Manila, Philippines (AFP) The Philippines will deport 40,000 Chinese workers in a crackdown on unlicensed online gaming businesses, an official said Tuesday, after reports of kidnapping, prostitution and murder in the gambling industry. So-called Philippine offshore gaming operators, or POGOs, have boomed since 2016. But the influx of tens of thousands of Chinese workers in the sector that targets customers in China, where gambling is illegal, has created friction. Many Filipinos complain POGOs have evaded […]
Asia
Japan honours assassinated Abe at controversial funeral
Tokyo, Japan (AFP) by Hiroshi HIYAMA / Sara HUSSEIN Japanese and foreign dignitaries paid tribute to assassinated former prime minister Shinzo Abe at a controversial state funeral on Tuesday, as long lines of people gathered to offer flowers and prayers. Abe’s ashes, carried by his widow Akie, arrived at the storied Budokan venue in Tokyo, where a 19-gun salute sounded in honour of the slain former leader. In a eulogy, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida described […]
Bangladesh pilgrim boat tragedy death toll hits 61
Boda, Bangladesh (AFP) Rescuers and navy divers recovered 10 bodies Tuesday after a boat overloaded with religious pilgrims capsized in Bangladesh, police said, taking the death toll to 61 as anxious relatives waited for news of several people who were still missing. The incident on Sunday near the northern town of Boda was the deadliest in years in the South Asian country, which is crisscrossed by rivers where overcrowding on aged vessels is common. Seventeen […]
North Korea, China resume cross-border train trade after Covid suspension
Seoul, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea and China have resumed cross-border freight train trade, Seoul said Tuesday, ending a five-month suspension linked to Covid-19. North Korea has maintained a rigid blockade since the start of the pandemic, with even trade with China — the North’s economic lifeline — slowing to a trickle. Cross-border freight train services were suspended in late April, after China’s border town of Dandong reported Covid outbreaks, reports said at the […]
US Vice President Harris to visit DMZ on South Korea trip
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – US Vice President Kamala Harris will visit the heavily fortified Demilitarized Zone on a trip to South Korea later this week, the White House said Tuesday. Harris, who is currently in Tokyo to attend the state funeral of assassinated former Japanese prime minister Shinzo Abe, will go to the DMZ on Thursday, a White House official said. The move is likely to spark an angry reaction from North Korea, which denounced […]
Pompeo says era of ‘blind’ China engagement ending in Taiwan speech
KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan (AFP) – Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo told an audience in Taiwan on Tuesday that the era of “blind engagement” with China is ending, and that Beijing’s increasingly aggressive behavior has brought like-minded nations closer together. One of former president Donald Trump’s most hawkish advisers on China, Pompeo is the latest in a recent spate of Western politicians to visit Taiwan, often angering Beijing. Pompeo’s visit comes ahead of a major […]
Blinken urges Pakistan to seek China debt relief after floods
by Shaun Tandon Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called Monday on Pakistan to seek debt relief from its close partner China as floods devastate the South Asian country. Blinken promised strong US support for Pakistan as it dries out from the floods, which have submerged one-third of the country, an area the size of the United Kingdom. “We send a simple message. We are here for Pakistan, […]
Six people killed in Philippine typhoon
San Ildefonso, Philippines |(AFP) by Ron LOPEZ The strongest typhoon to hit the Philippines this year left at least six people dead, authorities said Monday, after heavy rain and fierce winds battered the country’s most populous island. Typhoon Noru toppled trees, knocked out power and flooded low-lying communities as it swept across Luzon on Sunday and Monday. There have so far been no reports of widespread severe damage from the storm, which hit the country […]
Japan to lift Covid restrictions on foreign tourists from October
New York, United States (AFP) — Japan announced Thursday that it will lift tough Covid restrictions on foreign tourists, reopening the borders after two and a half years. Speaking at the New York Stock Exchange, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said the pandemic had interrupted the free flow of people, goods and capital that had helped the nation flourish. “But from October 11, Japan will relax border control measures to be on par with the US, […]
Queues build up at Mongolian border as people flee Russia call-up
Altanbulag, Mongolia (AFP) Long lines of vehicles were seen at a border crossing between Mongolia and Russia on Sunday as people fled the Kremlin’s call-up of hundreds of thousands of reservists for the war in Ukraine. The head of a checkpoint in the town of Altanbulag told AFP that more than 3,000 Russians had entered Mongolia via the crossing since Wednesday, most of them men. Queues of people holding Russian passports were also seen […]
UPDATE: Super Typhoon Noru slams into the Philippines
by Ron Lopez and Mikhail Flores Super Typhoon Noru slammed into the Philippines Sunday, battering the heavily populated main island of Luzon with strong winds and heavy rain that have forced thousands of people to flee their homes. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 195 kilometres (121 miles) an hour as it charged towards the archipelago nation after an unprecedented “explosive intensification”, the state weather forecaster said. Noru, the strongest storm […]
Mayweather scores KO in front of watching Pacquiao
Tokyo, Japan (AFP) Floyd Mayweather knocked out mixed martial arts fighter Mikuru Asakura in the second round on Sunday in Japan in the latest of the retired boxing great’s post-retirement exhibitions. The 45-year-old Mayweather floored his opponent with a right hand as his former welterweight foe Manny Pacquiao watched ringside in Saitama. The American Mayweather, who retired in 2017 with an unbeaten 50-0 record, afterwards dismissed any prospect of a fight with the similarly […]
