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By Irwanda Saputra and Hendra Makmur AGAM, Indonesia, Dec 5, 2023 (AFP) – The death toll from a volcano eruption in Indonesia has risen to 22 after nine more bodies were discovered, a search and rescue agency official said Tuesday. Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra spewed an ash tower 3,000 metres (9,800 feet) — taller than the volcano itself — into the sky on Sunday. Hundreds of rescuers have worked for days to […]
MANILA, Dec 5, 2023 (AFP) – A magnitude 5.7 earthquake shook the Philippine capital Manila on Tuesday, the US Geological Survey said, sending people rushing out of buildings and briefly halting train services in the city. The strong quake struck off the country’s main island of Luzon at 4:23 pm (0823 GMT) at a depth of 77 kilometres (48 miles), about 94 kilometres southwest of Manila, the USGS said. Videos shared on social media showed […]
SINGAPORE (AFP) – A Singapore judge sentenced a teenager to 16 years in jail on Friday for killing a schoolmate with an axe in a crime that shocked the city-state in 2021. The killing at a state secondary school was a rare incident in a country that is known for its tough approach to law and order, which includes corporal and capital punishment, and has one of the world’s lowest crime rates. The accused, who […]
By Ara Eugenio and Cecil Morella MANILA, Dec 3, 2023 (AFP) – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake struck off the coast of the southern Philippines early Monday, the United States Geological Survey said, the latest in a slew of strong quakes all concentrated in the same area. Monday’s quake hit just before 4:00 am local time, (2000 GMT Sunday), at a depth of 30 kilometres (18 miles), some 72 kilometres northeast of Hinatuan municipality on Mindanao […]
MANILA, Dec 3, 2023 (AFP) – Defence ministers for the Philippines and France vowed Saturday to pursue an agreement that would allow them to deploy troops to each other’s territories, the latest such deal sought by the archipelagic nation located in the strategic South China Sea. Speaking following a meeting in Manila, Philippine Defence Secretary Gilbert Teodoro and his French counterpart Sebastien Lecornu said they agreed to seek authorisation from their respective presidents and relevant […]
SEOUL, Dec 3, 2023 (AFP) – The office operating North Korea’s newly launched spy satellite will run as a military intelligence organisation, state media said Sunday. Pyongyang successfully put a military spy satellite into orbit last month and has since claimed it was providing images of major US and South Korean military sites. It has not yet disclosed any of the satellite imagery it claims to possess but warned on Saturday that any attack on […]
By Allison JACKSON MANILA, Dec 3, 2023 (AFP) – The Philippines said Sunday more than 135 Chinese vessels were “swarming” a reef off its coast, describing the boats’ growing presence as “alarming”. The Chinese boats were “dispersed and scattered” within the boomerang-shaped Whitsun Reef, which the Philippines calls Julian Felipe Reef, around 320 kilometres (200 miles) west of Palawan Island, the coast guard said. Whitsun Reef is more than 1,000 kilometres from the nearest major […]
PADANG, Indonesia, Dec 3, 2023 (AFP) – A volcano in western Indonesia erupted Sunday, belching a column of ash around three kilometres into the sky and forcing the evacuation of dozens of hikers, officials said. Mount Marapi on the island of Sumatra, with a peak of 2,891 metres, is on the third-highest alert level of Indonesia’s four-step system and authorities imposed an exclusion zone around its crater. There were no immediate reports of damage or […]
By Ara Eugenio and Cecil Morella MANILA, Dec 3, 2023 (AFP) – A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit the southern Philippines on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said, a day after an even more powerful quake in the same region killed two people and triggered a tsunami alert. The latest earthquake — one of several strong aftershocks felt in the region since late Saturday — hit at around 6:36 pm (1036 GMT) at a depth of […]
By Josh EDELSON MOUNTAIN VIEW, United States, Dec 2, 2023 (AFP) – The defense chiefs of the United States, Australia and Britain met in California on Friday, touting high-tech co-operation on deep space radar, AI and quantum computing systems aimed at bolstering their armed forces in the face of growing global threats, including from China. The three men huddled in Silicon Valley — the heart of the US tech sector — to build on the […]
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 2, 2023 (AFP) – US Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Saturday urged lawmakers, Silicon Valley and US allies to stop China from getting semiconductors and cutting-edge technologies key to national security. Speaking at an annual national defense forum in Simi Valley, California, Raimondo called Beijing “the biggest threat we’ve ever had” and stressed “China is not our friend.” The world’s top two economies are locked in a fierce commercial and geopolitical rivalry, […]
By Chaideer Mahyuddin SABANG, Indonesia, Dec 2, 2023 (AFP) – More than 100 Rohingya refugees, including women and children, landed in Indonesia’s westernmost province on Saturday, officials said, but locals threatened to push them back to sea. Hundreds more of the mostly Muslim Rohingya from Myanmar were trapped on board another two unseaworthy vessels adrift in the Andaman Sea, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR). The latest arrival comes after more than 1,000 […]
