China said on Wednesday that there was no radiation leak at the Taishan nuclear power station and it had not raised acceptable limits for radiation levels around the plant, responding to a CNN report earlier this week. CNN reported on Monday that Framatome, the French company which designed the plant, …
Read More »N.Korea’s Kim says food situation ‘tense’ due to pandemic, typhoons
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has said the country’s economy improved this year but called for measures to tackle the “tense” food situation caused by the coronavirus pandemic and last year’s typhoons, state media said on Wednesday. Kim chaired a plenary meeting of the ruling Workers’ Party’s central committee …
Read More »Taiwan reports largest incursion yet by Chinese air force
Twenty-eight Chinese air force aircraft, including fighters and nuclear-capable bombers, entered Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) on Tuesday, the island’s government said, the largest reported incursion to date. While there was no immediate comment from Beijing, the news comes after the Group of Seven leaders issued a joint statement …
Read More »Gunmen kill four polio workers in Afghanistan’s east
Four polio vaccination workers were killed and three injured in separate attacks in Afghanistan’s eastern city of Jalalabad, a provincial health department official said on Tuesday, the latest in a series of attacks against health workers. A wave of assassinations has hit urban centres since peace talks began between the …
Read More »South Korea holds naval drills amid row over Japan Olympics map
Spat about an Olympics map escalates as South Korea kicks off naval drills near disputed islands and leaders call off planned talks. South Korea’s military began annual drills on Tuesday around a set of islands also claimed by Japan, days after planned talks between the two countries leaders were called …
Read More »US journalist released from detention in Myanmar – lawyer
US journalist Nathan Maung has been released from detention in Myanmar and is due to fly out of the country on Tuesday, his lawyer Tin Zar Oo told Reuters. A court dismissed the case against the editor at Kamayut Media after the plaintiff withdrew the lawsuit, Tin Zar Oo said …
Read More »Suu Kyi’s trial set to start in Myanmar, junta rejects UN rights chief’s statement
The trial of Myanmar’s ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi was set to start on Monday, as the junta that overthrew her elected government rejected criticism by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights over its use of deadly force against protesters. Myanmar has been in turmoil since the junta …
Read More »Indonesia police investigate death of politician who opposed remote gold mine
Indonesian police are looking into the death of a politician from Sulawesi island who opposed a gold mine project there, after environmental groups and the human rights commission called for an investigation. Helmud Hontong, 58, the deputy regent of the remote Sangihe islands, in North Sulawesi province, was pronounced dead …
Read More »Cambodia begins evicting floating homes amid protests
Cambodia’s capital of Phnom Penh on Saturday began overseeing the dismantling of “floating home” communities on the banks of the Tonle Sap River over the objections of longtime residents who say they have nowhere else to go. For generations, the floating wooden houseboats of Phnom Penh have been both livelihood …
Read More »S.Korea pushes for military law change after soldier’s death over sexual abuse
South Korean lawmakers are pushing for reform to reduce the military’s judicial power after a female soldier who had suffered sexual abuse committed suicide, rekindling criticism of the military’s handling of sex crimes. An air force master sergeant, identified by her surname Lee, took her life last month after being …
Read More »Building collapse in South Korea kills 9, injures 8
A five-story building being demolished in southern South Korea has collapsed, sending debris falling on a bus and killing nine people on board A five-story building being demolished in southern South Korea collapsed on Wednesday, sending debris falling on a bus and killing nine people on board, officials said. Concrete …
Read More »UN warns of ‘mass deaths’ in Myanmar after 100,000 flee fighting
UN says people fleeing military’s ‘brutal, indiscriminate attacks’ in eastern Kayah are in dire need of food and water. A United Nations rights expert has warned of “mass deaths from starvation, disease, and exposure” in eastern Myanmar after “brutal, indiscriminate attacks” by the military forced tens of thousands of people …
Read More »Philippine military chief visits island in disputed waters
The head of the Philippine armed forces visited a coral-fringed island his country occupies in the South China Sea this week, a move that could stoke already heightened tensions between Manila and Beijing in disputed waters claimed by both countries. During Monday’s visit, Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) chief …
Read More »‘Black fungus’ new scare in India as second COVID wave ebbs
India battles a new challenge in mucormycosis, a rare fungal disease with a high mortality rate commonly referred to as ‘black fungus’. As a devastating second wave of COVID-19 ebbs with less than 100,000 new cases reported on Tuesday, India is now battling a new scare: Mucormycosis, commonly referred to …
Read More »Mongolia votes for new president amid COVID-19 campaign curbs
Mongolia goes to the polls on Wednesday to choose its sixth democratically-elected president, with the ruling Mongolian People’s Party (MPP) on the cusp of consolidating its power following a low-key campaign crimped by COVID-19 curbs. The vote is the first after constitutional amendments stripped the office of some of its …
Read More »Sri Lanka sinking ship black box recovered as investigation continues
A black box from a ship loaded with chemical and plastic that is sinking off Sri Lanka has been located, officials said Sunday, as investigators probe what caused the vessel to catch fire. The Voyage Data Recorder, also known as a maritime “black box”, enables investigators to review procedures and …
Read More »Police in China apprehend suspect in knife attack that killed 6 and injured 14
Police caught a suspect in a knife attack that killed six people and injured 14 on Saturday in the eastern Chinese city of Anqing, local authorities said on Sunday. The suspect in the attack, which took place on a pedestrian shopping street, is an unemployed 25-year-old man who was “venting …
Read More »Roadside bomb kills 11 people in northern Afghanistan
Landmine explosion occurs hours before Taliban leaders and UN officials met in Qatar to discuss the Afghan peace process. At least 11 civilians have been killed in northern Afghanistan when their vehicle set off a land mine, local government officials said on Sunday, accusing the Taliban of planting the roadside …
Read More »Three US senators to visit Taiwan, trip likely to irritate China
Three U.S. senators will visit Taiwan on Sunday and will meet President Tsai Ing-wen to discuss security and other issues, Taiwan’s government and the de facto U.S. embassy in Taipei said on Saturday, a trip that will likely irritate China. The United States, like most countries, has no formal diplomatic …
Read More »Three dead in Sri Lanka from floods and mudslides, over 5,000 displaced
Flash floods and mudslides in Sri Lanka triggered by heavy rains have killed at least three people and left two missings, while more than 5,000 are displaced, officials said Saturday. Rains have been pouring in six districts of the Indian Ocean island nation since Thursday night, and many paddy fields …
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