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Kabul, Afghanistan (AFP) by Abdullah HASRAT Unidentified gunmen attacked a hotel popular with Chinese business people in the Afghan capital Monday, with witnesses reporting multiple blasts and several bursts of gunfire. Smoke could be seen pouring from the multi-storey Kabul Longan Hotel as Taliban security forces rushed to the site and sealed off the neighbourhood. The Taliban claim to have improved security since storming back to power in August last year but there have been […]
Washington, United States (AFP) A Japanese startup’s spacecraft was launched to the Moon on Sunday in the country’s first-ever lunar mission and the first of its kind by a private company. The launch was carried out by Elon Musk’s SpaceX at Cape Canaveral in the US state of Florida after two postponements for additional pre-flight checks. The spacecraft, produced by Tokyo-based startup ispace and carrying a UAE-built rover, blasted off aboard a Falcon 9 […]
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AFP) AirAsia parent company Capital A plans to start a new branch of the low-cost airline in Cambodia, its chief executive said Friday, as the firm jump starts expansion plans thwarted by the pandemic. The latest move to reorganise the Malaysia-based firm’s network comes after setbacks in recent years that saw it exit Japan and India. “2022 was about restarting our airline to pre-Covid levels. That machine is in place and will […]
Kabul, Afghanistan (AFP) A loud blast and gunfire were heard in the Afghan capital Monday near a hotel popular with Chinese business visitors, a witness said. The Taliban claim to have improved national security since storming back to power in August last year but there have been scores of bomb blasts and attacks, many claimed by the local chapter of the Islamic State group. “It was a very loud explosion and then there was a […]
Tokyo, Japan (AFP) Japan chose the kanji character for war on Monday as the symbol for 2022 after a year marked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the assassination of former leader Shinzo Abe. The public votes in the annual event for the written character they think best represents the past year. Olympic-themed choices dominated 2021. The mood was darker this year, however, according to the Japan Kanji Aptitude Testing Foundation, which organises the vote. […]
Beijing, China (AFP) by Jing Xuan TENG / Laurie CHEN Covid cases are surging in the Chinese capital, officials said Monday, as the country navigates a rapid turn away from its zero-tolerance coronavirus strategy. Just a few days after China began loosening restrictions, Beijing authorities said more than 22,000 patients had visited hospitals across the city in the previous day — 16 times the number a week ago. “The current trend of the rapid spread […]
Beijing, China (AFP) A senior US delegation in China discussed ways to improve ties and the issue of Taiwan with their local counterparts, Beijing said Monday, as they laid the groundwork for a planned visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken. The talks — involving top US diplomat for East Asia Daniel Kritenbrink, National Security Council Senior Director for China and Taiwan Laura Rosenberger, and Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Xie Feng — took place on […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China said Monday it would retire an app used to track Covid-19 contacts, a milestone in the country’s rapid turn away from its zero-tolerance coronavirus strategy. The state-run “Communications Itinerary Card”, which tracks whether someone has been to a high-risk area based on their phone signal, will go offline at 12 am Tuesday, according to an official WeChat post, after more than two years in operation. The “Itinerary Card” was a […]
Dhaka, Bangladesh (AFP) by Sam JAHAN / Mohammad MAZED Nearly 100,000 supporters of Bangladesh’s main opposition party descended on Dhaka Saturday to protest against the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and demand new elections. “Sheikh Hasina is a vote thief,” they chanted at the Golapbagh sports ground where the rally was held as the crowd spilled into surrounding streets. All seven opposition Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) MPs announced their resignations from parliament at the […]
London, United Kingdom (AFP) by Jitendra JOSHI with Tomohiro OSAKI and Katie FORSTER in Tokyo Britain, Italy and Japan said Friday they will jointly develop a future fighter jet in a project that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said would guarantee national security and safeguard thousands of jobs. The three nations held out the prospect of cooperation with European and US allies, which are developing their own “sixth-generation” planes, vowing to maintain “interoperability” among all the […]
by SHIM Kyu-Seok Agence France-Presse BAEKRYEONG, South Korea (AFP) — It is South Korea’s westernmost territory, soldiers outnumber residents, and you can see North Korea from almost every barbed wire-lined beach: welcome to Baekryeong Island, a community on the front line. Far closer to the North Korean mainland than it is to the South, Baekryeong is a fortress: tanks are parked at the sides of roads, there are guard posts on every hill, and the […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) – A 5.8-magnitude earthquake hit Indonesia’s main island of Java on Thursday with no immediate reports of damage, less than a month after another quake in the same province killed more than 300 people. The quake struck at 07:50 am local time (0050 GMT) around 15 kilometers from the town of Cianjur, epicenter of November’s devastating tremor, the United States Geological Survey said. It said there was a low likelihood of casualties […]
