Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
BANGKOK, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Myanmar’s junta has suspended travel authorisations for aid workers trying to reach hundreds of thousands of people in the cyclone-ravaged Rakhine state, the UN’s humanitarian affairs office said Friday. Cyclone Mocha brought lashing rain and winds of 195 kilometres per hour (120 miles per hour) to Myanmar and neighbouring Bangladesh last month, killing at least 148 people in Myanmar. The cyclone destroyed homes and brought a storm surge to […]
TAIPEI, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – More than 30 Chinese warplanes entered Taiwan’s air defence zone over the course of about six hours, the island’s defence ministry said Thursday, a sharp ramp-up in single-day incursions by China’s military. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has vowed to take it one day — by force if necessary. In recent years, Beijing has intensified aerial incursions into the island’s air defence identification zone — nearly […]
JAKARTA, June 8, 2023 (AFP) – Southeast Asian nations have agreed to hold their first-ever joint military drills in the South China Sea, Indonesian officials said Thursday, as tensions grow over China’s increasing assertiveness in the region. “We will hold joint military drills in the North Natuna Sea,” Indonesian military chief Yudo Margono said after a meeting of Southeast Asian defence chiefs in Bali, state news agency Antara reported. They will take place in September […]
JAKARTA, June 9, 2023 (AFP) – Indonesia’s Anak Krakatoa volcano erupted on Friday, belching a column of ash more than three kilometres into the sky, officials said. The volcanic island emerged from the sea at the beginning of the last century from the crater formed after the 1883 eruption of Mount Krakatoa — one of the deadliest and most destructive in history. Anak Krakatoa, which means “Child of Krakatoa”, spewed thick ash over the strait […]
MANILA, June 8, 2023 (AFP) – Philippine scientists said that a “hazardous eruption” of a volcano in the archipelago could be days or weeks away, and urged the evacuation of nearby residents from their homes. Hundreds of families living around Mount Mayon in central Albay province are expected to be moved to safer areas after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology raised the alarm. Mayon, a near-perfect cone located about 330 kilometres (205 miles) […]
HANOI, June 3, 2023 (AFP) – Hanoi residents flocked to the Vietnamese capital’s air-conditioned shopping malls on Saturday to escape power cuts at home, as the grid struggled to cope with the high demand caused by soaring heat. Vietnam is one of many countries across South and Southeast Asia experiencing record-high temperatures in recent weeks. As the temperature rose to 36 degrees Celsius, Bui Manh Duc Tai and his napping girlfriend were among those at […]
JAKARTA, June 5, 2023 (AFP) – The United States and China have sent warships to the multinational naval drills that began in Indonesia on Monday, despite the rifts between the two powers. Washington and Beijing are engaged in fierce competition on diplomatic, military, technological and economic fronts. The US military has stepped up its Asia-Pacific operations to counter an increasingly assertive China, which has recently staged several rounds of war drills around Taiwan. But both […]
BEIJING, May 31, 2023 (AFP) – Beijing blamed US “provocation” Wednesday for an incident last week in which a Chinese plane crossed in front of an American surveillance aircraft over the South China Sea. The incident comes at a time of frayed ties between Washington and Beijing over issues including Taiwan, which China regards as its territory, and the shooting down of an alleged Chinese spy balloon that flew over the United States this year. […]
WASHINGTON, May 29, 2023 (AFP) – Beijing has declined a US invitation for a meeting in Singapore between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu, the Pentagon said Monday. “Overnight, the PRC informed the US that they have declined our early May invitation for Secretary Austin to meet with PRC Minister of National Defense Li Shangfu in Singapore this week,” Pentagon spokesman Brigadier General Pat Ryder said in a statement, refering to […]
BANGKOK, May 29, 2023 (AFP) – Thai police said on Monday they have charged a Canadian man they described as a mercenary with the murder of an Indian gangster in the resort island of Phuket. Officers launched an investigation after Jimi “Slice” Sandhu — whose nickname came from a distinctive scar on his face — was shot and killed in February 2022. Interpol issued a red notice last year for Canadian citizen Matthew Leandre Ovide […]
JAKARTA, May 23, 2023 (AFP) – Indonesia’s Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, erupted on Tuesday, spewing lava more than two kilometres from the crater. Dramatic images of lava pouring from the volcano’s smoking crater were published by the government-run Merapi Volcano Observatory. Dozens of small tremors related to Merapi’s eruption were recorded on Tuesday, according to the Centre for Research and Development of Geological Disaster Technology (BPPTKG), a government agency that […]
NEW DELHI, May 17, 2023 (AFP) – Climate change made record-breaking deadly heatwaves in Bangladesh, India, Laos and Thailand last month at least 30 times more likely, according to a study published Wednesday. Parts of India saw temperatures above 44 degrees Celsius (111 Fahrenheit) in mid-April, with at least 11 deaths near Mumbai attributed to heat stroke on a single day. In Bangladesh, Dhaka suffered its hottest day in almost 60 years. The city of […]
