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SHANGHAI, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – K-pop singer Lisa of megastar girl group Blackpink has been banned from China’s Weibo social media platform, sparking speculation among fans Friday that the censorship was tied to a burlesque performance she gave in Paris. Lisa, whose full name is Lalisa Manobal, disappeared from Weibo this week, with her personal page replaced by an error message saying her account was “not viewable due to being reported for violating laws […]
YANGON, Myanmar, Nov 3, 2023 (AFP) – Myanmar’s junta chief said the military will strike back at ethnic armed groups waging an offensive in the north of the country, seizing towns and blocking trade routes to China, state media reported Friday. Fighting has raged for a week across a wide swathe of Shan state in what analysts say is the biggest military challenge to the junta since it seized power in 2021. The Myanmar National […]
BANGKOK, Nov 2, 2023 (AFP) – Thai officials held direct talks with Hamas in Iran last week over the fate of 22 of the kingdom’s nationals taken hostage by the Palestinian militant group in its attack on Israel, the head of the Thai delegation said. Negotiators met Hamas officials in Tehran on October 26 and were given a pledge that the Thais would be released at the “right time”, Areepen Uttarasin told reporters in Bangkok […]
TOKYO, Nov 2, 2023 (AFP) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida announced on Thursday a stimulus package worth $113 billion aimed at easing the pain from inflation. Voters in the world’s third-largest economy have been squeezed by rising prices since the Ukraine war while Kishida’s poll ratings are at their lowest since taking office in 2021. “This package… is expected to total in the lower range of the 17 trillion yen ($113.2 billion) level,” Kishida […]
TOKYO, Nov 1, 2023 (AFP) – Japanese police on Wednesday were probing the motives of an 86-year-old who took two women hostage in a post office after reportedly first setting his home on fire and shooting into a hospital. Two people were wounded at the hospital in Saitama, outside Tokyo, while the two hostages were unharmed after an eight-hour ordeal at the hands of the irate and armed pensioner on Tuesday. Media reports said Tsuneo […]
KUPANG, Indonesia, Nov 1, 2023 (AFP) – A 6.1-magnitude quake hit the eastern Indonesia island of Timor on Thursday, shaking the provincial capital and forcing residents to run outside, US seismologists said. The quake struck at a depth of 36.1 kilometres (22.5 miles) on the west of Timor island near the city of Kupang, according to the US Geological Survey. Indonesia’s geophysics agency, or BMKG, said the quake had a higher magnitude of 6.6. The […]
SEOUL, Nov 1, 2023 (AFP) – North Korea has provided Russia with over one million artillery rounds to use in its war with Ukraine with Pyongyang appearing to receive advice on satellite technology in return, a South Korean lawmaker said Wednesday, citing Seoul’s spy agency. Russia and North Korea, who are historic allies, are both under a raft of global sanctions — Moscow for its invasion of Ukraine, and Pyongyang for its testing of nuclear […]
HANOI, November 1, 2023 (AFP) – Three people died after days of heavy rain in central and north Vietnam that flooded homes and submerged roads, disaster management authorities said Tuesday. Access to several communities in central Ha Tinh province has been cut off, while the police and military have been mobilised to rescue people from high-risk areas. A woman and a 13-year-old boy were found dead in the province after being swept away by strong […]
By Tomohiro OSAKI SAITAMA, Japan, Oct 31, 2023 (AFP) – Japanese police detained a reportedly 86-year-old man who held several people hostage in a post office after apparently shooting into a hospital and injuring two people on Tuesday. After a standoff lasting eight hours in Warabi, outside Tokyo, police said they finally detained the man after 10 pm (1300 GMT) after surrounding the three-storey building. “The man has been detained. Details will come later,” a […]
LONDON, Nov 1, 2023 (AFP) – The abbreviation of artificial intelligence (AI) has been named the Collins Word of the Year for 2023, the dictionary publisher said on Tuesday. Lexicographers at Collins Dictionary said use of the term had “accelerated” and that it had become the dominant conversation of 2023. “We know that AI has been a big focus this year in the way that it has developed and has quickly become as ubiquitous and […]
BANGKOK, Oct 31, 2023 (AFP) – Thailand’s foreign minister begins an urgent visit to Qatar and Egypt on Tuesday for talks on the fate of 22 Thais taken hostage by Hamas in its attack on Israel. Israeli authorities say more than 1,400 people, mostly civilians, were killed in an attack launched by the Palestinian militant group on October 7 from the Gaza Strip. In response, the Israeli military has pounded Gaza, where the Hamas-controlled health […]
SAITAMA, Japan, Oct 31, 2023 (AFP) – Police were surrounding a post office in Japan late Tuesday as a suspected gunman held an unknown number of people hostage, with local media reporting two people injured in a possible shooting at a nearby hospital. It was not immediately clear whether the two incidents were related, but reports said that the suspect in the hospital case had sped away on a motorbike. Images on television showed the […]
