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SEOUL, Sept 26, 2023 (AFP) – South Korea staged its first military parade in a decade on Tuesday, showcasing its advanced arsenal in the face of plummeting ties with nuclear-armed North Korea. Pyongyang regularly puts on huge military parades but such events in Seoul are traditionally arranged every five years to mark South Korea’s Armed Forces Day. The last parade was in 2013. Five years later, then-president Moon Jae-in chose to hold a celebratory ceremony […]
NEW DELHI, Sept 26, 2023 (AFP) – Army chiefs and senior officers from 30 countries including the United States met in India Tuesday to discuss threats facing the Asia-Pacific region, in the face of concern at an increasingly assertive China. US Army chief Randy George said the region was “critically important”, speaking to reporters alongside his Indian counterpart Manoj Pande, and vowed to boost cooperation to “maintain a free and open Indo-Pacific”. Generals from Japan […]
BEIJING, Sept 26, 2023 (AFP) – Beijing warned Manila on Tuesday not to “stir up trouble” after the Philippine Coast Guard said it removed a floating barrier at a disputed reef that was allegedly deployed by China to block Filipino fishermen from the area. Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea has long been a source of tension between the countries. China seized the ring of reefs from the Philippines in 2012 and has since […]
Singapore army specialists on Tuesday detonated a 100-kilogram (220-pound) World War II-era bomb found at a construction site, causing a thunderous boom in the city-state after authorities had evacuated thousands of residents. More than 4,000 people were evacuated from nearby residences for the controlled detonation, which local media reported was the largest-ever exercise involving a WWII relic in Singapore. The unexploded aerial bomb was discovered last week where a condominium was being built in the […]
BEIJING, Sept 25, 2023 (AFP) – North Korea will allow foreign nationals to enter the country from Monday, Chinese state media reported, after over three years of Covid-induced isolation. North Korea has been largely closed off from the outside world since early 2020, when it shut its borders in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, with even its own nationals prevented from entering. But it is this month showing signs of re-opening, with leader Kim Jong […]
MANILA, Sept 25, 2023 (AFP) – The Philippine Coast Guard said Monday it had removed a floating barrier at a disputed reef that was allegedly deployed to stop Filipinos accessing the traditional fishing ground. The statement was issued hours after Philippine National Security Adviser Eduardo Ano vowed to take “all appropriate actions” for the removal of barriers installed by the Chinese coast guard at Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea. A 300-metre (328-yard) long […]
JAKARTA, Sept 25, 2023 (AFP) – Indonesian President Joko Widodo said new regulation on social media commerce could be passed as soon as Tuesday, as Jakarta aims to rein in sales on tech platforms it says are harming local businesses. Indonesian users spent more money on TikTok than anywhere else in Southeast Asia over the past year, as the app’s e-commerce arm rapidly grew to gain a substantial regional market share and millions of sellers […]
MANILA, Sept 25, 2023 (AFP) – The Philippines vowed Monday to take “all appropriate actions” for the removal of floating barriers allegedly installed by the Chinese coast guard at a disputed reef to stop Filipinos accessing the traditional fishing ground. A 300-metre (328-yard) long floating barrier was found across the entrance of Scarborough Shoal in the South China Sea last week during a routine resupply mission to Filipino fishermen plying the waters near the Chinese-controlled […]
BANGKOK, Sept 25, 2023 (AFP) – Chinese tourists received a personal welcome from the Thai prime minister Monday as they arrived in Bangkok under a new visa-free scheme the government hopes will give the kingdom’s vital tourism sector a boost. Traditional dancers accompanied a smiling PM Srettha Thavisin as he greeted visitors arriving from Shanghai at Bangkok’s Suvarnabhumi airport, handing out welcome gifts. “I was shocked by the welcoming ceremony, and I’m very happy. It’s […]
HANOI, Sept 23, 2023 (AFP) – Vietnam has executed long-time death row prisoner Le Van Manh, a lawyer confirmed Saturday, despite international pleas to spare his life. In 2005 Manh was charged with robbery, as well as the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in the northern Thanh Hoa province. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said police obtained a confession through torture that was relied upon to convict him. Manh later retracted […]
SOUTH CHINA SEA, Philippines, Sept 24, 2023 (AFP) – Filipino fisherman Arnel Satam guns the motor of his tiny wooden boat as he makes a dash for the shallow waters of Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, with Chinese coast guard speedboats in hot pursuit. In a high-seas chase lasting several minutes, Satam tries in vain to outrun the faster boats in the hope of slipping inside the ring of reefs controlled by […]
