PHNOM PENH, April 27, 2024 (AFP) – Twenty Cambodian soldiers have been killed in an ammunition explosion at an army base in the country’s west, Prime Minister Hun Manet said Saturday. The blast, which also wounded several soldiers, occurred Saturday afternoon at the army base in Kampong Speu province, Hun Manet said in a statement on Facebook, without giving more details. “I am deeply shocked to receive the news of the ammunition explosion incident,” Hun […]
Asia
Vietnam National Assembly head resigns amid graft purge
HANOI, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – The head of Vietnam’s National Assembly has resigned, the ruling Communist Party said Friday, one of the most senior leaders to fall in a sweeping anti-corruption purge. Vuong Dinh Hue asked to step down because of “violations and shortcomings”, the party said in a statement on its website. Thousands of people, including top officials and senior business leaders, have been caught up in the Southeast Asian country’s “blazing furnace” […]
Vietnam tycoon appeals against $27 bn fraud death sentence
HANOI, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – A top Vietnamese property tycoon sentenced to death in a $27 billion fraud case has launched an appeal against her conviction, state media said Friday. Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, was found guilty this month of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. The 68-year-old was found to have embezzled $12.5 billion, but prosecutors said the total damages caused by the […]
Xi tells Blinken US, China should be ‘partners, not rivals’
By Shaun TANDON and James EDGAR BEIJING, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday told top US diplomat Antony Blinken that the world’s biggest economies should be “partners, not rivals” as the two sides pressed for headway on a range of concerns. Blinken, in China for the second time in less than a year, pointed to improvements in the relationship but urged greater action from Beijing on areas including curbing support […]
Taiwan hit by several quakes, strongest reaching 6.1-magnitude
TAIPEI, April 26, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwan was hit by a series of at least 10 earthquakes in the early hours of Saturday, with the strongest reaching 6.1 magnitude, according to the island’s Central Weather Administration. No tsunami warning reports followed the earthquakes, which triggered mobile phone alarms in capital Taipei, an AFP journalist said, and came just several days after dozens of quakes shook the island. The strongest 6.1-magnitude earthquake occurred just off the […]
Malaysian airline mogul Fernandes delays retirement
KUALA LUMPUR (AFP) – Malaysia’s Tony Fernandes, one of Asia’s most prominent entrepreneurs, has decided to extend his contract as chief executive of Capital A, the firm said Wednesday, after the board persuaded him to delay his planned retirement. Fernandes, 59, a pioneer of Southeast Asia’s budget carrier sector who is often compared to British tycoon Richard Branson, said in January that he intended to step aside within the next five years after more than […]
At least six killed in India hotel fire: police
PATNA, India, April 25, 2024 (AFP) – At least six people were killed in a fire that ripped through a hotel in eastern India on Thursday, police said, with rescue teams still searching the wreckage for survivors. The fire broke out at the Pal Hotel in Patna, the capital of Bihar state, and soon spread to adjacent buildings before it was extinguished. “So far six people have been killed,” a police officer told AFP on […]
‘So hot you can’t breathe’: Extreme heat hits the Philippines
By Cecil MORELLA Extreme heat scorched the Philippines on Wednesday, forcing schools in some areas to suspend in-person classes and prompting warnings for people to limit the amount of time spent outdoors. The months of March, April and May are typically the hottest and driest in the archipelago nation, but conditions this year have been exacerbated by the El Nino weather phenomenon. “It’s so hot you can’t breathe,” said Erlin Tumaron, 60, who works at […]
‘Everyone’s afraid’: Ukraine power plant workers fear fresh strikes
By Anna MALPAS The clocks had stopped at the exact moment Russian missiles recently ripped into the Ukrainian power plant, where workers were clearing scorched debris under a gaping hole in the roof. Oleksandr, the 51-year-old production manager at the facility, said it had already been damaged by Russian attacks but noted a worrying difference in damage after the last barrage. “It’s a lot worse,” he told AFP journalists at the facility, whose location could […]
Asia hit hardest by climate, weather disasters in 2023:UN
By Robin MILLARD GENEVA, April 23, 2024 (AFP) – Asia was the world’s most disaster-hit region from climate and weather hazards in 2023, the United Nations said Tuesday, with floods and storms the chief cause of casualties and economic losses. Global temperatures hit record highs last year, and the UN’s weather and climate agency said Asia was warming at a particularly rapid pace. The World Meteorological Organization said the impact of heatwaves in Asia was […]
Taiwan hit by numerous quakes, strongest reaching 6.3 magnitude
TAIPEI, April 22, 2024 (AFP) – Taiwan’s capital was hit by a series of earthquakes overnight into the early hours of Tuesday, with the Central Weather Administration saying the strongest was a magnitude-6.3 tremor originating in eastern Hualien. The first strong quake — a magnitude 5.5 — hit on Monday at around 5:08 pm (0908 GMT), according to Central Weather Administration. It could be felt in the capital Taipei. That was followed by a series […]
Southern China storms kill four, force mass evacuations
BEIJING, April 22, 2024 (AFP) – Four people are dead and 10 others missing following storms that battered southern China, state media said Monday, with tens of thousands evacuated from areas hit by torrential downpours. Heavy rain has descended upon the vast southern province of Guangdong in recent days, swelling rivers and raising fears of severe flooding that state media said could be of the sort only “seen around once a century”. “Three deaths were […]
