International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
Conservative Party Chairman, Nadim Zahawi said on Sunday (December 4) the government has set up contingency plans to minimise possible strike disruptions this month, which include drafting the military to fill border and NHS duties. He said there was a “specialist response force”, that was set up a number of years ago, which will be able to deal with
In Jerusalem’s Old City there are dozens of churches, but as Christmas beckons there is just one Santa Claus — a towering Palestinian former basketball player. Each December, the streets sparkle green and red as Christian pilgrims and others arrive to celebrate Christmas in Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem. Seven years ago one resident, Issa Kassissieh, transformed
Russian President Vladimir Putin is not sincere about peace talks with Ukraine while he is taking the war to a new level of “barbarism” by trying to turn off the lights of civilians, a top U.S. diplomat said on Saturday. U.S. Under Secretary for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland met President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and other senior
The U.S. intelligence community expects the reduced tempo in fighting in Ukraine to continue in coming months, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said on Saturday (December 03). Haines, who made the remarks at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California, detailed U.S. intelligence assessments on a variety of topics, including the
Major oil-producing countries led by Saudi Arabia and Russia look set to maintain their current output levels at a meeting Sunday, ahead of fresh sanctions against Moscow coming into force. The 13-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) is due to consult with 10 other oil-producing nations, including Russia, to review their decision in October to cut production by two million
Beijing residents cheered the removal of COVID-19 testing booths while Shenzhen followed other cities in announcing it would no longer require commuters to present their test results to travel, as an easing of China’s virus curbs gathered pace. Although daily cases hover near all-time highs, some cities are taking steps to loosen COVID-19 testing requirements and quarantine
The limits of Elon Musk’s self-professed “free speech absolutism” were laid bare, critics said, when he banned rapper Kanye West from Twitter over his latest anti-Semitic outburst on Thursday. Only a few days earlier, Musk tweeted that he was engaged in “a battle for the future of civilization. If free speech is lost even in America, tyranny is all
President Vladimir Putin is open to talks on a possible settlement to the conflict in Ukraine and believes in a diplomatic solution, the Kremlin said on Friday after Joe Biden suggested he was prepared to speak to the Russian leader. Biden, speaking beside French President Emmanuel Macron, said the only way to end the war in
Rohingya cleric Abdur Rashid still believes children are divine gifts, but life in a Bangladeshi refugee camp with six little mouths to feed has left him and his wife unwilling to accept another heavenly blessing. Earlier this year, his wife Nosmin asked doctors to fit her with a contraceptive implant, a decision that cultural norms
Some communities in Chinese cities where COVID-19 is still spreading are easing off on testing requirements and quarantine rules ahead of an expected shift in virus policies nationwide after widespread social unrest. The uneven relaxation of COVID restrictions is, however, fuelling fear among some residents who suddenly feel more exposed to a disease authorities had consistently described as deadly until this week.
Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, Palestinian officials said, in heavy clashes that erupted in the Jenin refugee camp during a pre-dawn raid. The militant Islamic Jihad group said in a statement that one of the men killed was its leader. There was no immediate comment on the incident
Chinese newspapers turned their front pages black on Thursday and flags were put at half mast in mourning for the death of former president Jiang Zemin, whose death has prompted a wave of nostalgia for the more liberal times he oversaw. Jiang died in his home city of Shanghai just after noon on Wednesday of leukaemia and
