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TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s two major opposition parties merged Thursday and elected a new leader as they try to strengthen their standing ahead of a possible snap national election. The ruling Liberal Democratic Party will pick a successor to outgoing Prime Minister Shinzo Abe next week, and several top political figures have suggested the next leader may call a quick election. The opposition parties and several independent lawmakers formally cemented an alliance in response, […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China accused the US of becoming “the biggest driver of militarization” in the contested South China Sea, as tensions between Washington and Beijing look set to swamp a regional Asian summit. US-China rivalry is expected to dominate discussion at this year’s ASEAN conference, which comes just days after Beijing launched ballistic missiles in the flashpoint waters as part of live-fire exercises. Beijing claims the majority of the resource-rich South China Sea, […]
by Emal HAIDARY KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghanistan’s vice president Amrullah Saleh sustained minor injuries Wednesday when an explosion targeted his convoy and killed at least 10 people, as government-backed negotiators and the Taliban prepared to meet in Doha for long-delayed peace talks. The attack in the capital Kabul was quickly condemned as an attempt to frustrate the peace process, with top Afghan and foreign officials calling for an end to the violence so negotiations […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The active search for dozens of sailors from a cargo ship that sank in a typhoon last week was called off Wednesday, Japanese authorities said, with two crewmen the only known survivors. The Gulf Livestock 1, which was carrying 6,000 cows, issued a distress call last week as Typhoon Maysak passed through the area, launching a desperate search for the 43 crew on board. The Japan Coast Guard had been […]
by Helen Roxburgh with AFP bureaus Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s leaders staged a triumphant ceremony to celebrate beating the coronavirus on Tuesday as billions of people around the world still suffer the fallout from the pandemic and the global death toll nears 900,000. The upbeat mood in Beijing comes as concerns grow about a resurgence of the virus across Europe, with France tightening restrictions, cases in Britain spiking and schools […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China said Tuesday that it had detained a high-profile Australian journalist working for its state media on “national security grounds”. Cheng Lei’s detention was a new blow to deteriorating relations between the two countries that have seen China warn its citizens of traveling to Australia and vice versa. In the first comments on CGTN anchor Cheng Lei, held since August 14, foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said authorities took “compulsory measures” […]
by Kyoko HASEGAWA / Sara HUSSEIN TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Yoshihide Suga, the man expected to become Japan’s next prime minister, is a farmer’s son with a reputation for inscrutability, who has become a key government adviser, spokesman and policy enforcer. The 71-year-old is widely expected to win the ruling Liberal Democratic Party’s leadership race, which kicked off Tuesday, and be endorsed by parliament to replace outgoing premier Shinzo Abe. If he succeeds, the election […]
by Anuj Chopra RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — A Saudi court on Monday overturned five death sentences over journalist Jamal Khashoggi’s murder, in a final ruling that was condemned by his fiancee and slammed by a UN expert as a “parody of justice”. Eight unnamed defendants were handed jail terms of between seven and 20 years in a verdict that comes after Khashoggi’s sons “pardoned” the killers in May, paving the way for less severe […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Saudi King Salman and Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed Monday the possible joint production of a Russian coronavirus vaccine, the Kremlin said. In early August, Russia said it had developed the world’s first vaccine against the virus and claimed that more than a billion doses had been pre-ordered by 20 countries, including Saudi Arabia. Russia’s sovereign wealth fund has provided much of the financing, and it has identified Saudi Arabia as […]
by Beiyi SEOW BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has put its homegrown coronavirus vaccines on display for the first time, as the country where the contagion was discovered looks to shape the narrative surrounding the pandemic. High hopes hang on the small vials of liquid on show at a Beijing trade fair this week — vaccine candidates produced by Chinese companies Sinovac Biotech and Sinopharm. Neither has hit the market yet but the makers hope […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered 12,000 elite members of his ruling party based in Pyongyang to help with recovery efforts in two rural provinces lashed by a powerful typhoon, state media reported Sunday. Typhoon Maysak brought days of heavy downpours to the country’s east coast earlier this week even as the North was still reeling from earlier flooding and typhoon damage, and another storm is forecast to […]
NARAYANGANJ, Bangladesh (AFP) — The death toll from a gas explosion that tore through a Bangladesh mosque has risen to 24, officials said Sunday, as rescuers described how survivors jumped into a nearby open sewer to escape the flames. Worshippers were at Friday evening prayers when the blast sent a ball of fire through the mosque in the central district of Narayanganj near the capital Dhaka, emergency services said. Eight more people — including […]
