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TOKYO, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – Tokyo’s benchmark Nikkei 225 index gained 28.2 percent in 2023, its best yearly performance in a decade. The Nikkei closed down 0.22 percent, or 75.45 points, at 33,464.17 on Friday, the final trading day of the year ahead of a lengthy New Year’s holiday break. “Warren Buffett’s comments triggered a reappraisal of Japanese equities” in 2023, senior market analyst Masayuki Doshida of Rakuten Securities said, referring to the US […]
WASHINGTON, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – An American warship shot down a drone and an anti-ship ballistic missile fired Thursday by Yemen’s Iran-backed Huthi rebels, the US military said. The Huthis have repeatedly targeted vessels in the vital Red Sea shipping lane with strikes they say are in support of Palestinians in Gaza, where Israel is battling militant group Hamas. “The USS Mason (DDG 87) shot down one drone and one anti-ship ballistic missile in […]
By Anita Chang BEATTIE WASHINGTON, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – The US state of Maine on Thursday blocked former president Donald Trump from its Republican presidential primary ballot, becoming the second state to disqualify him over his role in the January 2021 assault on the US Capitol. Maine’s top election official, Secretary of State Shenna Bellows, said in her ruling that the events of January 6, 2021 “occurred at the behest of, and with the […]
By Adel Zaanoun with Anuj Chopra in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Dec 28, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli forces on Thursday battled Hamas in Gaza where air strikes and urban combat rocked the southern city of Khan Yunis, near where many hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have sought refuge. UN World Health Organization chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called for “urgent steps to alleviate the grave peril” facing besieged Gaza’s people, including “terrible injuries, acute […]
By Anna MALPAS KYIV, Ukraine, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – Russia launched a wave of missile strikes on Friday across Ukrainian cities, including the capital, officials said, as they raised a nationwide air alert. “We are doing everything to strengthen our air shield. But the world needs to see that we need more support and strength to stop this terror,” Ukrainian presidential aide Andriy Yermak wrote on Telegram. AFP reporters in central Kyiv heard several […]
TEHRAN, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – Iran on Friday hanged four people convicted of spying for arch foe Israel, the judiciary said, less than two weeks after authorities had executed a man on similar grounds. “Four members of a sabotage group related to the Zionist regime (Israel)… were hanged this morning” in Iran’s northwestern province of West Azerbaijan, the judiciary’s Mizan Online website reported. It identified them as three men — Vafa Hanareh, Aram […]
By Axl HERNANDEZ LLAY-LLAY , Chile, Dec 29, 2023 (AFP) – Few players of the online video game Free Fire would know that one of their most ferocious opponents — a lithe, gun-wielding warrior in a short kimono and fang mask — is in reality an 81-year-old grandmother from rural Chile. From her professional gaming chair at home in a small village, the soft-spoken Maria Elena Arevalo becomes a merciless hunter, mowing down rivals in […]
(Eagle News)–A 4.1-magnitude earthquake struck off Surigao del Sur early Friday, Dec. 29. The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the quake hit at 4:35 a.m. The epicenter was 31 kilometers northeast of Cagwait. The depth of focus was 10 kilometers. No damage to property nor aftershocks were reported.
(Eagle News)–The Department of the Interior and Local Government welcomed to the police force the almost 300 recruits from the country’s Moro Islamic Liberation Front and Moro National Liberation Front recruitment program. Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos led the oath-taking of the 255 men and 39 women joining the Police Regional Office-Bangsamoro Autonomous Region in Camp Pendatun, Parang, Maguindanao del Norte for a six-month field training program. Prior to this, the recruits, who will fill some […]
Japan’s space agency announced Thursday it will launch its next-generation H3 rocket in February after two failed attempts early this year. The rocket, billed as a flexible and cost-effective new flagship, is scheduled to lift off between 9:22 am and 1:06 pm (0022 and 0406 GMT) on February 15 from the southern island of Tanegashima, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said in a press release. The third launch attempt comes after the spacecraft was […]
(Eagle News)–The northeast monsoon is affecting Northern and Central Luzon. The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said the easterlies are also affecting the rest of the country. As a result, Batanes and Babuyan Islands will have cloudy skies with rains. Flashfloods or landslides due to moderate to at times heavy rains are possible. Visayas, Mindanao, Bicol Region and MIMAROPA, meanwhile, will have partly cloudy to cloudy skies with isolated rain showers and thunderstorms. […]
MOSCOW, Dec 28, 2023 (AFP) – Russian and US space agencies have agreed to keep working together to deliver crews to the International Space Station (ISS) until at least 2025, Russian corporation Roscosmos said Thursday. The space sector — including its so-called cross-flights that involve sending crews from different nationalities on one spacecraft — is a rare area of cooperation remaining between Moscow and Washington since Russia sent troops to Ukraine. “An agreement was reached […]
