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HONG KONG, Dec 11, 2023 (AFP) – Hong Kong’s first “patriots only” district council elections saw a turnout of 27.5 percent, the government said Monday, a record-low number for a race that had shut out all opposition candidates. The city last held district council elections at the peak of huge, sometimes violent, democracy protests in 2019, recording a historic-high 71 percent turnout that delivered a landslide victory for the democracy camp. But a clampdown on […]
WASHINGTON, Dec 11, 2023 (AFP) – The United States called Sunday for Beijing to halt its “dangerous and destabilizing” actions in the disputed South China Sea, after a Philippine boat and Chinese Coast Guard ship collided near a contested reef. Both countries traded blame after the incident earlier Sunday, the latest such confrontation in the contested sea. The collision happened during a Philippine resupply mission to a tiny garrison on Second Thomas Shoal in the […]
DOHA, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Mediation efforts are continuing to secure a new Gaza ceasefire despite ongoing Israeli bombardment that is “narrowing the window” for a successful outcome, Qatar’s prime minister said Sunday. “Our efforts as the state of Qatar along with our partners are continuing. We are not going to give up,” Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani told the Doha Forum more than two months into the Israel-Hamas war. Qatar was a […]
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Nearly 200 Rohingya refugees, mostly women and children, were stranded on a beach in western Indonesia Sunday after local authorities said they would not accept the new arrivals, AFP witnessed. The refugees arrived by boat at 3:00 am local time (2000 GMT Saturday), the latest in what has been the largest influx of the persecuted Myanmar minority since 2015. The mostly Muslim Rohingya were the target of […]
By Barbara AGELVIS CARACAS, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and his Guyanese counterpart, Irfaan Ali, will meet Thursday on their countries’ growing dispute over the oil-rich region of Essequibo, amid mounting international warnings against escalating the row. The meeting will be held in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, according to the Caribbean country’s Prime Minister Ralph Gonsalves, who said Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva had also been invited at […]
By Faith Brown SOUTH CHINA SEA, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – A convoy of civilian boats planning to deliver provisions to Filipino fishermen and troops in the disputed South China Sea aborted the trip on Sunday after “constant shadowing” by Chinese vessels, the organiser said. The “Christmas convoy”, which departed the Philippines’ western island of Palawan in the early hours of Sunday, was being led by dozens of volunteers on two boats carrying food, water […]
WASHINGTON, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Tornadoes tore through the US state of Tennessee on Saturday, leaving at least six people dead, damaging homes and causing blackouts, authorities said. Three people died in a suburb of Nashville, the southeastern state’s capital, while photos posted by the city’s Office of Emergency Management showed downed trees and collapsed homes. “Unfortunately we can confirm there are 3 fatalities as a result of the severe weather on Nesbitt Lane,” […]
By Adel Zaanoun with Jonah Mandel in Jerusalem GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli forces pushed Sunday into southern Gaza, where hundreds of thousands of civilians have fled in search of shelter from bombardments and intense fighting with Hamas militants. Aid groups have sounded the alarm on the “apocalyptic” humanitarian situation in the Palestinian territory, warning it is on the brink of being overwhelmed by disease and starvation. Hamas, which runs […]
By Xinqi SU HONG KONG, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – Polls opened in Hong Kong’s first “patriots only” district council election on Sunday, with officials dismissing concerns of potentially low turnout in a race that has shut out all opposition candidates after a national security crackdown. The previous election was held at the peak of the huge, sometimes violent, democracy protests in 2019, and recorded a historic-high 71 percent turnout — delivering a landslide victory […]
By Pam Castro with Jing Xuan Teng in Beijing MANILA, Dec 10, 2023 (AFP) – A Philippine boat and a Chinese Coast Guard ship collided near a hotly contested reef on Sunday, with both countries trading blame for the latest such confrontation in the disputed South China Sea. The incident happened during a Philippine resupply mission to a tiny garrison on Second Thomas Shoal in the Spratly Islands, which is a flashpoint for Manila and […]
By Pam CASTRO MANILA, Dec 9, 2023 (AFP) – The Philippines accused the Chinese coast guard on Saturday of using water cannons to “obstruct” three government boats delivering provisions to Filipino fishermen near a reef off its coast. The incident happened near the China-controlled Scarborough Shoal, a flashpoint between Manila and Beijing, which claims almost the entirety of the South China Sea. The National Task Force for the West Philippine Sea said in a statement […]
DUBAI, Dec 9, 2023 (AFP) – China on Saturday lodged a protest after calls at the UN climate talks in Dubai to include Taiwan, the self-governing democracy claimed by Beijing. Two of the dwindling number of countries that recognise Taiwan — Guatemala and the tiny Pacific island of Nauru — both hailed support from Taipei in addresses at the COP28 conference. “I would take this opportunity to make special reference to the government of Taiwan, […]
