Briefly

UNITED STATES

Top congressional job still hangs in balance

US Representative Kevin McCarthy struggled to beat back hard-line conservative opposition and secure enough votes to give him the speakership when the new House of Representatives convenes with a narrow Republican majority on Tuesday. With a narrow 222-213 Republican majority, McCarthy can afford to lose just four votes from his caucus to win the 218 he needs, or half of the chamber's 435 members. No Democrats are likely to vote for him.

RUSSIA

Japan's course 'makes treaty talks impossible'

Japan's "anti-Russian course" makes peace treaty talks impossible, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Andrei Rudenko said on Tuesday. Russia and Japan have not formally ended World War II hostilities because of four islands off Japan's northernmost island of Hokkaido. The islands are known in Russia as the Kurils and in Japan as the Northern Territories.

Agencies via Xinhua