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By Tomohiro OSAKI ANAMIZU, Japan, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – Japanese rescuers struggled with heavy rain, blocked roads and aftershocks on Wednesday following a powerful earthquake that killed at least 73 people and left tens of thousands without power or running water. Throughout the Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu sirens blared as emergency vehicles tried to navigate roads blocked by rocks and fallen trees. The Noto Peninsula was worst hit by the […]
BEIJING, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – China on Wednesday announced “routine” military patrols in the South China Sea, following recent clashes between countries in the disputed waterway. The People’s Liberation Army’s Southern Theater Command said it had “organised naval and air forces to conduct routine patrols” in the sea from January 3 to 4. The statement did not mention where exactly the patrols would take place or give specific details of their aims. Beijing claims […]
By Hiroshi HIYAMA, Etienne BALMER TOKYO, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – After landing, smoke filled the cabin and flames licked the windows, but the Japan Airlines crew got all 367 passengers safely off the aircraft in an orderly fashion — and just in time. Babies and children screamed and panic-stricken passengers begged to be let off, footage from the scene on Tuesday at Tokyo’s Haneda Airport showed. “Honestly, I thought we wouldn’t survive. So I […]
BRUSSELS, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – NATO members in Europe have signed a contract for up to 1,000 Patriot missiles to bolster air defences in the face of the threat from Russia, the alliance said Wednesday. The announcement of the contract, estimated to be worth $5.5 billion, comes as Moscow has unleashed repeated barrages of deadly missile and drone strikes against Ukraine in recent days. NATO’s procurement agency said the deal agreed by an initial […]
TEHRAN, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – At least 103 people were killed in Iran Wednesday as two bombs in quick succession struck a crowd commemorating slain general Qasem Soleimani on the anniversary of his killing, state media reported. The blasts, which state television called a “terrorist attack”, came with tensions running high in the Middle East a day after Hamas number two Saleh al-Aruri — an Iran ally — was killed in drone attack on […]
COPENHAGEN, Jan 2, 2024 (AFP) – Shipping giant Maersk said on Tuesday it would not resume passage through a key Red Sea strait “until further notice,” after Yemeni rebels attacked one of its merchant ships. “We have decided to pause all transits through the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden until further notice,” Maersk said in a statement. “In cases where it makes most sense for our customers, vessels will be rerouted and continue their journey around […]
DUBAI, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels fired two missiles late Tuesday toward merchant ships travelling in the Red Sea near the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait, the US military said following a report by the British maritime security agency UKMTO. United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations had initially reported explosions near a cargo ship sailing between the coasts of Eritrea and Yemen. “Master reports no damage to the vessel and crew are reported […]
TAIPEI, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – The Taiwanese people “will resist” China’s attempts to influence the island’s January 13 election, frontrunner presidential candidate Lai Ching-te told AFP on Wednesday as he hit the campaign trial 10 days before the pivotal poll. Beijing claims the self-ruled island as part of its territory, and rejects the stance of Lai’s Democratic Progressive Party which maintains that Taiwan is “already independent”. Dubbed a “troublemaker” and a “separatist” by Beijing, […]
LONDON, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – Hospital doctors in England on Wednesday began their longest consecutive strike in the seven-decade history of Britain’s National Service (NHS). Junior doctors — those below consultant level — started a six-day walkout at 0700 GMT, in a major escalation of their long-running pay dispute with the UK government. The industrial action, which ends next Tuesday, comes at one of the busiest times of the year for the state-funded NHS, […]
By Gregory WALTON NEW YORK, Jan 2, 2024 (AFP) – The president of Harvard University resigned Tuesday after coming under ferocious attack over plagiarism accusations and her response to anti-Semitism on campus amid the Israel-Hamas conflict. Claudine Gay was criticized in recent months after reports surfaced alleging that she did not properly cite scholarly sources. The most recent accusations came Tuesday, published anonymously in a conservative online outlet. Gay was also engulfed by scandal after […]
By Aya Iskandarani with Adel Zaanoun in Gaza Strip BEIRUT, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – Israel’s war against Palestinian militants reached Lebanon on Tuesday, where an Israeli strike killed Hamas’s deputy leader, the group and security officials in Lebanon said. A high-level security official told AFP that Saleh al-Aruri was killed along with his bodyguards in the strike by Israel, which vowed to destroy Hamas after the movement’s unprecedented October 7 attacks on Israel. Israel […]
By Tomohiro OSAKI WAJIMA, Japan, Jan 3, 2024 (AFP) – Japanese rescuers scrambled to search for survivors Wednesday as authorities warned of landslides and heavy rain after a powerful earthquake that killed at least 55 people. The 7.5 magnitude quake on January 1 that rattled Ishikawa prefecture on the main island of Honshu triggered tsunami waves more than a metre high, sparked a major fire and tore apart roads. The Noto Peninsula of the prefecture […]
