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YANGON, June 20, 2024 (AFP) – Detained Myanmar democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi is in “good health”, a junta spokesman told AFP on Thursday, a day after the Nobel laureate turned 79 in military custody. Suu Kyi has been detained by the military since it toppled her government and seized power in 2021, plunging the Southeast Asian nation into turmoil. The Nobel laureate is serving a 27-year sentence imposed by a junta court after […]
MANILA, June 20, 2024 (AFP) – Chinese coast guard sailors brandishing weapons including sticks, knives and an axe clashed with Philippine naval vessels near a strategic reef in the South China Sea, dramatic new footage released by Manila showed. The clash took place Monday as Philippine forces attempted to resupply marines stationed on a derelict warship deliberately grounded atop the disputed Second Thomas Shoal, Manila said. Fresh footage of the confrontation released late Wednesday by […]
By Cat Barton and Claire Lee SEOUL, June 19, 2024 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a mutual defence agreement on Wednesday with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un, who offered his “full support” on Ukraine. The pledge of military cooperation was part of a strategic treaty signed during a summit in Pyongyang, where Putin was making his first visit in 24 years. “It is really a breakthrough document,” Putin said at a news conference […]
By Matthew WALSH BEIJING, June 19, 2024 (AFP) – Ramming boats, building militarised islands and threatening perceived trespassers — China is escalating confrontations with the Philippines in a bid to push it out of the South China Sea, analysts say. One of the most perilous flashpoints between the two nations is a submerged reef called the Second Thomas Shoal, where in 1999 the Philippine navy intentionally marooned a decrepit World War II ship to assert […]
MANILA, June 19, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippine military said Wednesday the Chinese coast guard rammed and boarded Filipino navy boats in a violent confrontation in the South China Sea this week in which a Filipino sailor lost a thumb. Monday’s incident was the latest in a series of escalating confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships in recent months as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims to the disputed area. Filipino military chief […]
SEOUL, June 19, 2024 (AFP) – Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will meet Wednesday in Pyongyang for a summit where they are widely expected to discuss ways to boost sanctions-busting military ties. Kim greeted Putin at the airport, with the two internationally isolated leaders hugging on the red carpet, photographs in North Korean state media showed, underscoring the increasingly close relationship that has sparked concern in Seoul and Washington. […]
By Bhuvan BAGGA NEW DELHI, June 18, 2024 (AFP) – Searing heatwave temperatures in northern India pushed power demand to a record high, the government said Tuesday, with residents of the capital New Delhi also struggling with water shortages. Much of northern India has been gripped by a brutal month-long heatwave, with temperatures regularly soaring above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Northern India has “been experiencing high demand conditions due to a prevailing heat […]
WASHINGTON, June 17, 2024 (AFP) – A Filipino sailor was killed when Yemen’s Huthi rebels attacked a bulk cargo carrier last week, the White House said Monday, condemning their actions as terrorism. The Iran-backed Huthis have launched dozens of drone and missile strikes in the vital shipping zones of the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden since November, describing them as retaliation for the Israel-Hamas war. But National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said […]
MANILA, June 18, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines said Tuesday one of its navy personnel was severely injured after the China Coast Guard rammed a Philippine vessel near Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea. “A Philippine Navy personnel sustained severe injury after the CCG’s (China Coast Guard’s) intentional high-speed ramming during the rotation and resupply mission to the BRP Sierra Madre (LS57) on June 17,” a military statement said. The shoal, which hosts […]
BEIJING, June 18, 2024 (AFP) – At least four people were killed when record rains hit parts of southern China, state media reported Tuesday, while more than a dozen were missing even as the north baked under some of its highest temperatures this year. Downpours “exceeding historical daily maximums” in some areas of Fujian province caused the four deaths, state news agency Xinhua said, citing the flood control headquarters of Shanghang County. More than 66,000 […]
MANILA, June 17, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippine government on Monday accused Chinese ships of ramming and damaging its boats in the South China Sea during a confrontation in waters off the Second Thomas Shoal, home to a garrison of Filipino troops. “The People’s Liberation Army-Navy, China Coast Guard and Chinese Maritime Militia vessels engaged in dangerous maneuvers, including ramming and towing,” Manila’s national task force on the West Philippine Sea said in a statement. […]
BANGKOK, June 18, 2024 (AFP) – Thai prosecutors on Tuesday formally indicted influential former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra under the kingdom’s strict royal insult laws over comments he made nearly a decade ago. The case against the 74-year-old billionaire, twice elected premier and ousted in a 2006 military coup, is one of four before the courts that could unleash fresh political instability in the coup-prone kingdom. Thaksin, the patriarch of the Pheu Thai party that […]
