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TAIPEI, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – The earthquake that hit Taiwan’s east on Wednesday morning was “the strongest in 25 years”, said the director of Taipei’s Seismology Centre. “The earthquake is close to land and it’s shallow. It’s felt all over Taiwan and offshore islands… it’s the strongest in 25 years since the (1999) earthquake,” Wu Chien-fu told reporters, referring to a September 1999 quake with 7.6-magnitude that killed 2,400 people. This is a developing […]
By Adel Zaanoun with Fiachra Gibbons in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – Israel’s defence chief said Wednesday that a strike that killed seven aid workers in Gaza was a “grave mistake”, after the incident prompted a chorus of international condemnation. “This incident was a grave mistake,” IDF chief Herzi Halevi said in a video message on the strike that hit a World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy on Monday. “It shouldn’t […]
TOKYO, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – – Flights were suspended at the main airport in Japan’s southern region of Okinawa on Wednesday due to a tsunami alert triggered by an earthquake in Taiwan, a government official said. Operations at Naha Airport were suspended from 9:25 am local time (0025 GMT) as a precautionary measure, a transport ministry official stationed at the airport told AFP. “Incoming flights need to divert” at the airport, located on the […]
MANILA, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines warned of “high tsunami waves” and called for the evacuation of coastal areas in the country’s north on Wednesday, lowering an earlier warning after a major quake struck neighbouring Taiwan. “The people in the coastal areas of the following provinces are strongly advised to immediately evacuate to higher grounds or move farther inland,” the state seismology institute said in an advisory. Coastal areas in the provinces of […]
By Amber WANG TAIPEI, April 3, 2024 (AFP) – A major 7.4-magnitude earthquake hit Taiwan’s east on Wednesday morning, prompting tsunami warnings for the self-ruled island as well as parts of southern Japan and the Philippines. The quake hit just before 8:00am local time (0000 GMT), with the United States Geological Survey (USGS) putting the epicentre 18 kilometres (11 miles) south of Taiwan’s Hualien City, at a depth of 34.8 km. Japan’s Meteorological Agency issued […]
HELSINKI, April 2, 2024 (AFP) – Finnish police said a 12-year-old child died and two others seriously wounded after a peer opened fire Tuesday at a school just north of the capital Helsinki. “Today, after 9:00 am, a shooting incident took place at a school … in which a sixth grader, a student of the school, died,” Ilkka Koskimaki, police chief of Eastern Uusimaa police department, told a press conference, adding two others were “seriously […]
WASHINGTON, April 2, 2024 (AFP) – Food aid organization World Central Kitchen said Tuesday that an Israeli strike killed seven of its workers in the Gaza Strip. “World Central Kitchen is devastated to confirm seven members of our team have been killed in an IDF strike in Gaza,” the US-based charity said in a statement. It added that those killed were “from Australia, Poland, United Kingdom, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Canada and […]
JERUSALEM, April 2, 2024 (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pledged Monday to use a fresh national security law passed by parliament to ban news channel Al Jazeera from broadcasting in the country. The law, passed on Monday by 70 votes to 10, grants top ministers the power to ban broadcasts by foreign channels deemed a national security threat and to shut their offices. Netanyahu was quick to single out Qatar-based channel Al Jazeera, […]
TOKYO, April 1, 2024 (AFP) – Japan’s royal family is now on Instagram — but don’t expect any candid selfies from its official account, which went live Monday in a cautious social media debut for the ancient monarchy. The first 19 posts are formally staged photos and videos of Emperor Naruhito and Empress Masako carrying out royal duties at recent public appearances. Nonetheless, more than 160,000 users have followed the Imperial Household Agency (IHA) account, […]
By Anne CHAON ISTANBUL, April 1, 2024 (AFP) – Turkey’s local elections on Sunday dealt the biggest blow in more than two decades to President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and his ruling AKP party. Here are five things to know about the poll that turned into a debacle for the country’s veteran leader. – More than a local poll – By throwing all his energy into campaigning for his party’s candidates for mayors, Erdogan gave the […]
By Sébastien RICCI BEIJING, April 1, 2024 (AFP) – France’s top diplomat said Monday that Paris expects China to send “clear messages” to its close partner Russia over its war in Ukraine, after meetings with his counterpart in Beijing. France and China have sought to strengthen ties in recent years and, during meetings in Paris in February, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi told President Emmanuel Macron that Beijing appreciated his country’s “independent” stance. But Paris […]
JERUSALEM, March 31, 2024 (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu underwent “successful” hernia surgery, his office said on Monday. Netanyahu was “in good shape and beginning to recover”, his office said in a statement after the operation on Sunday evening, which was closely watched as the war with Hamas in the Gaza Strip nears six months. Doctors discovered the hernia on Saturday during a routine checkup, and after consultations the decision was made for […]
