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TOKYO, April 4, 2024 (AFP) – Tourists and residents packed Tokyo’s top cherry blossom spots on Thursday to enjoy the full bloom that has arrived in the Japanese capital later than usual this year because of cold weather. The elegant dark branches bursting with pink and white flowers — known as sakura in Japanese — spilled over the moat of the Imperial Palace, where people gathered to snap photos or simply take in the view. […]
By Yan ZHAO with Amber WANG in Taipei HUALIEN, Taiwan, April 4, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwanese rescuers worked Thursday to reach scores of people trapped in highway tunnels as engineers began a massive clear-up operation a day after the island’s biggest earthquake in a quarter of a century. Ten people were killed and nearly 1,100 injured in Wednesday’s magnitude-7.4 quake, but strict building regulations and widespread public disaster awareness appear to have staved off a […]
TOKYO, April 4, 2024 (AFP) – A magnitude-6.0 earthquake struck off northeastern Japan’s Fukushima region on Thursday, the Japan Meteorological Agency said, but no tsunami warning was issued. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries after the earthquake, whose epicentre had a depth of 40 kilometres (25 miles) and which was also felt in Tokyo. Japan, one of the world’s most tectonically active countries, has strict building standards designed to ensure structures can […]
By Valentín DÌAZ BOGOTÁ, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – With promises of wealth and images glorifying fighters among vast fields of coca leaves, Colombia’s modern-day guerrillas are urging young people to join their ranks via TikTok. “The Jaime Martinez Front welcomes you, youngster,” reads one post by a faction of the EMC — rebels who broke away from the Marxist FARC guerrilla group when they signed a peace pact with the government in 2016. The […]
TAIPEI, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – The earthquake that hit Taiwan’s east on Wednesday morning was “the strongest in 25 years”, said the director of Taipei’s Seismology Centre. “The earthquake is close to land and it’s shallow. It’s felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands… it’s the strongest in 25 years since the (1999) earthquake,” Wu Chien-fu told reporters, referring to a September 1999 quake with 7.6-magnitude that killed 2,400 people. This is a developing […]
TOKYO, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – – Flights were suspended at the main airport in Japan’s southern region of Okinawa on Wednesday due to a tsunami alert triggered by an earthquake in Taiwan, a government official said. Operations at Naha Airport were suspended from 9:25 am local time (0025 GMT) as a precautionary measure, a transport ministry official stationed at the airport told AFP. “Incoming flights need to divert” at the airport, located on the […]
MANILA, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines warned of “high tsunami waves” and called for the evacuation of coastal areas in the country’s north on Wednesday, lowering an earlier warning after a major quake struck neighbouring Taiwan. “The people in the coastal areas of the following provinces are strongly advised to immediately evacuate to higher grounds or move farther inland,” the state seismology institute said in an advisory. Coastal areas in the provinces of […]
By Amber WANG TAIPEI, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – A major 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan’s east on Wednesday morning, prompting tsunami warnings for the self-ruled island as well as parts of southern Japan and the Philippines. The quake hit just before 8:00am local time (0000 GMT), with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) putting the epicentre 18 kilometres (11 miles) south of Taiwan’s Hualien City, at a depth of 34.8 km. Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued […]
TOKYO, April 1, 2024 (AFP) – Japan’s royal family is now on Instagram — but don’t expect any candid selfies from its official account, which went live Monday in a cautious social media debut for the ancient monarchy. The first 19 posts are formally staged photos and videos of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako carrying out royal duties at recent public appearances. Nonetheless, more than 160,000 users have followed the Imperial Household Agency (IHA) account, […]
By Arunabh SAIKIA NEW DELHI, March 31, 2024 (AFP) – Top leaders of India’s opposition coalition and thousands of supporters rallied in the capital Sunday, decrying “autocracy” in protest at the arrest of a senior colleague ahead of general elections. Arvind Kejriwal, chief minister of Delhi and a key leader in an opposition alliance formed to compete against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, was detained this month in connection with a long-running corruption probe. Kejriwal’s government […]
JAKARTA, March 31, 2024 (AFP) – Firefighters have managed to extinguish a blaze that levelled an ammunition warehouse just outside the Indonesian capital after a series of explosions, an officer said Sunday. The first explosion was heard at around 6:00 pm (1100 GMT) on Saturday at a depot used to store expired ammo inside a military complex near Jakarta. Twenty-seven fire trucks were deployed to the location and firefighters managed to douse the blaze by […]
