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Bruxelles, Belgium (AFP) China’s President Xi Jinping suggested in talks with EU chief Charles Michel that the spread of the less lethal Omicron strain of Covid-19 may allow Beijing to ease lockdown rules, European officials said Friday. Michel met the Chinese leader in Beijing on Thursday. According to an account of the meeting from a senior European official, Xi told Michel that Chinese “people were frustrated” after three years of the coronavirus epidemic. Anger […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Supreme Court agreed Thursday to rule on the legality of President Joe Biden’s landmark effort to cancel hundreds of millions of dollars in US student debt. The court will hear the case in February or March, according to a short statement it posted online. In the meantime, it declined to lift a lower court ruling that has put the policy on hold for now. The Democratic president, who has […]
Shanghai, China (AFP) by Matthew WALSH and Michael ZHANG Mobile apps and state media websites turned black-and-white, flags on some government buildings in Beijing were at half-mast, and flowers were laid as China on Thursday mourned the death of former leader Jiang Zemin. State media said Jiang had died of leukaemia and multiple organ failure in Shanghai on Wednesday at the age of 96 after all medical treatments failed, and that funeral preparations had begun. […]
by Matthew WALSH with Ludovic EHRET in Beijing Agence France-Presse SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — China’s major cities of Beijing and Shanghai were blanketed with security on Tuesday in the wake of nationwide rallies calling for political freedoms and an end to Covid lockdowns. The country’s leadership is facing a wave of protest not seen in decades, fuelled by anger over the unrelenting lockdowns as well as deep-rooted frustrations over China’s political direction. A deadly fire […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Joe Biden on Monday called on Congress to intervene urgently to prevent a strike by railroad workers that he warned would “devastate our economy.” Biden asked Congress to deploy rarely used legislative powers to force adoption of a preliminary deal which freight rail companies and workers had struck in September before some of the trade unions backed off, returning to their threat to go on strike. While noting […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping told North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that Beijing was willing to work with Pyongyang for world peace, North Korean state media said Saturday. The message from Xi came days after North Korea fired an intercontinental ballistic missile in one of its most powerful tests yet, declaring it would meet perceived US nuclear threats with nukes of its own. North Korea has conducted a record-breaking blitz […]
Taipei, Taiwan (AFP) Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen has stepped down as head of her ruling party after it suffered defeat in Saturday’s local elections, while the Beijing-friendly main opposition held its ground. “The election results were not as expected…. I should shoulder all the responsibility and I resign as DPP chairwoman immediately,” Tsai, who will stay on as president of the self-ruled island, told reporters. Voters turned out Saturday to cast ballots for mayors, magistrates […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — UK government departments were ordered Thursday to stop installing Chinese-made surveillance cameras at “sensitive sites”, drawing a strong rebuke from one of the companies targeted. The move comes with the government moving more forcefully against China and its companies on security grounds. Last week it ordered a Chinese-owned firm to divest most of Newport Wafer Fab, Britain’s biggest semiconductor maker. According to the campaign group Big Brother Watch, most public […]
Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (AFP) by Martin ABBUGAO / M JEGATHESAN It has been a bumpy road to the pinnacle of power for Anwar Ibrahim, who on Thursday achieved his dream of the Malaysian premiership. In his decades-long quest for the top job, the 75-year-old has tasted political triumph and defeat, led street protests for democratic reforms and strung together a multi-ethnic opposition coalition while behind bars. He was named prime minister by Malaysia’s king after […]
Malaysia’s perennial opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim was named prime minister on Thursday, ending a days-long political impasse after inconclusive polls. His ascension — making him the country’s fourth leader in as many years — caps a turbulent political life for Anwar, during which he served jail time on corruption and sodomy charges. “After taking into consideration the views of Their Royal Highnesses the Malay Rulers, His Majesty has given consent to appoint Anwar Ibrahim […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has “solved” the issue of youth video game addiction, a report co-written by the country’s top gaming industry body has said, a year after the government limited the number of hours young people could play a day. China is the world’s biggest gaming market, but the industry — termed “spiritual opium” by state media — has been swept up in a tech regulatory crackdown marked by record fines, long investigations […]
SAINT PETERSBURG, Russia (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Tuesday oversaw the launch of a new nuclear-powered icebreaker as Russia pushes to develop the Arctic and seeks new energy markets amid sanctions over Ukraine. Addressing a Saint Petersburg ceremony for the launch of the Yakutia icebreaker by video link, Putin said such vessels were of “strategic” importance for Russia. In addition to floating out the Yakutia, authorities also symbolically raised a flag on another nuclear-powered […]
