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By Femke COLBORNE with Phil HAZLEWOOD in London BERLIN, April 22, 2024 (AFP) – Germany and Britain on Monday both swooped on suspected spies accused of passing on secret information to China, as concern deepens in the West over aggressive Chinese espionage. In Germany, investigators arrested three German nationals in the west of the country suspected of sharing information on maritime technology, prosecutors said in a statement. The trio, named as Herwig F., Ina F. […]
TAIPEI, April 22, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwan’s capital was shaken by a “strong” earthquake early Monday evening, AFP staff reported, with the Central Weather Administration saying it was a magnitude-5.5 tremor originating in eastern Hualien. The region was the epicentre of a magnitude-7.4 quake that hit on April 3, causing landslides around the mountainous region that blocked off roads, while buildings in the main Hualien city were badly damaged. At least 17 were killed in […]
BEIJING, April 22, 2024 (AFP) – Eleven people are missing following storms that battered southern China, state media said Monday, with tens of thousands evacuated away from the torrential downpours. Heavy rain has descended upon the vast southern province of Guangdong in recent days, swelling rivers and raising fears of severe flooding that state media said could be of the sort only “seen around once a century”. “A total of 11 people are missing after […]
TOKYO, April 21, 2024 (AFP) – One died and seven people were missing Sunday after an accident overnight in which two Japanese military helicopters apparently collided before crashing into the sea, officials said. A spokesman for Japan’s Self-Defense Force (SDF) confirmed the late Saturday incident to AFP and said that one person was rescued but later confirmed dead. Defence Minister Minoru Kihara said rescuers “spotted what are believed to be part of the aircraft in […]
SEOUL, April 20, 2024 (AFP) – North Korea has tested a “super-large warhead” designed for a strategic cruise missile, state media said Saturday, the most recent test since UN sanctions monitoring against the nuclear-armed nation was upended last month by Russia. The announcement comes after Russia in March used its United Nations Security Council veto to effectively end UN monitoring of violations of the raft of sanctions on Kim Jong Un’s government for its nuclear […]
WASHINGTON, April 19, 2024 (AFP) – The United States fined a Thailand-based firm $20 million on Friday for more than 450 possible Iran sanctions violations — a day after Washington slapped fresh sanctions on Iran following last weekend’s attack on Israel. The move is the latest attempt by the United States to hit Iran financially, even as it works to dial down the military tensions between Iran and Israel following recent tit-for-tat attacks. Bangkok-headquartered […]
BEIJING, April 19, 2024 (AFP) – China announced the creation of a new military cyber corps on Friday, saying it would bolster Beijing’s capacity to “fight and win” wars. The Information Support Force will act as a “key support for coordinated development and application of network information systems”, defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian said. China has ploughed billions of dollars into modernising its armed forces in recent years as tensions with the United States and […]
By Ronny Adolof Buol, with Marchio Gorbiano in Jakarta TAGULANDANG, April 19, 2024 (AFP) – A remote Indonesian volcano sent a tower of ash spewing into the sky Friday, after nearly half a dozen eruptions earlier this week forced thousands to evacuate when molten rocks rained down on their villages. Mount Ruang in Indonesia’s outermost region of North Sulawesi started erupting late Tuesday, stirring a spectacular mix of fiery orange lava, a towering ash column […]
JAKARTA (AFP) – China’s top diplomat met Indonesian President Joko Widodo and his successor Prabowo Subianto on Thursday as Beijing seeks to boost its regional influence. The meetings come after Prabowo visited Beijing this month where Chinese President Xi Jinping praised relations with Jakarta, laying out a vision for regional peace as tensions rise between Beijing and other Southeast Asian neighbours — including the Philippines over the disputed South China Sea. Indonesian defence minister Prabowo […]
By Rose TROUP BUCHANAN BANGKOK, April 19, 2024 (AFP) – Southeast Asian regional bloc ASEAN said it is “deeply concerned” about a recent upsurge in fighting in Myanmar, after fierce clashes over a key trading hub on the Thai border. The foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations urged “all parties for an immediate cessation of violence” in Myanmar, which has been roiled by conflict since the military seized power in a February […]
TOKYO, April 18, 2024 (AFP) – Eight people were reported injured Thursday after a 6.3-magnitude earthquake struck off southwestern Japan, but there appeared to be no major damage or tsunami. The epicentre of the quake, which hit at 11:14 pm (1414 GMT) Wednesday, was located between the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, the US Geological Survey said. Japan experiences around 1,500 quakes every year. The vast majority are mild and even larger quakes usually cause […]
TOKYO, April 17, 2024 (AFP) – An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 struck off southwestern Japan on Wednesday night, the US Geological Survey said, but there were no tsunami warnings or reports of damage. The USGS put the epicentre of the quake in a channel that separates the islands of Kyushu and Shikoku, about 18 kilometres (11 miles) west of Uwajima, at a depth of about 25 kilometres. “In areas the jolt […]
