An enlarged meeting of the politburo of the Workers Party took place amid a pandemic that is putting additional pressure on the North Korean economy, battered by recent border closures and flood damage. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has called for prevention efforts against the novel coronavirus and a […]
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Even Chinese companies’ pre-Covid attempts to extricate themselves from investments are being tripped up by the pandemic. Chinese buyers have not only stopped snapping up iconic overseas assets, the coronavirus pandemic is ravaging the targets of deals that defined a headier era. Whereas some prolific acquirers such as HNA Group […]
HONG KONG: A Hong Kong court again denied bail today to the first person charged with inciting separatism and terrorism under a new national security law in the Chinese-ruled city. Tong Ying-kit, 23, had carried a sign reading “Liberate Hong Kong, revolution of our times,” and drove his motorbike into […]
JOLO: At least 14 people were killed and 75 wounded—including members of the security forces and civilians—in twin bombings today involving a suicide attacker on a southern Philippine island that is a stronghold of Islamist militants, officials said. The apparently coordinated attacks happened in Jolo in Muslim-majority Sulu, where government-backed […]
VIENNA: Austria is expelling a Russian diplomat for breaching the Vienna Convention governing diplomats’ privileges and immunities, an Austrian Foreign Ministry spokesman said today. “His behaviour is not in accordance with the Vienna Convention,” the Foreign Ministry spokesman said, declining to elaborate. The Russian Embassy responded on Twitter by saying: […]
TOKYO: Japan’s longest-serving prime minister, Shinzo Abe, visited a Tokyo hospital today, as concerns grew over his ability to continue in his post, because of health issues and fatigue from handling the coronavirus crisis. If Abe is incapacitated, Deputy Prime Minister Taro Aso, who doubles as finance minister, would take […]
MANILA: Twin blasts that killed 15 people in the volatile southern Philippines could both have been suicide bombings, the military said today, representing an escalation of violence that the army chief said may require martial law to be re-imposed. Yesterday’s explosions on the southwest island of Jolo killed a mix […]
The attack happened in Jolo in Muslim-majority Sulu, where government-backed security forces have long been fighting the Abu Sayyaf group. Jolo, Philippines: At least 10 people were killed and dozens wounded — including soldiers and police — in a twin bombing Monday involving a suicide attacker on a southern Philippine […]
The sentencing hearing for Brenton Tarrant opened in a Christchurch court with testimony from members of the Muslim community that the white supremacist targeted on March 15 last year in a rampage that claimed the lives of 51 worshippers. Wellington: Some survivors raged, others chanted prayers, and many wept for […]
MANILA: China’s “nine-dash line” used to claim most of the South China Sea is a fabrication, the Philippine defence minister said, as he accused Beijing of illegally occupying Filipino maritime territory. The remarks late yesterday come amid a fresh row between Manila and Beijing over the disputed Scarborough shoal, which […]