The United States expects China to ramp up its military, diplomatic and economic "coercion" of Taiwan, its top envoy in East Asia said Thursday, after Beijing's unprecedented drills around the island it claims as its own.. "While our policy has not changed, what has changed is Beijing's growing coercion," Washington's top envoy for East Asia, Daniel Kritenbrink, told reporters on a teleconference call.
A blast ripped through a mosque packed with worshippers in the Afghan capital Kabul Wednesday night, killing at least three people and wounding two dozen others, a hospital and officials said.. The explosion occurred as people were offering evening prayers at the mosque, in a northwest district of Kabul.
The United States and Taiwan announced on Wednesday objectives for trade negotiations set for the early autumn in another step to boost ties even as tensions soar with China over the self-ruled island.. In recent weeks, tensions in the Taiwan Strait have soared to their highest in decades following a trip to Taipei by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
The remains of 14 firefighters who died combatting a major blaze at a Cuban fuel depot last week are too badly burned to be identified, a specialist said Wednesday.. Four of the eight tanks at the depot -- each with the capacity to hold 50 million liters (13.2 million gallons) of fuel -- collapsed during the blaze, which was finally extinguished late last week. lp/gm/des/sw
UN chief Antonio Guterres will meet the leaders of Ukraine and Turkey in Lviv on Thursday, following a deal reached last month that allowed the resumption of grain exports after Russia's invasion blocked essential global supplies.. Guterres is slated to travel on Friday to Odessa, one of three ports involved in the grain exports deal -- hammered out in July under the aegis of the UN with Ankara's mediation.
Japanese designer Hanae Mori, who cracked the Parisian haute couture world and was dubbed "Madame Butterfly" for her signature motif, has died in Tokyo aged 96, her office told AFP. Over the decades Mori's luxurious creations were worn by Nancy Reagan, Grace Kelly and countless members of high society.. An employee at Mori's office said Thursday that she died at home "of old age" on August 11, and that a private funeral had taken place.
Malaysia’s top court on Thursday began hearing ex-leader Najib Razak's appeal to overturn his jail sentence for corruption in a high-stakes legal gambit that could see him locked up or potentially launching a political comeback.. He was sentenced to 12 years in jail in July 2020, and an appellate court last December rejected his appeal, prompting him to mount a final plea before the Federal Court.
Hundreds of families on New Zealand's South Island were forced to leave their homes on Thursday after flooding caused a state of emergency to be declared in three regions.. A state of emergency was declared Wednesday in Buller, on the west coast, and Nelson -- where 233 homes have been evacuated after a month's worth of rain fell in just 15 hours.
The Ethiopian government called Wednesday for a formal Tigray ceasefire agreement to be reached as soon as possible to enable the resumption of basic services to the war-stricken northern region.. "In order to ensure a sustained provision of humanitarian aid as well as to facilitate the resumption of basic services and also to resolve the conflict peacefully; the committee has underscored that there is a need to conclude a ceasefire agreement as soon as possible," the Ethiopian peace committee said in a statement.
Studies are under way to see whether genetic changes in the monkeypox virus are driving the rapid spread of the disease, the World Health Organization told AFP on Wednesday.. "Looking through the genome, indeed there are a few genetic differences between the viruses from the current outbreak and the older Clade IIb viruses," the WHO told AFP. "However, nothing is known about the significance of these genetic changes, and research is ongoing to establish the effects (if any) of these mutations on transmission and disease severity.
