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By Sean CHANG MATSU, Taiwan, Oct 31, 2023 (AFP) – A former military power plant on Taiwan’s tiny Matsu archipelago is bathed in an ominous crimson light — an art installation reminding visitors of the ever-present threat of a Chinese invasion. The exhibit entitled “Your Country Needs You: Glory of ‘Jun Hun’” — which means “military spirit” — is part of the Matsu Biennial which runs until mid-November. Some of the works displayed across Matsu […]
Thailand will offer visa-free entry to tourists from India and Taiwan, the prime minister announced Tuesday, as the government seeks to rebuild the key tourism sector after it was battered by the pandemic. Indian and Taiwanese visitors will be entitled to stay for up to 30 days under the six-month trial, which will start next month. Thailand’s tourism sector accounts for almost 20 percent of overall GDP, but it has struggled to get back on […]
NEW DELHI, Oct 30, 2023 (AFP) – At least 13 people were killed and around 50 injured when two trains collided in southeast India, officials said on Monday, updating an earlier toll of eight. The accident occurred late Sunday after one of the passenger trains overshot a signal between the towns of Alamanda and Kantakapalle in Andhra Pradesh state. A preliminary investigation found that “human error” had led to the collision, the railway ministry said […]
By Cecil Morella and Pam Castro MANILA, Oct 30, 2023 (AFP) – At least four people were killed in the restive southern Philippines on Monday as millions turned out to vote for village leaders following months of deadly poll-related violence. Security forces were on high alert across the country for the long-delayed nationwide vote for more than 336,000 council positions. While villages are the lowest-level government unit, the council posts are hotly contested because they […]
HONG KONG, Oct 30, 2023 (AFP) – Four former student leaders of a Hong Kong university were jailed for two years Monday for inciting others to wound police after they “glorified” a knife attack on an officer, said a judge. On July 1, 2021, a man stabbed and wounded a police officer in a busy shopping district before taking his own life in what authorities called an act of “domestic terrorism”. Several days later, […]
MANILA, Oct 30, 2023 (AFP) – Philippine police have detained nearly 600 people during a raid on a suspected sex trafficking and online scam operation in Manila, authorities said Saturday. Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese and Filipino nationals were among the people found inside the compound during Friday night’s operation, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said in a statement. Authorities were interviewing 598 detainees to determine who was a victim or suspect, Justice Secretary Crispin Remulla […]
WASHINGTON, Oct 30, 2023 (AFP) – The United States and China agreed Friday to work towards setting up a meeting between the two countries’ leaders next month, after President Joe Biden met Beijing’s top diplomat at the White House. Biden has invited Xi Jinping to San Francisco in November for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit at a time of tense relations between the two powers. Xi has not yet confirmed he will come. After […]
TOKYO, Oct 28, 2023 (AFP) – The EU and Japan agreed a deal Saturday on cross-border data flows that will facilitate online trade among businesses and send a strong message against “digital protectionism”, the European Union said. Signed on the sidelines of the ongoing G7 trade ministers’ meeting in Osaka, the agreement is meant to make doing online business “easier, less costly and more efficient”, the European Commission said in a statement. Specifically, it will […]
YANGON, Oct 28, 2023 (AFP) – Myanmar police arrested 95 people during raids this week on an online scam operation in the commercial hub of Yangon, authorities said. The country has been in chaos since a military coup in February 2021, with criminal syndicates taking advantage of the lawlessness to run scam centres, particularly in border regions. Authorities arrested a total of 95 people at three addresses in Yangon on Thursday — most of […]
JAKARTA, Oct 27, 2023 (AFP) – An Indonesian court on Friday handed death sentences to eight Iranian drug traffickers found guilty of smuggling more than 300 kilograms of crystal meth into the Southeast Asian country. Indonesia has some of the world’s toughest anti-drug laws but has held off conducting executions for several years. A judge in Banten province on Java island ordered that all eight men be executed by firing squad for the gang’s role […]
BEIJING, Oct 27, 2023 (AFP) – Former Chinese premier Li Keqiang has died after suffering a heart attack, state media reported Friday. Li served as premier during President Xi Jinping’s first two five-year terms. Xinhua news agency said Li had a sudden heart attack on Thursday, and had passed away in the early hours of Friday in Shanghai, where he had been resting. He was 68 years old. A career bureaucrat who spoke fluent English, […]
By Adel ZAANOUN with Rosie SCAMMELL in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Oct 25, 2023 (AFP) – The main UN aid agency in besieged Gaza warned it will have to stop operations by the end of Wednesday because it is running out of fuel as Hamas said the death toll from Israeli strikes had surged by more than 700 in a single day. Alarm has grown about the spiralling humanitarian crisis in the heavily bombarded […]
