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By James EDGAR BEIJING, May 24, 2024 (AFP) – Beijing on Friday said ongoing drills encircling Taiwan were testing the military’s ability to seize power over the self-ruled island, days after its new president was sworn in. China’s military kicked off the war games Thursday morning, surrounding Taiwan with naval vessels and military aircraft, while vowing the blood of “independence forces” on the island would flow. The exercises — codenamed “Joint Sword-2024A” — come after […]
LAHORE, Pakistan, May 23, 2024 (AFP) – Half of Pakistan’s pupils will be shut out of schools for a week as the nation takes crisis measures to lessen the effect of a series of heatwaves, officials said Thursday. Some 26 million students will be out of lessons from Saturday in Punjab, Pakistan’s most populous province, which has ordered schools to close for the summer break one week early because of the soaring temperatures. The early […]
SHANGHAI, May 23, 2024 (AFP) – China on Thursday announced two days of war games around self-ruled Taiwan, encircling the island with naval vessels and military aircraft. Here’s what you need to know. – Why has China launched these drills? – Taiwan has been self-governed since 1949, when nationalists fled to the island following their defeat by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in a civil war on the mainland. Beijing considers the democratic island part […]
By James EDGAR BEIJING, May 23, 2024 (AFP) – China on Thursday launched two days of military drills to surround self-ruled Taiwan in what it said was “strong punishment” for the island’s “separatist acts”. The drills come after Lai Ching-te was sworn in as Taiwan’s new president this week and made an inauguration speech that China denounced as a “confession of independence”. Communist China claims Taiwan as part of its territory and has vowed to […]
By Caroline GARDIN FUJIKAWAGUCHIKO, Japan (AFP) – A Japanese town mounted a large mesh barrier at a popular viewing spot for Mount Fuji on Tuesday, in an attempt to deter photo-taking by an ever-growing number of tourists. Japan’s most famous sight can be seen for miles around, but Fujikawaguchiko locals are fed up with streams of mostly foreign visitors littering, trespassing and breaking traffic rules in their hunt for a photo to share on social […]
SINGAPORE, May 22, 2024 (AFP) – Singapore has tightened security after an attack on a police station in neighbouring Malaysia by a man with suspected ties to an Al-Qaeda-linked group, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said Tuesday. Two police officers were killed and another injured by the machete-wielding attacker on Friday in Malaysia’s southern Johor state, near the narrow waterway separating the country from Singapore. The man, whose father is a member of Southeast Asia-based […]
LONDON, May 21, 2024 (AFP) – A former member of the UK’s Royal Marines, bailed by a court last week over allegations of assisting Hong Kong’s intelligence services in a Chinese-linked espionage case, has been found dead, British police said Tuesday. Matthew Trickett, 37, was found dead in a park in Maidenhead, west of London, on Sunday following a report by a member of the public, Thames Valley Police said. Trickett had more recently […]
BANGKOK, May 21, 2024 (AFP) – A 73-year-old British man died and more than 70 people were injured Tuesday in what passengers described as a terrifying scene aboard a Singapore Airlines flight that hit severe turbulence, triggering an emergency landing in Bangkok. An initial data analysis by the aviation tracking service Flightradar24 suggested the London-Singapore flight experienced more than one minute of extreme turbulence at around 11,300 metres (37,000 feet) over Myanmar, during which it […]
MANILA, May 21, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines and the United States agreed Tuesday to train Filipinos how to build and operate nuclear power plants, as the Southeast Asian country seeks to boost its electricity supply. The announcement comes after Manila and Washington struck a nuclear cooperation agreement in November that cleared a path for US investment to jumpstart atomic power in the energy-hungry Philippines. Under Tuesday’s deal, the Philippine Department of Energy and the […]
BEIJING, May 20, 2024 (AFP) – Chinese social media Weibo on Monday blocked hashtags referencing the inauguration of Taiwan’s new President Lai Ching-te, preventing them from trending as the self-ruled island swore in a new leader. A hashtag saying “Taiwan 520 new authorities take office”, referring to Monday’s date, was removed, with a notice saying that “according to relevant laws, regulations, and policies, the content of this topic has not been displayed.” Another that reported […]
By Dene-Hern Chen and Amber Wang TAIPEI, May 20, 2024 (AFP) – New Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Monday hailed the arrival of a “glorious era” for the island’s democracy, as he called on China to cease political and military intimidation. In an inauguration speech, Lai also directly addressed the threat of war following years of growing pressure from China’s to bring Taiwan under mainland rule. Lai said a “glorious era of Taiwan’s democracy has […]
KABUL, May 19, 2024 (AFP) – Fresh floods killed 66 people in Faryab province in northern Afghanistan, a provincial official said Sunday, in the latest deadly flooding to hit the country. Hundreds of people have died in separate flash floods this month that have also swamped farmland in a country where 80 percent of the population depends on agriculture to survive. The latest heavy floods hit multiple districts of Faryab province on Saturday night and […]
