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TOKYO, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) – A Japanese firm said Monday it had successfully launched a spacecraft tasked with inspecting potentially dangerous man-made junk floating around the Earth. The European Space Agency (ESA) estimates that around one million pieces of debris from satellites and rockets larger than a centimetre — big enough to “disable a spacecraft” — are in orbit. The Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J) is meant to rendezvous with and examine the […]
PORT MORESBY, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) Papua New Guinea is deploying additional security personnel to a region where dozens were killed in a suspected ambush, police said Monday, adding the reinforcements would be authorised to use “to use any level of force required”. The suspected ambush of tribal fighters by a rival clan occurred in the highlands near the village of Wapenamanda, about 600 kilometres (370 miles) northwest of the capital Port Moresby. Police Commissioner […]
SEOUL, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) – South Korea ordered trainee doctors back to work Monday after they resigned en masse to protest medical training reforms, with the government looking at using military medics to cope with shortfalls. South Korea says it has one of the lowest doctor-to-population ratios among developed countries, and the government is pushing hard to increase the number of doctors, partly to help a fast-ageing society. But doctors have voiced fierce opposition […]
MANILA, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) – A “saddened and disappointed” Manny Pacquiao conceded Monday his Olympic boxing dream was over after the ring great was denied a berth at this year’s Paris games. The International Olympic Committee rejected a special request for Pacquiao to take part, the Philippine Olympic Committee announced Sunday. Pacquiao, 45, who hung up his gloves in 2021 before an unsuccessful presidential run, said he respected the decision of the IOC, which […]
By Mathias Cena with Cecilia Sanchez in New York TOKYO, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Wrapped in seaweed and stuffed with delicious fillings, “onigiri” rice balls are shaking off their reputation as a cheap and uninspiring snack in Japan — and enticing hungry converts abroad. Mouth-watering pictures on social media, rising demand for affordable lunches, and a surge in tourism to Japan are all drawing people to the humble onigiri. Just ask any of the […]
SYDNEY, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) – A lightning bolt scorched and knocked out four people near the Sydney Opera House on Monday as they sheltered under a tree during a violent electrical storm, rescue officials said. The four were struck beneath the tree in the Botanic Gardens, ambulance workers said, just a stone’s throw from the harbourside architectural masterpiece. “They all had a brief loss of consciousness,” said New South Wales ambulance service’s Dominic Wong. […]
MANILA, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) – Six soldiers and at least one Islamist militant have been killed in the southern Philippines, an army spokesman said Monday, as security forces hunted down fighters believed to have bombed a Catholic mass last December. The clashes took place Sunday in the jungle near the town of Munai on Mindanao island, Philippine army spokesman Colonel Louie Dema-ala told AFP. “This is part of the operation against the Dawlah Islamiyah. […]
By Florent VERGNES in Donetsk Region, Ukraine, Victoria LUKOVENKO in Kyiv NOVOOLEKSANDRIVKA, DONETSK REGION, Ukraine, Feb 18, 2024 (AFP) – Russian troops launched multiple attacks to the west of recently captured Avdiivka in a bid to force more gains on the battlefield, a Ukrainian army spokesperson said Sunday. Kyiv also announced it had opened a war crimes investigation after two separate reports of Russian troops shooting captured Ukrainian soldiers emerged. Facing manpower and ammunition shortages, […]
WASHINGTON, Feb 18, 2024 (AFP) – Two police officers and a first responder were shot and killed early Sunday in the US state of Minnesota after answering a call about a domestic dispute in a house with multiple children inside, authorities said. The shooter, who has not yet been publicly identified, is dead and the seven children — ranging in age from two to 15 — were all safely rescued, state officers said, declining […]
MOSCOW, Feb 18, 2024 (AFP) – Russian courts have sentenced dozens of people detained at events commemorating Kremlin critic Alexei Navalny to short prison sentences, official court announcements showed, with 154 sentenced in Saint Petersburg alone. Details of rulings published by the city’s court service on Saturday and Sunday showed 154 people had been given jail time of up to 14 days for violating Russia’s strict anti-protest laws. Rights groups and independent media outlets reported […]
PORT MORESBY, Feb 19, 2024 (AFP) – Fifty-three people have been killed in tribal violence in Papua New Guinea’s highlands, police said, the latest in a string of mass deaths linked to long-running feuds in the region. Police Commissioner David Manning said on Sunday that officers and soldiers had retrieved the bodies of 53 men. They are believed to have been killed near the town of Wabag, 600 kilometres northwest of the capital Port Moresby. […]
BANGKOK, Feb 18, 2024 (AFP) – Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was released on parole Sunday, just six months after he was arrested following a dramatic return to the kingdom from 15 years of self-imposed exile. The controversial billionaire, twice elected premier and ousted in a 2006 military coup, was jailed for eight years on graft and abuse-of-power charges upon his return in August. But his sentence was cut to one year by King […]
