by Claire LEE Agence France-Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country has finished building its first military spy satellite and gave the green light for its launch, state media said Wednesday. The report of its completion comes about a week after Pyongyang launched what it said was a new solid-fuel intercontinental ballistic missile, marking a major breakthrough in its banned weapons programs. Analysts have said there is […]
Asia
India population to surpass China mid-year: UN estimates
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India is set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by mid-year with almost three million more people, UN estimates showed on Wednesday. India’s population will be 1.4286 billion compared to China’s 1.4257 billion at mid-year, the United Nations Population Fund’s State of World Population report showed. China’s population shrank last year for the first time in more than six decades, official data showed earlier this year. The […]
‘Get ready’: Taiwan civilians train for Chinese invasion
by Yan ZHAO / Jack MOORE Agence France-Presse TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Physician Lin Yuh-ting has taken time out of her weekend to learn civilian defense tips she can relay to her two young children in case China invades self-ruled Taiwan. There are no weapons, just vital training on how to react to China’s hybrid warfare. The classes are part of a growing Taiwanese urgency to be ready for a worst-case scenario after seeing the […]
Probe under way after Beijing hospital fire kills 21
BEIJING, China (AFP) — An investigation was under way Wednesday after a fire ripped through a hospital in China’s capital Beijing, killing 21 people, state media reported. Emergency response teams first received word just before 1 pm (0500 GMT) Tuesday that a fire had broken out at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the capital city’s Fengtai District, the Communist Party-run Beijing Daily said. The fire was extinguished about half an hour later and rescue efforts […]
China’s economy rebounds after zero-Covid scrapped
by Sébastien RICCI Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s economy grew much better than expected in the first three months of the year as the country reopened after the end of zero-Covid measures, official data showed Tuesday. The figures were the first snapshot since 2019 of the world’s second-largest economy unencumbered by the strict health controls that helped keep the coronavirus in check but battered businesses and supply chains. After years of travel restrictions […]
Fire in Beijing hospital kills 21, newspaper says
(AFP) A fire in a Beijing hospital has killed 21 people, the state-run Beijing Daily said on Tuesday. Emergency response teams first received word just before 1 pm (0500 GMT) that a fire had broken out at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the capital city’s Fengtai District, the Beijing Daily report said. The fire was extinguished about half an hour later and rescue efforts continued for about another two hours, by which time a total […]
China says ‘political manipulation’ behind US arrests
Beijing, China | AFP | Tuesday 4/18/2023 China said on Tuesday that “political manipulation” was behind the arrests of two men the United States accused of setting up an unauthorised Chinese police station in New York. Authorities in the city also charged dozens of Chinese security officials over a campaign to monitor and harass US-based dissidents. “China firmly opposes the US side’s slandering, smearing, engaging in political manipulation, and maliciously concocting the so-called transnational repression […]
J-Hope of BTS to begin mandatory South Korean military service
by Claire LEE BTS star J-Hope was set to start his mandatory South Korean military service on Tuesday, local media reported, the second member to report for duty since the K-pop juggernaut went on hiatus last year. The septet has become a global cultural phenomenon, selling out stadiums and dominating charts while raking in billions for South Korea’s economy and building an international legion of fans known as ARMY. But all able-bodied South Korean men […]
Japan PM blast suspect filed lawsuit over election rules
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Tuesday 4/18/2023 A man accused of throwing an explosive at Japan’s prime minister had previously filed a lawsuit against the government, a court spokesman said Tuesday. Japanese media said the lawsuit filed in June by the suspect, named as 24-year-old Ryuji Kimura, was a complaint about the country’s minimum age for running in elections. Prime Minister Fumio Kishida was unharmed after the attack on Saturday, in which a suspected pipe […]
Philippines ex-foreign minister who stood up to China dies at 83
Manila, Philippines | AFP | Tuesday 4/18/2023 Albert del Rosario, the Philippines’ former foreign minister who stood up to Beijing in the South China Sea, has died at the age of 83, Manila said Tuesday. Del Rosario, who served under Philippine president Benigno Aquino from 2011 to 2016, died while en route to the United States, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said in a statement that did not specify the cause of death. Born […]
Heatstroke kills 11 at India awards event
New Delhi, India | AFP | Monday 4/17/2023 Eleven people died of heatstroke in India after an estimated one million spectators waited for hours in the sun at a government-sponsored awards ceremony, officials said on Monday. Around 20 people were hospitalised and 300 felt ill at the event near the western city of Mumbai on Sunday, when temperatures hit close to 38 degrees Celsius (100 Fahrenheit) with high levels of humidity, local media reported. Senior […]
Indian ex-politician, brother shot dead live on TV
Prayagraj, India | AFP | Gunmen seemingly posing as journalists shot dead a former Indian member of parliament and his brother live on TV as they were being taken in handcuffs to hospital by police, authorities said. Atiq Ahmed, 61, who had been jailed since 2019 and was convicted of kidnapping, was answering reporters’ questions late Saturday when he and his brother Ashraf were shot at close range, the television images showed. “According to preliminary […]