JUNE 2 (Reuters) — A passenger ship carrying 458 people, many of them elderly Chinese tourists, sank in the Yangtze River in a storm late on Monday (June 1) and only about 20 had been rescued so far, state media said, in what could be one of China’s worst disasters for years. Some passengers are still alive inside the ship, the micro blog of the official People’s Daily newspaper said. Chinese President Xi Jinping has […]
Asia
Vietnam says reports of Chinese artillery in the South China Sea a “very bad sign”
JUNE 1 (Reuters) — Vietnam’s deputy defense minister said on Saturday (May 30) that reports China had placed mobile artillery weapons on a reclaimed island in the disputed South China Sea were, if true, were a very worrying development. “If it has actually happened it is a very bad sign for what is already a very complicated situation in the South China Sea,” General Nguyen Chi Vinh told Reuters in an interview on the sidelines […]
Number of people with MERS rises to 15 in South Korea
JUNE 21 (Reuters) — South Korea on Sunday (May 31) confirmed that 15 South Koreans have been infected with the Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) virus. “Since the first case of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) was confirmed on May 20, we have now confirmed that a total 15 people have MERS,” South Korea’s Minister of Health and Welfare Moon Hyung-pyo told reporters. The first man was diagnosed with the disease on Wednesday (May 20) […]
China reacts against US comments regarding disputed territories
BEIJING, Philippines (Eagle News) – China reacted against the comments made by United States of America regarding the disputed territories in West Philippine Sea. China added that the United States should stop using challenging statements to stop the spread of chaos in the region. (Eagle News Service Jay Paul Carlos, Jericho Morales, Vince Alvin Villarin)
Bombs outside two five-star Baghdad hotels kill at least 10
MAY 29 (Reuters) — Car bombs exploded in the parking lots of two heavily fortified five-star hotels in central Baghdad late on Thursday (May 28), killing at least 10 people, police and medical sources said. A further 30 people were wounded in the blasts, which were around seven minutes apart. The first bomb targeted the Babylon hotel, where government officials often hold meetings and news conferences, and the second hit the Meridian. Iraqi authorities lifted […]
Heat wave in India kills more than 1,400; maximum temperature hits 47 Celsius
(Eagle News) — A deadly heat wave in India has killed more than 1,400 people as temperatures soar above 47 Celsius (116.6 Fahrenheit), Reuters said that more than 1,100 died this week. CNN reported the national death toll at 1,424. It got so hot that even roads in Delhi had started showing signs of melting. May and June are India’s hottest months, with temperatures regularly pushing above 40 Celsius. But meteorologists say the number of […]
Malaysian authorities exhume bodies at abandoned trafficking camp in jungle
MAY 27 (Reuters) — Malaysian police forensic teams, digging with hoes and shovels, began pulling out the remains of dozens of suspected victims of human traffickers on Tuesday (May 26) from shallow graves discovered at a jungle camp near the border with Thailand. The government said it was investigating whether local forestry officials were involved with the people-smuggling gangs believed responsible for nearly 140 such graves discovered around grim camps in the country’s northwest. The […]
Construction begins on lighthouses on disputed island in South China Sea
MAY 27 (Reuters) — Chinese state television showed footage of a groundbreaking ceremony for the building of two lighthouses in the disputed waters of the South China Sea on Tuesday (May 26). China’s Ministry of Transport hosted the ceremony for the construction of two multi-functional lighthouses on Huayang Reef and Chigua Reef on the disputed Spratlys islands on Tuesday, state news agency Xinhua said, defying calls from the United States and the Philippines for a […]
White House, US officials concerned over China’s building of lighthouses in disputed waters
(REUTERS) — U.S. officials expressed concerns on Tuesday (May 26) over China’s maritime ambitions after the ceremonial opening of two lighthouses in disputed waters, developments likely to escalate tensions in a region. White House spokesman Josh Earnest said President Barack Obama considered the security situation in the South China Sea. “The president has often talked about how critically important the security situation is in the South China Sea. It’s critical to the national security of […]
Philippines seeks stronger commitment from U.S. in South China Sea dispute
MAY 26 (Reuters) — The Philippines is seeking a “stronger commitment” from the United States to help its ally, its defense minister said on Monday (May 25), as China asserts its sovereignty over disputed areas of the South China Sea. China claims most of the South China Sea, through which $5 trillion in ship-borne trade passes every year, and the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Taiwan and Brunei have overlapping claims. China said on Monday it had […]
Magnitude 5.6 quake shakes Tokyo; no damage reported so far
A MAGNITUDE 5.6 quake shook Tokyo on Monday, May 25, setting off alarms and temporarily bringing the subway system to a halt, a report from The Japan Times said. The report said the quake shook buildings in Tokyo but that there was no risk of a tsunami from the quake. It said that the quake was registered at magnitude 5.3 by the US Geological Survey, but the Meteorological Agency earlier put it at 5.6. The runways […]
Myanmar says finds more than 200 Bangladeshis in boat offshore
Myanmar’s navy has brought ashore 200 Bangladeshis found in a boat off its coast, after its military chief said some of the thousands of migrants that have landed in Malaysia and Indonesia this month are pretending to be Rohingya Muslims to get UN aid. In response, a senior U.S. official said on Friday (May 22) that the majority of the more than 3,000 migrants that have come ashore are Rohingya fleeing desperate conditions in Rakhine […]