Asia

China sends more ships to Vietnam waters

HANOI (PNA/VNS) — Vietnamese Fisheries Surveillance Department (VSFD) staff has reported high-capacity Chinese vessels in waters around the Haiyang Shiyou-981 rig, which is illegally standing in Vietnam’s waters. They said the vessels had bulbous bows and were accompanied by two Chinese coast-guard ships. Together with Chinese fishing vessels, they kept on hampering Vietnamese vessels, occasionally throwing stones and bottles. China still has a fleet of between 110-115 ships around the rig, including about 40 coast-guard […]

At least 58 people die in flash floods in Afghanistan

(Reuters) — At least 58 people have been killed and many more are missing in flash floods that hit parts of northern Afghanistan, President Hamid Karzai’s office said on Saturday (June 7). The floods were caused by heavy rain that fell overnight in the Gozargah-e Noor district of the northern Baghlan province. Residents of the flooded area said many people have lost their homes. “Some 500 houses were destroyed in these floods and nearly 60 people have been killed also […]

Chinese military spending exceeds $145 billion, drones advanced: U.S.

By Phil Stewart (Reuters) – China’s military spending exceeded $145 billion last year as it advanced a program modernizing an arsenal of drones, warships, jets, missiles and cyber weapons, the Pentagon said on Thursday, offering a far higher figure than Beijing’s official tally. The Pentagon’s estimate, using 2013 prices and exchange rates, was 21 percent above the $119.5 billion figure announced by China. It was detailed in an annual report to Congress that cited steady progress in […]

China defends Tiananmen crackdown on eve of 25th anniversary

(Reuters)– China defended the bloody 1989 crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators around Beijing’s Tiananmen Square on Tuesday (June 3), the eve of the 25th anniversary, saying it had chosen the correct path for the sake of the people. For the ruling Communist Party, the 1989 demonstrations that clogged Tiananmen Square inBeijing and spread to other cities remain taboo after the government termed the protests “counter-revolutionary”. The anniversary of the date on which troops shot their way into central Beijing in 1989 has never been publicly marked […]