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Agence France Presse — The Philippines has jailed a Spanish man after he was convicted for weapons possession, nearly five years after his arrest, the Philippine justice department said Thursday. Army counter-terrorism troops in January 2018 arrested Abdelhakim Labidi Adib, 20 at the time, at a checkpoint on the southern island of Basilan, a stronghold of armed Islamist militants. They alleged Labidi Adib, a Spanish citizen of Tunisian descent who described himself as a tourist, […]
Agence France Presse — China conducted military exercises near Taiwan on Sunday in response to “provocations” and “collusion” between the United States and the self-ruled island, a People’s Liberation Army spokesperson said. Beijing claims democratic, self-ruled Taiwan as part of its territory, to be taken one day by force if necessary, and has ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure on the island. Beijing has been incensed by US President Joe Biden’s handling of Taiwan […]
Hong Kong, China (AFP) Hong Kong is aiming to reopen its border with China by mid-January, city leader John Lee announced on Saturday after returning from meetings in Beijing. The border has been effectively shut for nearly three years while China enforced a zero-Covid strategy of snap lockdowns, travel restrictions and mass testing that battered the world’s second-largest economy. After abruptly reversing on its pandemic policies last month, Beijing has been grappling with a […]
Bangkok, Thailand (AFP) Six more bodies have been recovered from the sea after a Thai warship went down in the Gulf of Thailand six days ago, the country’s navy said Saturday. The HTMS Sukhothai sank late Sunday roughly 37 kilometres (22 miles) off Thailand’s southeastern coast, with a massive rescue operation managing to pull 76 crew alive from the waves. Seventeen members of the 105-strong crew are still missing. “Today we have recovered a total […]
CHONGQING, China (AFP) – “Deceased, deceased,” a staffer in full protective gear shouted as she handed a nurse a death certificate, their hospital in central China overflowing with Covid patients. China is battling a wave of infections that has hit the elderly hard, but has officially logged only a handful of deaths from the coronavirus after the government redefined the criteria by which Covid deaths are counted. At No. 5 People’s Hospital in Chongqing, the main […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) – Employees of Chinese tech giant ByteDance improperly accessed data from social media platform TikTok to track journalists in a bid to identify the source of leaks to the media, the company admitted Friday. TikTok has gone to great lengths to convince customers and governments of major markets like the United States that users’ data privacy is protected and that it poses no threat to national security. But parent company ByteDance told AFP […]
by Sebastien RICCI with Luna LIN and Holmes CHAN in Hong Kong Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has requisitioned medical supplies production across the country as millions struggle to obtain basic drugs and testing kits in the face of a surge in Covid-19 cases. Pharmacies in major cities have been stripped bare in the wake of the Chinese government’s sudden decision to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing. Authorities have urged […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Prices in Japan rose at their fastest pace since 1981 in November, data showed Friday, fuelled in part by higher energy costs. Core consumer prices, which exclude volatile fresh food costs, climbed 3.7 percent last month, compared to a year earlier, data released by the internal affairs ministry showed. Prices jumped most for processed food items but were also higher for electricity and durable goods like air conditioners. Rises in […]
by Laurie CHEN and Vivian LIN in Shanghai Agence France-Presse CHONGQING, China (AFP) — Elderly patients lined the wards of hospitals in major cities in China Thursday as the country battled a wave of Covid cases. The virus is surging across the vast Asian nation in an outbreak authorities say is impossible to track after the end of mandatory mass testing. And with cases soaring, Washington called on Beijing to share its Covid outbreak data, […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) – The death toll from a landslide at an unauthorized campsite in Malaysia rose to 25 as search and rescue teams continued to comb muddy terrain on Wednesday. Eight people are still missing after a predawn landslide on Friday hit the site located at an organic farm near the town of Batang Kali in Selangor state, just north of the capital Kuala Lumpur. About 680 personnel from various agencies led by the […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) – The yen held onto gains Wednesday and equity markets were mixed after plunging the day before in response to the shock Bank of Japan decision to shift away from its ultra-loose monetary policy. The move to allow yields on certain government bonds to move in a wider band was seen as a precursor to a possible interest rate hike next year, finally bringing the central bank in line with others around […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) – China said Wednesday that not a single person had died of Covid-19 the previous day, after changing the criteria for recording virus deaths to mean most are no longer counted. Hospitals are struggling, pharmacy shelves are stripped bare and crematoriums are overwhelmed in the wake of the Chinese government’s sudden decision to lift years of lockdowns, quarantines and mass testing. China had recorded a total of seven deaths — all in Beijing […]
