SYDNEY, June 18, 2024 (AFP) – Premier Li Qiang toured a Chinese-controlled lithium refiner in Perth on Tuesday, a sign of his country’s vast appetite for Australian “critical minerals” required for clean energy technologies. Li ended his four-day visit to Australia with a tour of the low-carbon energy industry in resource-rich Western Australia. His first stop was Tianqi Lithium Energy Australia, a 51-percent Chinese-owned venture comprising a mine for hard rock lithium ore, and a […]
International
Philippine ship, Chinese vessel collide in South China Sea: Beijing
BEIJING, June 17, 2024 (AFP) – Philippine and Chinese vessels collided near the Second Thomas Shoal in the South China Sea on Monday, the Chinese Coast Guard said, as Beijing steps up efforts to push its claims over the disputed area. Known in Chinese as the Ren’ai Reef, the Second Thomas Shoal has seen an escalating number of confrontations between Chinese and Philippine ships in recent months. These have often taken place during Philippine attempts […]
Nuclear fears in focus at Ukraine peace summit
By Robin MILLARD BURGENSTOCK, Switzerland, June 16, 2024 (AFP) – The international Ukraine peace summit focused Sunday on food security, avoiding a nuclear disaster and returning deported children from Russia as countries outlined building blocks towards ending the war. More than two years after Russia invaded, leaders and top officials from more than 90 states were spending the weekend at a Swiss mountainside resort for a landmark two-day summit dedicated to resolving the largest European […]
IS hostage-takers killed as Russian prison siege ends: authorities
MOSCOW, June 16, 2024 (AFP) – Russian authorities said Sunday that they had brought a siege at a prison in the southern Rostov region to a swift end, killing the Islamic State hostage-takers and freeing their two prison guard captives unharmed. The prison service had earlier reported that the two guards had been taken hostage by an unspecified number of Islamic State detainees and had entered negotiations for their release. But a short time […]
At least 9 wounded in Michigan water park shooting: police
DETROIT, June 16, 2024 (AFP) – A shooter opened fire at a water park in the US state of Michigan on Saturday, wounding nine or more people including at least one child, police said. The local sheriff’s office said it potentially had the suspect contained near the scene of the shooting in Rochester Hills, a suburb of Detroit. “It appears like the individual pulled up, exited a vehicle, approached the splash pad, opened fire. Reloaded, […]
Philippines submits UN claim to extended continental shelf
MANILA, June 16, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines has sought recognition from the United Nations for its claim to an extended continental shelf off the island that is closest to a hotly disputed region of the South China Sea. China claims almost the entire waterway through which trillions of dollars in ship-borne trade passes annually, and huge unexploited oil and gas deposits are believed to lie under its seabed. The sea is also important as […]
Israel announces daily Gaza ‘pause’ for aid deliveries
GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, June 16, 2024 (AFP) – Israel’s military said Sunday it would “pause” fighting around a south Gaza route daily to facilitate aid deliveries, following months of warnings of famine in the besieged Palestinian territory. The announcement of a “local, tactical pause of military activity” during daylight hours in an area of Rafah came a day after eight Israeli soldiers were killed in a blast near the far-southern city and three more […]
Sinkholes threaten luxury property in Chile’s resort city
By Pedro SCHWARZE VIÑA DEL MAR, Chile, June 15, 2024 (AFP) – It was meant to be paradise on earth: a luxury apartment building standing just a few meters away from the beach with breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. However, intense rains that have lashed Chile in recent days caused a giant sinkhole to open underneath this high-end property in the resort city of Vina del Mar, prompting the evacuation of hundreds of residents. […]
Water crisis batters war-torn Sudan as temperatures soar
PORT SUDAN, Sudan, June 16, 2024 (AFP) – War, climate change and man-made shortages have brought Sudan — a nation already facing a litany of horrors — to the shores of a water crisis. “Since the war began, two of my children have walked 14 kilometres (nine miles) every day to get water for the family,” Issa, a father of seven, told AFP from North Darfur state. In the blistering sun, as temperatures climb past […]
Early summer heatwave claims first victim in Cyprus
NICOSIA, June 14, 2024 (AFP) – A 91-year-old woman became the first death from an early heatwave gripping Cyprus as the island sweltered under record June temperatures of 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) on Friday. Health officials said a woman died at Nicosia General Hospital suffering from heatstroke; another five elderly patients were being treated in hospitals with severe symptoms of heatstroke. State health organisation spokesperson Charalambos Charilaou told reporters the woman suffered a cardiac […]
‘Constant blood’: Ukraine’s frontline medics battle exhaustion
By Maryke VERMAAK Ukraine, June 15, 2024 (AFP) – When Vitaliy signed up to join the Ukrainian army as a surgeon, he made a promise not to burn himself out, fearing he could be needed for a lengthy and bloody war. More than two years after Russia invaded and with the fighting showing no sign of subsiding, that promise is being put to the test. Vitaliy serves at a medical post in the Pokrovsk area […]
Canadian Navy ship join US, Russian subs in Cuba
HAVANA, June 15, 2024 (AFP) – A Canadian Navy patrol ship docked Friday in Cuba, which is also hosting two nuclear-powered submarines — one American and one Russian. The HMCS Margaret Brooke docked in Havana on its way back from “a successful deployment in the Caribbean basin,” the Royal Canadian Navy said on Facebook. It “will conduct a port visit to Havana from June 14 to 17, 2024, in recognition of the long-standing bilateral relationship […]





