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Thailand announced Friday it would drop rules requiring people to wear masks outdoors and no longer require foreign visitors to register before travel, as Covid-19 cases fall and the kingdom seeks to lure tourists back. Facemasks have been compulsory in public in Thailand, including outdoors, since mid-2021 when the Delta variant was running rampant. But as the pandemic has subsided, the tourism-dependent kingdom has gradually relaxed covid restrictions in a bid to boost visitor numbers. […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s coronavirus case numbers are showing signs of rebounding, city chief executive Carrie Lam said on Friday, days after reintroducing more restrictions ahead of the 25th anniversary of the city’s transfer to Chinese rule. The finance hub this week saw daily cases go above 1,000 for the first time in two months — though hospitalisations have remained relatively low, with only 25 people in serious or critical condition […]
by Sean Chang with Rebecca Bailey in Hong Kong and Ludovic Ehret in Beijing Agence France-Presse MAGONG, Taiwan (AFP) — On Taiwan’s tiny Penghu islands, the missile bases that sit next to white-sand beaches and bustling fish markets are a visceral reminder of the constant threat of attack from China. Despite the huge military discrepancy between the two sides, many analysts believe Taiwan’s location, inhospitable terrain and US support mean China would find a full-scale […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — President Xi Jinping on Wednesday assured Vladimir Putin of China’s support on Russian “sovereignty and security” — leading Washington to warn Beijing it risked ending up “on the wrong side of history”. China has refused to condemn Moscow’s massive military assault on Ukraine and has been accused of providing diplomatic cover for Russia by blasting Western sanctions and arms sales to Kyiv. China is “willing to continue to offer mutual support […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s factory output and retail sales remained weak in May, official data showed Wednesday, with tepid demand and lingering Covid restrictions putting a damper on growth in the world’s second-largest economy. The government is persisting with a zero-Covid strategy to stamp out clusters as they emerge, but this has placed companies and consumers at the mercy of snap, economically damaging lockdowns. Retail sales sank 6.7 percent on-year in May, the National […]
by Yelim Lee Agence France-Presse INCHEON, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean truck drivers will return to work Wednesday after reaching an agreement with Seoul to end an eight-day protest over wages and fuel costs that had snarled global supply chains. The truckers’ industrial action had disrupted production and shipments for the crucial steel, petrochemical and automobile sectors, in an early test for new President Yoon Suk-yeol who has vowed to deal with labor disputes […]
by Yelim LEE Agence France Presse INCHEON, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean truck drivers staged an eighth day of protests Tuesday over wages and rising fuel costs, further snarling global supply chains with a strike that officials say has caused more than $1 billion in losses. The industrial action has disrupted shipments and production for the crucial steel, petrochemical and automobile sectors, in an early test for new President Yoon Suk-yeol who has […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The top Chinese and US security advisers have held lengthy talks, with both sides describing them as “candid” following days of acrimonious exchanges over Taiwan and other flashpoint issues. Readouts of the meeting in Luxembourg on Monday were toned down compared with last week, when China’s defence minister warned his country would not “hesitate to start a war” over Taiwan, while the US defense secretary blasted Beijing’s “provocative, destabilising” military […]
by Beiyi Seow Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Bedevilled by high fuel and fertilizer costs, along with a labor crisis driven by Covid-19 restrictions, China risks a smaller autumn harvest that could supercharge demand for commodities just as the world can afford it least. Global food prices have spiked since Russia’s February invasion of Ukraine, a major world producer of wheat, corn and sunflower oil, driving costs to record highs. Moscow stands accused of […]
KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Amnesty International on Monday accused Russia of war crimes in Ukraine, saying attacks on Kharkiv, many using banned cluster bombs, had killed hundreds of civilians. “The repeated bombardments of residential neighborhoods in Kharkiv are indiscriminate attacks which killed and injured hundreds of civilians, and as such constitute war crimes,” the rights group said in a report on Ukraine’s second biggest city. “This is true both for the strikes carried out using […]
SEOUL , South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired a series of artillery shots over the weekend, Seoul’s military said, days after leader Kim Jong Un vowed to use “power for power” to defend the country’s sovereignty. The South Korean military detected “several flight trajectories” that are understood to be shots from North Korean artillery, Seoul’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said late Sunday. The suspected shots were fired between 8:07 am (2307 GMT) to 11:03 […]
JUBAN, Philippines, June 12, 2022 (AFP) – A volcano in the Philippines spewed a huge column of ash into the sky on Sunday, blanketing a region still recovering from last week’s eruption. The blast from Bulusan volcano lasted 18 minutes, the Philippine seismological agency said, impairing road visibility and forcing airlines to cancel flights. On June 5, Mount Bulusan sent a grey plume shooting up at least one kilometre (0.6 miles) and covered 10 villages […]
