are underway to resume negotiations to revive the Iran nuclear deal," said foreign ministry spokesman Nasser Kanani. 

The first cargo ship to leave Ukraine since Russia invaded its neighbor more than five months ago has run into bad weather in the Black Sea and is set to arrive later than scheduled in Istanbul, a Turkish official said Tuesday.

The Sierra Leone-flagged Razoni, which set sail from the Ukrainian port of Odesa on Monday, is now expected to reach Istanbul early Wednesday, according to Rear Admiral Ozcan Altunbulak, a coordinator at the joint center established to oversee the grain shipments.

U.U.S. mediator Amos Hochstein did not present a proposal related to offshore block 8 or other blocks in his meeting with Lebanese leaders on Monday, a media report said.

“Hochstein told the conferees, ‘the Qana field is certainly fully yours, but Israel is saying that if you want to go to Naqoura, it will not accept any Lebanese demand south of Line 23,’” senior sources told al-Jadeed TV.

British Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has said that the sailing Monday of the first grain ship since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is an “important first step.”

Under the U.N.-brokered agreement, the ship, Razoni, left Ukraine’s Odessa this morning for Lebanon, traveling along a safe corridor established under the deal.