Moscú, Russia (AFP) Russia on Thursday launched large-scale military exercises involving several Kremlin-friendly countries, including China, with tensions soaring between Moscow and Western capitals. The exercises, called Vostok-2022, are scheduled to take place until September 7 across several training grounds in Russia’s Far East and in the waters off its eastern coast. The drills come as Russia is locked in a stand-off with Western nations over what Moscow calls its military operation in pro-Western Ukraine. […]
Tag: net25
Battling Williams powers into US Open third round
New York, United States (AFP) by Rob Woollard Serena Williams roared into the third round of the US Open on Wednesday, overpowering second seed Anett Kontaveit with a battling performance to extend her Grand Slam singles career in dramatic fashion. The 40-year-old tennis icon — who has signalled she plans to retire after the tournament — drew on all her reserves of resilience and sheer fighting spirit to take down Kontaveit with a 7-6 (7/4), […]
Thai police hunt YouTuber ‘Nutty’ in multimillion-dollar forex scam
Bangkok, Thailand (AFP) Thai police are hunting a YouTube dancer nicknamed “Nutty”, who swindled millions of dollars from her followers using a foreign exchange trading scam, authorities said Wednesday. Natthamon Khongchak, 29, who also uses the aliases Leah and Suchata, has a following of nearly 850,000 on the video-sharing platform. Local media reported there could be up to 6,000 victims who lost up to $55 million after being promised 35 percent investment returns. So far […]
Japan further relaxes border controls for tourism
Tokyo, Japan (AFP) Tourists will be able to visit Japan from next week on package tours without a guide, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Wednesday, as the country moves to ease strict Covid-19 controls. From September 7, Japan will also raise its daily cap on the number of people allowed to enter the country to 50,000, Kishida told reporters. Japan has kept strict border restrictions in place longer than many other major economies, and only […]
Cambodian psychiatrist helping genocide survivors wins ‘Asia’s Nobel Prize’
Manila, Philippines (AFP) A Cambodian psychiatrist treating victims of the Khmer Rouge and a French environmentalist cleaning up Indonesian rivers were among the winners Wednesday of the 2022 Ramon Magsaysay Award — considered Asia’s Nobel Prize. The annual award, established in 1957 and named after a Philippines president who died in a plane crash, honours those who have performed “selfless service to the peoples of Asia”. The foundation that runs the award announced four winners […]
EU ministers agree to suspend Russian visa facilitation deal
Prague, Czech Republic (AFP) EU foreign ministers on Wednesday agreed to suspend a 2007 visa facilitation deal with Russia but stopped short of a wider visa ban as requested by some member states. EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said the ministers had agreed that relations with Moscow “cannot be business as usual” and the agreement should be “fully suspended”. Following the informal meeting in Prague, he said this would make it “more difficult” and […]
Thousands back Japanese ex-soldier demanding sexual assault probe
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 […]
Kremlin vows response to restrictions on EU visas for Russians
Moscow, Russia (AFP) The Kremlin on Tuesday warned it would respond if the European Union makes it harder for Russians to travel to the bloc as part of measures in support of Ukraine. The idea to ban Russian tourists from Europe has divided EU nations, with some in full support and others fearing it would shut the door on dissident Russians fleeing abroad. EU foreign ministers will discuss the issue during a two-day meeting […]
China’s Communist Party Congress to open October 16
Beijing, China (AFP) by Laurie CHEN China’s ruling Communist Party will begin its 20th Party Congress on October 16, state media reported Tuesday, a landmark meeting at which President Xi Jinping is expected to be anointed as the country’s most powerful leader in decades. The meeting in the capital Beijing is widely expected to see Xi reinstated as president for an unprecedented third term. It will also see the unveiling of a new top leadership […]
Ukraine students brace for underground school year
Kyiv, Ukraine (AFP) by Anna KORIAGINA Five metres beneath a Kyiv classroom, headmaster Mykhaylo Aliokhin puts the finishing touches on the bunker where his students will spend much of their time once Ukraine’s school term starts later this week. The study hall above is still littered with school bags abandoned since February 23 — the last day before Russia invaded and school bells fell silent, replaced by the skirl of the air raid siren. Down […]
Fighting across southern front as Ukraine wages counter-offensive
Mykolaiv, Ukraine (AFP) by Thibault MARCHAND Intense fighting was raging on Tuesday across the southern Ukrainian region of Kherson occupied by Russia, Kyiv’s presidency said, as its troops pressed counter-offensives “in various directions”. Most of the region of Kherson bordering the Black Sea — and its provincial capital of the same name — were seized by Moscow’s military at the start of the invasion six months ago. With the war in the eastern Donbas […]
Rapper stabbed to death as London’s Notting Hill Carnival returns
London, United Kingdom (AFP) London’s Notting Hill Carnival was marred by the murder of a young rapper and hundreds of arrests, police said on Tuesday. The 21-year-old man died after being stabbed on Monday, the latest in a wave of knife-crime incidents in the British capital this year that have sparked growing concern. The victim was later identified as a rapper from Bristol, western England, who performed under the name TKorStretch. “He came from Bristol […]





