A US warship yesterday sailed through a sensitive waterway separating Taiwan from China, the US Navy said, as a demonstration of Washington’s “commitment to upholding freedom of navigation”. China claims democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, and has in recent years upped military pressure by sending in increasing numbers of fighter jets, drones and naval...
China yesterday urged its citizens in Lebanon to leave “as soon as possible”, according to an embassy statement, the day after an Israeli strike in the country killed a senior Palestinian militant. “Recently, the situation on the Lebanese-Israeli border has continued to be tense, and security circumstances in Lebanon are severe and complex,” China’s embassy...
BANGKOK – Thailand yesterday reported a suspected first case of the new more dangerous strain of mpox, which the World Health Organisation (WHO) has declared a global public health emergency. The patient landed in Bangkok last week, and was sent to the hospital with mpox symptoms the following morning, said Thongchai Keeratihattayakorn, head of the...
NAIROBI – Burundi’s president Evariste Ndayishimiye continues to rule with an unrelenting “wave of repression” despite hopes of change when he took office four years ago, Amnesty International said yesterday. Human rights defenders, journalists, and members of the opposition are still subject to intimidation, harassment, arbitrary detention, and unfair prosecution, Amnesty said in a new...
KAMPALA – Uganda on Tuesday said the army commandos destroyed camps belonging to Joseph Kony, the fugitive leader of the feared Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), in the Central African Republic. The Uganda People’s Defence Forces (UPDF) said the operation was carried out jointly with armed forces from South Sudan and CAR against three camps in...
PARIS – At least 1.4 million girls in Afghanistan have been denied access to secondary education since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, with the future of an entire generation now “in jeopardy”, the United Nations’ cultural agency said recently. Access to primary education has also fallen sharply, with 1.1 million fewer girls and...
SAN FRANCISCO – Members of Congress called on Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg to give them details regarding adverts for opioids and other illicit drugs on the tech titan’s platform. A letter signed by 19 lawmakers pressed for details about such ads, given disturbing reports by the Tech Transparency Project and the Wall Street Journal. “Meta...
NAIROBI – A planned strike by the aviation staff at Kenya’s international airport has been delayed by two weeks to “give dialogue a chance”, a spokesman said on Saturday. About 10 000 members of the Kenya Aviation Workers Union had planned to walk out on 19 August over plans by the Kenyan government to strike...
BEIJING – Youth unemployment in China ticked up to 17% in July, official figures showed, the highest level this year as the world’s second-largest economy faces mounting headwinds. China is battling soaring joblessness among young people, a heavily-indebted property sector and intensifying trade issues with the West. Chinese Premier Li Qiang, who is responsible for...
Ukrainian drones attacked an oil storage facility in Russia’s southern Rostov region early yesterday morning, sparking a large fuel fire, the local governor said. Videos published on social media showed thick black smoke and bursts of flames coming from the site of the blaze, which the governor said was in the town of Proletarsk.“In the...