International

N. Korea fires ballistic missile as Blinken visits Seoul

North Korea fired a ballistic missile on Monday, Seoul’s military said, as US Secretary of State Antony Blinken visited South Korea to meet top officials and attend a democracy summit. Blinken is in Seoul for the third Summit for Democracy, an initiative of US President Joe Biden, which the South is hosting this week, and is set to meet his Korean counterpart on the sidelines for talks. Key security allies Washington and Seoul wrapped up […]

Putin vows Russia cannot be held back in victory speech

MOSCOW, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – Vladimir Putin said Russia would not be “intimidated” as he hailed an election victory that paves the way for the former spy to become the longest-serving Russian leader in more than 200 years. All of the 71-year old’s major opponents are dead, in prison or exiled, and he has overseen an unrelenting crackdown on anybody who publicly opposes his rule or his military offensive on Ukraine. “I want to […]

India recaptures ship MV Ruen from Somali pirates, rescues crew

NEW DELHI, March 16, 2024 (AFP) – India’s navy recaptured a ship from Somali pirates off the Indian coast Saturday, the military said, rescuing the crew and ending a three-month takeover of the Maltese-flagged bulk carrier MV Ruen. The December hijacking of the ship was the first time since 2017 that any cargo vessel had been successfully boarded by Somali pirates. “#IndianNavy thwarts designs of Somali pirates to hijack ships plying through the region by […]

Deadly Ukrainian strikes rock Russia as vote cements Putin’s grip

MOSCOW, March 16, 2024 (AFP) – Ukrainian bombardments killed two people and set an oil facility ablaze in Russia on Saturday, the second day of showpiece elections guaranteed to cement President Vladimir Putin’s hardline rule. Presidential polls opened this week but voting has been marred by a surge in fatal Ukrainian aerial attacks and a series of incursions into Russian territory by pro-Ukrainian sabotage groups. Fresh bombardments Saturday prompted authorities to close schools and shopping […]

Russia orders more firepower against Ukraine naval drones

MOSCOW, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – Russia on Sunday ordered increased firepower and training for the navy to counter the threat of Ukrainian air and naval drones after a series of strikes on Russian warships. “There must be training for personnel every day. Training on how to repel attacks from the air and by uncrewed boats,” Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu said in a statement during a visit to the Black Sea fleet in southern Russia. […]

Trump hails election as ‘most important date’ in US history

VANDALIA, United States, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – Donald Trump told a rally in Ohio on Saturday that November’s presidential election will be the “most important date” in US history, painting his campaign for the White House as a turning point for the country. Days after securing his position as the presumptive Republican nominee, the former president also warned of a “bloodbath” if he is not elected — though it was not clear what he […]

Biden roasts Trump at Washington press dinner

WASHINGTON, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – US President Joe Biden joked about Donald Trump and his own age at an annual media dinner on Saturday — before unloading deadly serious criticisms of his rival in November’s election. “One candidate’s too old and mentally unfit to be president,” the 81-year-old Democrat quipped at the Gridiron Club in Washington. “The other guy’s me.” Democrat Biden was making his first speech as president at the annual white tie […]

Icelandic volcano erupts for the fourth time on Reykjanes peninsula

REYKJAVIK, March 17, 2024 (AFP) – Icelandic police declared a state of emergency Saturday as lava spewed from a new volcanic fissure on the Reykjanes peninsula, the fourth eruption to hit the area since December. A “volcanic eruption has started between stora Skogfell and Hagafell on the Reykjanes Peninsula,” said a statement from the Icelandic Met Office (IMO). Live video images showed glowing lava and billowing smoke. Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management […]

US Senate declines to fast-track TikTok bill

WASHINGTON, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – A bill that would force the sale of TikTok from its Chinese owners or see it banned in the United States will move cautiously in the US Senate, key lawmakers said, after it sailed through the House. The bill’s whirlwind House passage on Wednesday, and its backing from US President Joe Biden, had raised alarm bells that the app, used by 170 million in the United States, could be […]

Hundreds rescued from Philippines scam centre: police

Hundreds of people forced to work in an online scam centre in the Philippines were rescued in a raid on Thursday that also saw eight suspects arrested, according to police. Acting on a tip from a Vietnamese man who alleged to have escaped the sprawling compound north of capital Manila, police said they unmasked an operation where suspected victims of human trafficking were forced into conducting various online scams. “The rescued workers told us (the […]

Finland seeks to block asylum seekers from Russia

HELSINKI, March 15, 2024 (AFP) – Finland’s government on Friday said that it wanted to adopt a temporary law to curb “instrumentalised migration”, following a spike in migrant crossings that Helsinki labelled a Russian hybrid attack. A draft of the legislation, which would enable the government “to restrict the reception of applications for international protection in a limited area on Finland’s national border and in its immediate vicinity”, was sent out for comments on Friday, […]