BANGKOK, July 31, 2023 (AFP) – A bomb blast in southeastern Myanmar killed one person and wounded 12 others on Monday, an official said. Violent clashes have ramped up since the military deposed Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in February 2021, unleashing a bloody crackdown on dissent that has left thousands dead. The junta has been battling anti-coup “People’s Defence Force” (PDF) militias, as well as long-established ethnic rebel armies that control large areas […]
Asia
Death toll rises to at least 10 in Thai warehouse explosion
BANGKOK, July 30, 2023 (AFP) – The death toll from a powerful explosion that levelled an unlicensed fireworks warehouse in southern Thailand rose to at least 10 on Sunday, the local governor said as police sought the owner on charges of negligence. The blast Saturday afternoon in the town of Sungai Kolok was believed to have been caused by welding during construction work on a building storing fireworks illegally. More than 100 people were injured […]
Battling drug crisis, Iraq searches for cure
By Tony Gamal-Gabriel Mohammed has been taking nearly a dozen captagon pills daily for seven years. Now, as Iraq grapples with a major drug crisis, the 23-year-old hopes for a fresh start. Iraq, which borders with Iran, Syria and Saudi Arabia, has long been a transit country for the region’s ballooning trade in the amphetamine-type drug and other narcotics. But in recent years, Iraq itself has witnesses a dramatic spike in drug abuse, prompting authorities […]
Suicide blast kills at least 44 at Pakistan political party meet
By Lehaz Ali At least 44 people were killed and more than 100 others wounded Sunday by a suicide bombing at a political gathering of a leading Islamic party in northwest Pakistan, officials said. The blast targeted the Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam-F (JUI-F) party — a government coalition partner led by an influential firebrand cleric — as hundreds of supporters congregated under a canopy in the town of Khar, near the Afghan border. “The tent had collapsed […]
European Union provides €500.000 to support those affected by typhoon Doksuri in the Philippines
29 July 2023, Manila – In immediate response to the urgent humanitarian needs caused by Typhoon Doksuri, locally known as typhoon Egay, the EU is allocating an initial €500,000 (approximately 30.3 million PHP) in humanitarian funding to support relief efforts in the Philippines. The funding will provide life-saving assistance, including emergency shelter and shelter repair, clean water, and sanitation, to those most affected by the disaster. The assistance will be provided in the most affected […]
Three Myanmar students killed in military raid
BANGKOK, July 28, 2023 (AFP) – At least three Myanmar students were killed in an early morning military raid in the country’s northwest, a student union said Friday. The Southeast Asian nation’s junta has unleashed deadly violence on its opponents since the military ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government in a February 2021 coup. The junta is facing resistance from anti-coup “People’s Defence Force” militias and long-established ethnic rebel armies. The All-Burma Federation of […]
Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi moved from prison: party official
YANGON, July 28, 2023 (AFP) – Myanmar civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was ousted in a 2021 military coup, has been moved from prison to a government building, an official from her party said Friday. Suu Kyi has only been seen once since she was held after the February 1, 2021 putsch — in grainy state media photos from a bare courtroom in the military-built capital Naypyidaw. The coup plunged the Southeast Asian […]
Singapore executes first woman convict in nearly 20 years
Singapore on Friday hanged a 45-year-old citizen for drug trafficking, the city-state’s first execution of a woman in nearly 20 years, officials said. The execution was carried out despite appeals from rights groups, who argue capital punishment has no proven deterrent effect on crime. “The capital sentence of death imposed on Saridewi Binte Djamani was carried out on 28 July 2023,” the Central Narcotics Bureau said in a statement. She was convicted of trafficking “not […]
Typhoon Doksuri batters China with high winds and rain
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Typhoon Doksuri hit eastern China on Friday morning, bringing high winds and battering rains to coastal areas after the deadly storm bypassed Taiwan on its way from the Philippines. Wind speeds of up to 175 kilometers per hour (110 miles per hour) were recorded as the storm reached the coast of Fujian province at around 10:00 am (0200 GMT), Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said. Fears of potential danger to residents and […]
Japan says North Korea threat more serious than ‘ever’
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan said Friday that North Korea posed a more serious threat to its national security than “ever before”, as nuclear-armed Pyongyang rattles its neighbors with repeated missile tests and belligerent rhetoric. In its annual white paper — a rundown of the most pressing military threats and plans to ensure stability — Japan’s defense ministry made a case for a significant hike in domestic defense spending as the world enters “a new […]
Kim shows off new North Korean drones, ICBMs to Russia defense minister
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Walking past huge intercontinental ballistic missiles and previously unseen military drones, Kim Jong Un gave Russia’s defense minister a tour of North Korea’s newest and most advanced weaponry Thursday, state media reported. After Washington earlier this year accused Pyongyang of supplying Moscow with weapons for its war in Ukraine, photographs in state media showed Kim walking Moscow’s Sergei Shoigu through a vast defense exhibition showcasing the North’s nuclear missiles and […]
Japanese city apologises over advice to pregnant women
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese mayor has apologized after a public outcry over a flyer issued to pregnant women advising them on what most irritated husbands after their wives became mothers, an official said Thursday. The flyer included a section titled “Advice from fathers to you”, which included answers to a survey of new fathers conducted five years ago in the city of Onomichi in western Hiroshima prefecture. Officials have been sharing the responses […]
