KORNIDZOR, Armenia, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Nagorno-Karabakh separatists said Friday they were negotiating the withdrawal of their troops from the disputed enclave after Azerbaijan reclaimed control in a lightning offensive. Azerbaijan on Thursday held a first round of “reintegration” talks with the ethnic-Armenian rebels after they agreed to lay down their arms in the face of the day-long military assault. The separatists said they were in talks with Baku to organise the withdrawal process […]
Other News
Five injured in latest Colombia car bomb blast
JAMUNDI, Colombia, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – A car bomb exploded Friday outside a police station in southwest Colombia, injuring five civilians just days after two people died in a similar attack attributed to guerrilla fighters in talks with the government. The blast happened in the Jamundi municipality in the Valle del Cauca department where rebels are fighting soldiers engaged in a clampdown on drug trafficking. “Reprehensible attack in Jamundi,” President Gustavo Petro wrote on […]
Jailed Thaksin could be advisor to new Thai govt: deputy PM
BANGKOK, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Thailand’s jailed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could act as advisor to the new government, the ruling party said Friday, a move likely to raise hackles among the billionaire’s critics. The 74-year-old, ousted by a military coup in 2006, returned to the kingdom last month and was immediately jailed for historic convictions for graft and abuse of power. New Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, of Thaksin’s Pheu Thai party, […]
China’s recent military activities ‘abnormal’: Taiwan defence minister
TAIPEI, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan’s defence minister said China’s recent military activities were “abnormal”, after a spike in incursions by Chinese warplanes around the island this week. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has maintained it will seize it one day — by force, if necessary. Beijing performs near-daily aerial incursions around the island, and on Monday Taiwan’s defence ministry reported a “recent high” of 103 warplanes within a 24-hour window. […]
US auto workers union expands strike at General Motors, Stellantis
NEW YORK, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – The US auto workers union expanded a potentially economically and politically damaging strike against two of Detroit’s “Big Three” Friday — and invited President Joe Biden to support workers on the picket line. UAW President Shawn Fain announced a strike of all 38 US parts and distribution centers at General Motors and Stellantis, where negotiations are stalled. Fain did not expand the stoppage at Ford, where there […]
Netanyahu at UN issues ‘nuclear’ threat to Iran, later retracted
UNITED NATIONS, United States, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday warned Iran at the United Nations of a “nuclear threat” in what his office quickly walked back as a slip of the tongue. The hawkish prime minister said that alarm over Tehran’s clerical leaders was driving Israel closer to the Arab world, with his government on the “cusp” of a historic breakthrough with Saudi Arabia. Netanyahu, who has repeatedly […]
S.African chickens hit by ‘worst’ bird flu outbreak
JOHANNESBURG, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – South African poultry farmers have warned of possible chicken and egg shortages as they battle what the industry says is the worst bird flu outbreak ever to hit the country. Producer Quantum Foods said on Friday that this year it had lost almost two million chickens — worth a total of more than 100 million rand ($5.3 million) — because of the disease. “The bird flu outbreak is the […]
Russia says Crimea naval HQ hit in missile attack
MOSCOW, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – A Ukrainian missile attack Friday struck the headquarters of Moscow’s Black Sea fleet in annexed Crimea, killing at least one and sparking a fire in Kyiv’s latest assault by on the peninsula. Ukraine has targeted Crimea throughout Russia’s offensive but attacks on military installations there have recently intensified as Kyiv vows to recapture the peninsula, which Moscow annexed in 2014. “The headquarters of the fleet have been hit in […]
Former Marikina Mayor Bayani Fernando passes away
(Eagle News)–Former Marikina Mayor Bayani Fernando has passed away. He was 77. The Metropolitan Manila Development Authority, where he served as chair from June 5, 2002 to November 25, 2009 expressed its condolences to his family. It noted that Fernando was a “man of few words” who was “known to be a workaholic and a disciplinarian among MMDA employees.” “A mechanical engineer by profession, Chairman Fernando used scientific and practical approaches in his quest to […]
Japanese royal couple in Vietnam to mark 50 years of ties
HANOI, Sept 21, 2023 (AFP) – Japan’s Crown Prince Akishino and Crown Princess Kiko were welcomed Thursday in Hanoi by lines of flag-waving schoolchildren, as they began a visit marking the 50th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the two nations. The royal couple laid wreaths at the mausoleum of late president Ho Chi Minh, before heading to the former home — a traditional stilt house — of the revolutionary leader and feeding fish in a […]
Tokyo Game Show back with a bang
TOKYO, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – The Tokyo Game Show is back in full swing after the pandemic, one of the sector’s biggest trade fairs with 200,000 visitors expected over four days. AFP looks at the main trends at this year’s event, which throws its doors open to the public this weekend in a huge convention centre in Chiba, outside Tokyo. – Mobiles to PCs – Mobile games account for 60 percent of sales in […]
China’s Xi meets Syria’s Assad, declares new ‘strategic partnership’
HANGZHOU, China, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Chinese President Xi Jinping held talks with Syrian counterpart Bashar al-Assad on Friday, and said the two leaders would unveil a new “strategic partnership”. Assad is on his first official trip to China in almost two decades as he seeks financial support to rebuild his devastated country, as well as rehabilitation for his regime from years of isolation over Syria’s civil war. He will attend the opening ceremony […]





