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TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AFP) — Honduras will establish diplomatic ties with China, President Xiomara Castro said Tuesday, a move that would result in the severing of longstanding official ties with Taiwan. Castro wrote on Twitter that she had instructed Foreign Minister Eduardo Reina “to undertake the opening of official relations with the People’s Republic of China.” The switch — which Castro pledged to make while on the campaign trail — comes weeks after her government announced […]
by Anna MALPAS with Ihor TKACHOV in Kherson and AFP bureau staff in Novosibirsk Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — At their home in the middle of Siberia, Russian pastor Roman Vinogradov and his wife Yekaterina are the new foster parents of five children from Moscow-occupied eastern Ukraine. The Vinogradovs are experienced fosterers now raising 16 children, including four of their own, and say they just want to help those who are “very much in […]
by Peter HUTCHISON Heavy rain and snow wreaked havoc across the northeastern United States Tuesday, disrupting flights and causing power outages, as extreme weather gripped both American coasts. The “double whammy,” as the National Weather Service (NWS) called it, is the latest in an unusual series of weather fronts to have rocked the country simultaneously. It is hard to establish a direct link between these winter storms, but scientists say human-caused climate change, brought […]
RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro is in hot water over allegations he tried to illegally import millions of dollars’ worth of jewelry given to him and his wife by Saudi Arabia. The scandal has triggered multiple investigations, potentially complicating life for Bolsonaro — who is expected to return soon to Brazil from the United States, where the far-right ex-army captain has been living since just before his leftist successor, […]
by Daphne Benoit with W.G. Dunlop in Washington Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A Russian fighter jet on Tuesday dumped fuel on an American drone over the Black Sea and then collided with it, causing the drone to crash, the US military said, slamming the maneuver as “reckless”. US European Command said two Russian Su-27 fighters intercepted the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper over international waters and one clipped its propeller. “Several times before the collision, […]
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Fires in heat wave- and drought-stricken Argentina have devoured some 6,000 hectares (14,800 acres) of forests in the northern Corrientes province in just days, officials reported Tuesday. Three fires continued to threaten while two others were burning but under control, according to the emergency command center of Corrientes. No injuries have been reported and the fires have not spread to populated areas, with rains expected Tuesday. Since the start of […]
Paris, France | AFP | by Daniel Lawler The chances have plummeted that a newly-discovered asteroid with the potential to wipe out a city will hit Earth on Feb. 14, 2046, the European Space Agency said on Tuesday. The asteroid, which is named 2023 DW and is estimated to be around the size of a 50-metre Olympic swimming pool, was first spotted by a small Chilean observatory on February 26. It swiftly shot to the […]
The Philippines and the United States will hold their largest ever joint military exercises next month, Philippine and US officials said Tuesday, as the longtime allies seek to counter China’s growing regional influence. A total of 17,680 soldiers will take part in the annual drills, which for the first time will include live-fire exercises in the disputed South China Sea and a simulated defence of a tiny Philippine island nearly 300 kilometres (190 miles) south […]
Tokyo, Japan (AFP) – Japan announced the official start of Tokyo’s cherry blossom season on Tuesday, 10 days earlier than usual and tied with a record early start seen only twice before. In past years the country’s meteorologists have linked the increasingly early blooms to climate change, and temperatures in Tokyo have been unseasonably mild in recent days. Tokyo’s official cherry bloom records go back 70 years and the delicate white-pink flowers have only appeared […]
San Diego, United States | AFP | by Jim Watson with Sebastian Smith in Washington Australia has unveiled plans to buy up to five US nuclear-powered submarines, then build a new model with US and British technology under an ambitious plan to bulk up Western muscle across the Asia-Pacific in the face of a rising China. The announcement came Monday at an event at a San Diego, California, naval base where President Joe Biden […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired two short-range ballistic missiles Tuesday, Seoul said, Pyongyang’s second launch in three days and the first since South Korea and the United States began their largest joint military drills in five years. Washington and Seoul have ramped up defense cooperation in the face of growing military and nuclear threats from the North, which has conducted a series of increasingly provocative banned weapons tests in recent months. South […]
by Etienne Balmer and Harumi Ozawa Agence France Presse Tsuchiyu-onsenmachi, Japan (AFP) With over 100 active volcanos, Japan has the world’s third largest geothermal resources, but also a powerful industry that has steadfastly opposed developing the sector: hot springs. Geothermal is a renewable resource that harnesses heat from deep below the Earth’s crust — a seemingly attractive option for energy resource-poor Japan. But the hot springs or onsens that dot Japan are a major business, […]
