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BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Laotian police have netted Asia’s biggest-ever single seizure of illegal drugs, finding 55 million methamphetamine pills in the back of a beer truck, a United Nations official confirmed Thursday. The 55.6 million meth tablets and 1.5 tonnes of crystal meth seized late Wednesday is a record for a single seizure in the region, UN Office of Drugs and Crime regional representative Jeremy Douglas said. “It is three times the meth tablets […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey on Thursday announced the arrest and planned expulsion of seven Syrian migrants over social media posts showing them eating bananas. The state migration service said the posts were “provocative” because they allegedly made fun of the economic hardships being experienced by many Turks. The service said the seven have been arrested and will be deported back to Syria. The incident highlights rising anti-migrant sentiment in Turkey during a new wave […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden on Tuesday denounced the military coup and “horrific violence” in Myanmar at a summit with ASEAN leaders, the White House said. Addressing the virtual summit, Biden “expressed grave concerns about the military coup and horrific violence in Burma and called on the country’s military regime to immediately end the violence, release those unjustly detained, and restore Burma’s path to democracy,” a statement said. Myanmar’s military […]
KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Thailand’s re-opening to vaccinated foreign tourists marks a major easing of border controls for Asia, where governments have been far slower to roll back coronavirus travel curbs than in much of the West. Here is a look at which countries are opening up across the Asia-Pacific region and those staying sealed off from the world. – Southeast Asia – Thailand will allow vaccinated travellers from 46 countries and territories […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong will tighten coronavirus travel restrictions to bring it more into line with the Chinese mainland, its leader said Tuesday, as the city extended its streak of more than two months without a major local outbreak. The announcement came despite concerns from the international hub’s business community that the city remains indefinitely cut off from the rest of the world, with one of the strictest mandatory quarantine regimes of […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Vaccinated tourists will be allowed into Israel from November 1, the government said on Wednesday, after a campaign to get booster shots into arms succeeding in driving down infections. Israel was the first country to launch a mass booster campaign, with more than 3.9 million getting a third dose since the summer. In late August and early September, cases rose to more than 10,000 a day, a number that has since […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen has said she has “faith” that the United States will defend the island in the event China launches a military strike, in an interview with CNN broadcast Wednesday. “I do have faith” that US forces would help defend Taiwan, Tsai told the news network, highlighting the “wide range of cooperation with the US aiming at increasing our defense capability.” US President Joe Biden last week said the […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — At least 11 people were killed late Tuesday in an attack on a village in eastern Iraq blamed on the Islamic State group, security sources said. The attack on Al-Rashad in Diyala province left “11 dead and 13 wounded”, a local security source said. Another said that civilians were among those killed by small arms fire in the village, home to many members of the security services. The area has been […]
by Shingo ITO / Natsuko FUKUE TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s princess Mako married her university sweetheart on Tuesday, but it was a low-key union bereft of traditional rituals, with the couple voicing sadness over the controversy that haunted their engagement. Under the rules of the imperial family, Emperor Naruhito’s 30-year-old niece Mako gave up her royal title as she wed Kei Komuro, who is the same age and works for a US law firm. […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China placed a city of four million under lockdown on Tuesday in a bid to stamp out a domestic coronavirus spike, with residents told not to leave home except in emergencies. The restrictions came as China reported 29 new domestic infections — including six cases in Lanzhou, the provincial capital of northwestern province Gansu. Officials in Lanzhou said the “entry and exit of residents” would be strictly controlled and limited to […]
by Allison JACKSON GUINOBATAN, Philippines (AFP) — A year after a powerful storm sent an avalanche of volcanic rock and sand crashing down, burying her house, Philippine food vendor Florivic Baldoza still lives in an evacuation centre. As global warming brings increasingly extreme weather, she now fears “nowhere is safe”. Hundreds of families from poor villages around Mayon volcano in Albay province on the country’s most populous island of Luzon are waiting for new homes […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Former South Korean president and general Roh Tae-woo, who was instrumental in crushing the Gwangju Uprising at a cost of hundreds of lives, died of natural causes on Tuesday aged 88, according to reports. Roh withdrew from public view around 20 years ago following a diagnosis of prostate cancer, and was being treated at the Seoul National University Hospital, Yonhap news agency reported. He was elected to serve as president […]
