TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A cargo ship carrying 43 crew and about 6,000 cows sank at sea after transmitting a distress signal during a typhoon off Japan, according to a survivor rescued by the country’s coast guard. The Gulf Livestock 1 issued a distress call in the early hours of Wednesday from a position 185 kilometers (115 miles) west of Japan’s Amami Oshima island. Late Wednesday, coast guard rescuers located one survivor, a man identified […]
Asia
Typhoon Maysak lashes South Korea
BUSAN, South Korea (AFP) — At least one person was killed and more than 2,000 people evacuated to temporary shelters in South Korea as a powerful typhoon churned across the peninsula, authorities said Thursday. Typhoon Maysak — named after the Cambodian word for a type of tree — made landfall early Thursday in Busan on the southern coast, knocking down traffic lights and trees and flooding streets. A woman was killed after a strong gust […]
Beijing pillories Pentagon report on Chinese military ambitions
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Wednesday condemned a Pentagon report for claiming Beijing wants to double its stockpile of nuclear warheads within a decade as it seeks to deter the United States from any intervention linked to Taiwan. The Pentagon’s annual study on China’s military power issued Tuesday said it has already matched or outstripped the US military in several areas of defence. It added that the People’s Liberation Army aims to be ready […]
Macron to back Iraq ‘sovereignty’ on first Baghdad visit
by Jerome Rivet and Maya Gebeily BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — French President Emmanuel Macron landed in Baghdad Wednesday on his first official visit to Iraq, where he hopes to help the country reassert its “sovereignty” despite simmering US-Iran tensions. Coming straight from a two-day trip to Beirut, the capital of crisis-hit Lebanon, Macron will be the most significant leader to visit Iraq since Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi came to power in May. The trip was […]
Two Koreas on high alert as typhoon approaches peninsula
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Flights were grounded in South Korea and storm warnings issued on both sides of the Korean peninsula as a typhoon forecast to be one of the most powerful in years made its approach Wednesday. More than 300 domestic departures were cancelled as Typhoon Maysak churned across waters south of the resort island of Jeju packing gusts of up to 162 kilometres per hour (101 miles per hour). South Korean Prime […]
Japan ruling party sets Sept 14 vote on PM Abe’s successor
by Kyoko Hasegawa with Katie Forster in Hong Kong TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s ruling party will vote on September 14 on Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s replacement, an official confirmed Wednesday, as powerful chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga consolidated his frontrunner status in the race. A vote in parliament — expected to endorse the Liberal Democratic Party’s new leader — is likely to follow on September 16. The new prime minister will face a raft […]
US warns NKorea still pressing ballistic missile development
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US government warned Tuesday that North Korea continues to acquire materials and equipment for its ballistic missile program, despite claims in Washington that Pyongyang has pulled back on its nuclear ambitions. In a joint global “advisory” the Treasury, Commerce and State Departments detailed North Korea’s ongoing efforts to obtain everything from forestry trucks for missile launchers to common metals and materials that can be used in rockets, warning sellers […]
Angry residents begin clean up in Karachi as rains lash South Asia
KARACHI, Pakistan (AFP) — Karachi residents began cleaning ruined homes and businesses Monday after catastrophic flooding sent rivers of filthy water cascading through Pakistan’s largest city, while deadly monsoon weather continued to lash communities across South Asia. Successive days of storms have exposed the longstanding failures of Karachi’s neglected and overwhelmed drainage system, and residents used a welcome break in the rain to vent their fury at what they see as gross mismanagement of municipal […]
Wuhan, Ground Zero for coronavirus epidemic, re-opens all schools
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Students in face masks returned to class Tuesday in Wuhan, the central Chinese city where the coronavirus first emerged last year, as the city opened schools and kindergartens for the first time in seven months. Nearly 1.4 million students resumed classes at some 2,800 kindergartens, primary and middle schools across the city, following the re-opening of high schools in May. State media broadcast images of thousands of students hoisting the Chinese […]
Japan’s Suga cements frontrunner status in PM race
by Hiroshi HIYAMA / Natsuko FUKUE TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s chief cabinet secretary Yoshihide Suga on Tuesday cemented his status as the clear frontrunner in the race to become the country’s next prime minister, ahead of a vote expected on September 14. Suga has yet to officially announce he is running for the top job, after Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said last week he would resign over health problems. But he has nonetheless already […]
Japan party vote to replace PM Abe set for Sept 14: reports
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s ruling party will vote September 14 on a replacement for Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, the country’s longest-serving premier, who is resigning for health reasons, local media reported on Tuesday. An official announcement from the Liberal Democratic Party is expected either later Tuesday or Wednesday, but a decision on a limited vote that will exclude rank-and-file members has already been approved. Candidates will be required to register their run on September […]
India accuses China of new ‘provocative’ border action
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) –The Indian military on Monday accused China of carrying out “provocative” movements on their contested Himalayan border near where 20 Indian troops were killed in a battle in June. A defence ministry statement said the incidents happened in eastern Ladakh on Saturday night but did not indicate whether there was a new clash. Chinese People’s Liberation Army troops “carried out provocative military movements to change the status quo” at the border, […]
