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TOKYO, Nov 21, 2023 (AFP) – North Korea has issued formal notice of a satellite launch as early as Wednesday, Japan said, with Pyongyang’s third attempt to put a military eye in the sky coming after it likely received technical help from Russia in exchange for arms transfers. The Japanese coast guard posted a notification on its website Tuesday of a launch window between November 22 and December 1, and Seoul’s Ministry of Oceans and […]
By Amber WANG TAIPEI, Nov 20, 2023 (AFP) – Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan’s former envoy to the United States and self-described “cat warrior”, was named Monday as the running mate to presidential frontrunner Lai Ching-te for the island’s January elections. The January 13 vote comes at a time when Beijing has intensified military and diplomatic pressure on the administration of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen and China has blasted the pairing of Vice President Lai and Hsiao […]
OTTAWA, Nov 20, 2023 (AFP) – A Sino-Canadian row reared its head on Monday after one of two Canadians jailed by China for nearly three years claimed he was unwittingly used for intelligence gathering and is seeking compensation from Ottawa. Beijing’s 2018 to 2021 detentions of Canadians Michael Spavor and Michael Kovrig had plunged bilateral relations into a deep freeze. Spavor reportedly now blames Kovrig, with whom he had provided information on North Korea, unaware […]
JAKARTA, Nov 19, 2023 (AFP) – A collision between a train and a minibus at a level crossing in the east of Indonesia’s most populous island Java on Sunday killed at least 11 people and injured several others, an official told local media. The train was travelling towards the port city of Surabaya when it hit a minibus carrying a dozen passengers at a crossing in the East Java city of Lumajang at around 8:00 […]
BANGKOK, Nov 19, 2023 (AFP) – More than 250 Thais trapped in northern Myanmar by an upsurge in fighting between the junta and an alliance of ethnic minority groups are to be repatriated through China, Thailand’s foreign ministry said Sunday. Fighting has surged across a swathe of Myanmar since late October, when the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA) launched attacks on the military. The rugged, […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan’s two leading opposition parties failed to agree Saturday on who would lead the ticket in a joint presidential bid for January’s crucial elections. The lead-up to Taiwan’s January 13 vote is being closely watched because it will shape Taipei’s future relations with China, which claims the self-ruled island as its territory. The current frontrunner is Vice President Lai Ching-te of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which […]
BANGKOK, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Forty-one Thais trapped in Myanmar for three weeks by an upsurge in fighting between the junta and an alliance of ethnic minority armed groups returned to the kingdom on Saturday, the Thai army said. Fighting has raged since October 27 across northern Shan state near the Chinese border after the Myanmar National Democratic Alliance Army (MNDAA), Ta’ang National Liberation Army (TNLA) and Arakan Army (AA) launched attacks on the […]
JAKARTA, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – A boat carrying Rohingya refugees that was forced back to sea earlier this week was sighted Saturday several miles off the coast of Indonesia’s westernmost region, according to a local commander. The group of around 250 people from the persecuted Myanmar minority arrived off Aceh province on Thursday, but residents told them not to land. The boat travelled to another location in Aceh where a second group of residents […]
MANILA, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – The death toll from a strong earthquake off the southern Philippines rose to seven on Saturday, while rescuers also searched for two people feared buried beneath a landslide. The 6.7-magnitude quake that struck the Mindanao region mid-afternoon on Friday caused part of a shopping mall ceiling to collapse, triggered power cuts and sent people fleeing into the streets. Falling debris from the mall in General Santos City crushed a […]
SYDNEY, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Australian navy divers were “likely” injured by sonar pulses emitted by a Chinese warship this week, the country’s defence minister said Saturday, accusing Beijing of “unsafe and unprofessional” conduct at sea. Richard Marles said the HMAS Toowoomba — a long-range frigate — had been supporting United Nations sanctions enforcement efforts within Japan’s exclusive economic zone. The divers had plunged into the water to clear fishing nets from the ship’s […]
SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 18, 2023 (AFP) – Talks between US President Joe Biden and Chinese leader Xi Jinping this week — and agreement to restore military communications — will likely improve stability in the Taiwan Strait, Taipei’s chief delegate to an economic summit said Friday. “I really think it was a good meeting, it was good news that they resumed military communications,” said Morris Chang, who is in San Francisco as Taiwan’s envoy for the […]
By Ara Eugenio and Cecil Morella MANILA, Nov 17, 2023 (AFP) – A strong magnitude 6.7 earthquake shook the southern Philippines on Friday, killing a married couple as people fled buildings and part of a shopping mall ceiling collapsed. No tsunami threat was issued after the quake struck off Sarangani province on the main southern island of Mindanao at a depth of 78 kilometres (48 miles) at 4.14 pm (0814 GMT), the US Geological Service […]
