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San Antonio, Philippines | AFP | by Mikhail FLORES US and Philippine marines stormed a beach near a disputed rocky outcrop in the South China Sea on Friday as part of joint military drills involving more than 3,500 troops. It is the first time the annual naval exercises have been held under Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos, who has expressed strong support for the decades-old alliance, after rocky relations under his predecessor Rodrigo Duterte. But Marcos told US […]
Seoul, South Korea (AFP) North Korea’s foreign ministry said Thursday its recent blitz of missile launches were “counteraction measures” against joint military drills by the United States and South Korea. As the United Nations Security Council met to discuss Pyongyang’s Tuesday firing of an intermediate-range ballistic missile over Japan, North Korea said in a statement that such launches were “the just counteraction measures of the Korean People’s Army on South Korea-US joint drills”. Security […]
by Andrew BEATTY Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — During Xi Jinping’s decade-long rule, China has built the world’s largest navy, revamped the globe’s biggest standing army, and amassed a nuclear and ballistic arsenal to trouble any foe. With China’s neighbors now rushing to keep pace, Xi’s next five-year term is likely to see a quickening Asia-Pacific arms race. From South Korea developing a blue-water navy to Australia buying nuclear-powered submarines, weapons shopping has surged […]
Yangon, Myanmar (AFP) Myanmar’s junta sentenced an Australian economist to three years in prison while also handing down another conviction to ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi, drawing global condemnation on Thursday. Both have been detained since a coup in February last year, when the military ousted Suu Kyi’s government, for which Sean Turnell was an adviser. “Mr Sean Turnell, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi and another three were sentenced to three years imprisonment each […]
Bangkok, Thailand (AFP) Thai police have charged a soldier with murder over a shooting at a military training facility that left two people dead and another wounded, officials said Friday. Sergeant Major Yongyuth Mungkornkim, a clerk at the Royal Thai Army War College, will stand trial in a military court on Wednesday in the north of Bangkok. He faces charges of premeditated murder, attempted murder, possessing a gun in a public place and firing a […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday called Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s warnings to Greece over sea disputes “unhelpful” and urged the two NATO allies to settle differences diplomatically. “At a time when Russia has again invaded a sovereign European state, statements that could raise tensions between NATO allies are particularly unhelpful,” a State Department spokesperson said when asked about Erdogan’s remarks, without naming him. “The United States continues to encourage […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan said a Chinese military reconnaissance drone entered its air defense zone on Monday, the latest incursion as relations between the two neighbors remain tense. The drone, identified by Taipei’s defense ministry as a BZK-007 vehicle, crossed into the southwest corner of the island’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) along with eight Chinese warplanes. Taiwan’s ADIZ is much larger than its airspace and overlaps with part of China’s ADIZ and even […]
by Shaun TANDON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Friday announced a $1.1 billion arms package for Taiwan, vowing to keep boosting the island’s defenses as tensions soar with Beijing, which warned Washington of “counter-measures.” The sale comes a month after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi defiantly visited the self-governing democracy, prompting mainland China to launch a show of force that could be a trial run for a future […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — A Myanmar junta court sentenced ousted leader Aung San Suu Kyi to three years in jail on Friday for electoral fraud over 2020 polls which her party won in a landslide. Suu Kyi was “sentenced to three years’ imprisonment with hard labour”, a source with knowledge of the case said, adding that the Nobel laureate, 77, appeared to be in good health. Detained since a putsch last year, Suu Kyi […]
Washington, United States (AFP) The number of sexual assaults in the US military increased by 13 percent in fiscal year 2021, reaching a record high, according to an annual report published Thursday by the Pentagon. The Department of Defense’s Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPR) said there were 8,866 reported assaults “involving service members as either victims or subjects” in the year to September 30, 2021, compared to 7,813 the previous year. But only […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwanese soldiers on a tiny islet just off China’s mainland shot down an “unidentified civilian drone” on Thursday after it entered a restricted zone, Taipei’s military said. It is the first time Taiwanese forces have downed a drone and comes at a time when tensions between Beijing and Taipei are at their highest in decades. Taiwan’s defence ministry said a small civilian drone entered a “restricted zone” above Shiyu Islet, […]
Tokyo, Japan (AFP) by Kyoko HASEGAWA A female former Japanese soldier on Wednesday submitted a petition to the defence ministry that was signed by more than 100,000 people demanding an independent probe into her alleged sexual assault by colleagues. The case is a rare example of a public allegation of sexual assault in a country where government data shows just four percent of rape victims report the crime to police. Rina Gonoi, 22, alleges that […]
