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By Satish Cheney and Martin Abbugao SINGAPORE, May 31, 2024 (AFP) – Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos said Friday that the presence of the United States was “crucial to regional peace”, as the Southeast Asian country faces growing Chinese pressure in waters off its coastline. Marcos has sought to deepen defence cooperation with the United States as he stands up to Chinese actions in the South China Sea, which Beijing claims almost entirely. “China’s determining influence […]
JAKARTA, May 30, 2024 (AFP) – A mass rapid transit line in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta was suspended on Thursday due to a construction incident along part of its elevated line, the operator said. No one was hurt due to the incident, Ahmad Pratomo, corporate secretary at operator PT MRT Jakarta, said in a statement to AFP. “Due to an incident at a construction activity carried out at the Attorney General office’s building… affecting the train’s […]
BUKIT TINGGI, Indonesia (AFP) – A volcano in western Indonesia erupted on Thursday, spewing an ash cloud two kilometres into the sky as authorities warned residents over potential dangers from cold lava flows. Mount Marapi in West Sumatra province erupted at 1:04 pm (0604 GMT), spewing thick grey clouds of ash two kilometres (1.2 miles) above its peak, the national disaster mitigation agency, or BNPB, said in a statement. The volcano — one of Indonesia’s […]
LOS ANGELES, May 29, 2024 (AFP) – Young amateur golfer Hiroshi Tai will be the first Singaporean to play in the US Masters after he won the prestigious national college championship in the United States. The 22-year-old, who studies at Georgia Tech, won the NCAA Individual Men’s Championship in California on Monday by one stroke to earn a place at Augusta in April 2025 and a major debut at next month’s US Open at Pinehurst. […]
By Kang Jin-kyu and Hieun Shin SEOUL, May 29, 2024 (AFP) – A major union representing tens of thousands of people at South Korean tech giant Samsung Electronics said Wednesday that workers will go on strike for the first time ever, potentially threatening key global semiconductor supply chains. A spokesperson said union members, around 20 percent of the company workforce, would use annual leave to strike for one day on June 7, leaving the door […]
TAIPEI, May 29, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwan’s parliament passed a package of controversial bills on Tuesday to expand its power as thousands of disapproving protesters rallied outside and chanted “defend democracy”. Proponents say expanded parliamentary powers are needed to curb corruption but critics fear the laws could weaken the self-ruled island’s democracy against the influence of China, which claims it as part of its territory. New Taiwan President Lai Ching-te represents the Democratic Progressive Party […]
BEIJING, May 29, 2024 (AFP) – China on Wednesday vowed military pressure on Taiwan would carry on as long as “independence” provocations continued on the self-ruled island. Last week, China held two days of military drills around Taiwan that saw warships and jets loaded with live munitions practise seizing and isolating the self-ruled island. The exercises were launched three days after Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te took office and made an inauguration speech that China […]
BANGKOK, May 29, 2024 (AFP) – Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra will be prosecuted for insulting the monarchy, the attorney general’s office said Wednesday, over comments he made almost a decade ago. Prayuth Pecharakun, spokesman for the attorney general, said Thaksin would be summoned to court on June 18 to answer charges under the kingdom’s strict lese-majeste laws. The decision comes as a blow to Thaksin, a two-time premier ousted in a 2006 coup […]
SEOUL, May 27, 2024 (AFP) – North Korea’s latest attempt to put a spy satellite into orbit ended in a mid-air explosion, Pyongyang said late Monday, hours after its announcement of a planned launch was criticised by Seoul and Tokyo. Putting a spy satellite into orbit has long been a top priority for Kim Jong Un’s regime, and it claimed to have succeeded in November, after two failed attempts last year. Seoul claims Kim received […]
TAIPEI, May 27, 2024 (AFP) – A senior US lawmaker affirmed on Monday Washington’s support for Taiwan against Chinese “aggression”, on the first congressional visit to the self-ruled island since it swore in a new president. Sitting down Monday morning with President Lai Ching-te, Representative Michael McCaul — who heads the influential House Foreign Affairs Committee — said he and his colleagues stood in “strong support of this beautiful island”. Three days after Lai was […]
SEOUL, May 27, 2024 (AFP) – North Korea has fired an “unidentified projectile”, South Korea’s military said late Monday, hours after Pyongyang informed Japan that it was preparing to launch another spy satellite. “North Korea has fired an unidentified projectile southwards,” over the Yellow Sea, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said, after Seoul, Beijing and Tokyo wrapped up their first trilateral summit since 2019. Japan also confirmed the launch with the government’s alert system […]
SEOUL, May 27, 2024 (AFP) – Leaders from South Korea, China and Japan reaffirmed their goal of a denuclearised Korean peninsula Monday, during a rare summit at which they also agreed to deepen trade ties. The summit brought together South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol, Chinese Premier Li Qiang and Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida in Seoul for the countries’ first trilateral talks in nearly five years, partly due to the pandemic but also to […]
