Philippines mulls pullout of Syria peacekeepers The Philippine foreign secretary says he is recommending to President Benigno Aquino III to pull out all Filipino U.N. peacekeepers from the Golan Heights following the abduction of four by Syrian rebels. More
8 die in clothing factory fire in Bangladesh as Rana Plaza toll passes 900 Eight people were killed when a fire swept through a clothing factory in Bangladesh, police and an industry association official said on Thursday, as the death toll from the collapse of another factory building two weeks ago climbed above 900. More
American gets 15 years of hard labor in North Korea for 'hostile acts' An American tour operator has been sentenced to 15 years of hard labor in North Korea for alleged “hostile acts” against the repressive regime, according to its official state news agency. Kenneth Bae, who is in his mid-40s and lives in Washington state, has been described by friends as a devout Christian who took tourists on trips to North Korea, The Associated Press reported. More
Porn and movies, not tech secrets, found on Chinese spy suspect's NASA laptop The Chinese national taken into custody on an airplane waiting to take off for home had pornography and illegally downloaded movies on his NASA computer, not government secrets, reports say. He is now set to plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge of violating NASA computer rules. More
Massive 6.5 magnitude earthquake shakes Indonesia's Java Island; Details inside A powerful earthquake measuring 6.5 on the Richter scale shook Java Island, Indonesia. The quake, which occurred off the island's coast, was felt in Jakarta and surrounding areas such as Bandung. 04/28/2024 - 12:22 am | View Link
A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes Indonesia`s Java Island On Saturday, a significant earthquake measuring 6.1 on the Richter scale shook the southern area of Indonesia`s largest island, Java. Fortunately, there were no early reports of injuries or serious ... 04/27/2024 - 6:22 pm | View Link
Strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes Indonesia’s Java Island, felt in Jakarta This news has been read 80 times! JAKARTA, Indonesia, April 28, (AP): A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia’s main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no ... 04/27/2024 - 1:00 pm | View Link
A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes Indonesia’s Java Island, felt in Jakarta JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia’s main island of Java on Saturday, but there were no immediate reports of injury or significant ... 04/27/2024 - 6:52 am | View Link
A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shakes Indonesia’s Java Island, felt in Jakarta A strong magnitude 6.1 earthquake shook the southern part of Indonesia’s main island of Java but there are no immediate reports of injury or significant property damage. 04/27/2024 - 6:46 am | View Link
WASHINGTON — A top U. N. official said Friday that hard-hit northern Gaza was now in “full-blown famine” after more than six months of war between Israel and Hamas and severe Israeli restrictions on food deliveries to the Palestinian territory.
Cindy McCain, the American director of the U. N. World Food Program, became the most prominent international official so far to declare that trapped civilians in the most cut-off part of Gaza had gone over the brink into famine.
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“It’s horror,” McCain told NBC’s “Meet the Press” in an interview to air Sunday.
Chants of “disclose, divest, we will not stop, we will not rest” are reverberating across the globe as student-led protests in support of Palestine have popped up outside the U. S. and in countries like Australia, Mexico, and the U. K. as the Israel-Hamas war enters into its seventh month.
LONDON — Britain’s governing Conservative Party is suffering heavy losses as an array of election results pour in Friday, piling pressure on Prime Minister Rishi Sunak ahead of a U. K. general election in which the main opposition Labour Party appears increasingly likely to return to power after 14 years.
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Labour won control of councils in England it hasn’t held for decades and was successful in a special by-election for Parliament that, if repeated in a general election in coming months, would lead to one of the Conservatives′ biggest-ever defeats.
The only negative so far for Labour has been in some areas with large Muslim populations, such as Oldham in northwest England, where the party’s candidates appear to have suffered as a result of leader Keir Starmer ‘s strongly pro-Israel stance in the conflict in Gaza.
Perhaps most important in the context of the looming general election, which has to take place by January but could come as soon as next month, Labour easily won back Blackpool South in the northwest of England that went Conservative in the last general election in 2019, when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson won a big victory.
Desperate times call for desperate measures, and across Asia, communities are responding to an extreme and deadly heat wave, which has battered the region since last month and has left few options for residents and governments to cope, in creative and even superstitious ways.
One city in the Philippines has rolled out free mobile showers, while in Vietnam, municipal authorities reportedly looked into the possibility of enlisting the help of a man who claimed he could pray for precipitation.
Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin met Thursday with his counterparts from Australia, Japan and the Philippines as the U. S. deepens ties with an emerging regional group that Pentagon officials have privately nicknamed, the “Squad.”
The quadrilateral grouping is one of a number of regional partnerships that Washington has used to push back against China’s assertiveness in Asia.
(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden has called Japan and India “xenophobic” countries that do not welcome immigrants, lumping the two with adversaries China and Russia as he tried to explain their economic circumstances and contrasted the four with the U. S. on immigration.
The remarks, at a campaign fundraising event Wednesday evening, came just three weeks after the White House hosted Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida for a lavish official visit, during which the two leaders celebrated what Biden called an “unbreakable alliance,” particularly on global security matters.
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The White House welcomed Indian Prime Minister Narenda Modi for a state visit last summer.
Japan is a critical U.