International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
BRUSSELS – The European Union suspects that damage to two underwater natural gas pipelines was sabotage and is warning of retaliation for any attack on Europe’s energy networks, EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said Wednesday. “All available information indicates those leaks are the result of a deliberate act,” Borrell said in a statement on
Dozens of people have taken part in a rare protest in the southern Chinese tech hub of Shenzhen, social media footage shows, after officials announced a snap lockdown over a handful of Covid cases. The megacity of more than 18 million people reported just 10 infections on Tuesday, but officials have still ordered residents in three districts to stay home as China sticks to its strict zero-Covid policy. Officials
Cubans have voted overwhelmingly to legalise same-sex marriage, making the country the 33rd to stop defining marriage as being exclusively between a man and a woman. Cuba’s landmark new family code also allows “altruistic” surrogacy, whereby a woman gives birth to a baby on behalf of another woman or couple but no money changes hands, bar for expenses. Here is
Bullseye: A NASA spaceship on Monday struck an asteroid seven million miles away in order to deflect its orbit, succeeding in a historic test of humanity’s ability to prevent a celestial object from devastating life on Earth. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) impactor hit its target, the space rock Dimorphos, at 7:14 pm Eastern
Japan will honour on Tuesday its assassinated former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, a polarising figure who dominated modern-day politics as its longest-serving leader, with a rare state funeral that has become nearly as divisive as he was. Abe‘s killing at a July 8 campaign rally set off a flood of revelations about ties between lawmakers in the ruling
US President Joe Biden understands the importance of APEC, and both Thailand and the US are coordinating to find a way for the President to attend the leader’s meeting in Bangkok, according to Tanee Sangrat, Spokesperson for Thailand’s Foreign Affairs Ministry, adding that they were informed that there is to be a wedding at the
(AFP) – North Korea fired a ballistic missile Sunday, Seoul’s military said, just days after a US aircraft carrier arrived for joint drills with the South in a show of force against Pyongyang. With talks long-stalled, nuclear-armed North Korea has doubled down on its banned weapons programmes, even revamping its laws earlier this month to
(AFP) – Powerful storm Fiona lashed into eastern Canada on Saturday, cutting power to thousands and washing houses into the sea as it pummeled the area with fierce winds and rains “like nothing we’ve ever seen,” police said. Two women were swept into the ocean in Newfoundland, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police said. One was
US President Joe Biden will not attend the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) leaders’ meeting in Bangkok due to “a family engagement”, Thai PBS learned last night. The White House has just informed the Thai Embassy in Washington DC that the president has delegated Vice President Kamala Harris to represent him at the November 18th
Roger Federer may have been one of the sporting world’s great communicators over the last two decades but the Swiss confessed he had been dreading being handed a microphone after his glorious career came to a close at the Laver Cup on Friday. The 41-year-old polyglot, who has given countless on-court interviews in his 24
Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven (G7) advanced economies confirmed in a meeting in New York on Wednesday their cooperation in extending support for Ukraine, Japanese Foreign Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi said. The statement of support follows President Vladimir Putin’s announcement that Russia will enact its first wartime mobilisation since World War Two and annex swaths of Ukrainian territory, while threatening to use nuclear
Security forces detained more than 1,300 people in Russia on Wednesday at protests denouncing mobilisation, a rights group said, hours after President Vladimir Putin ordered Russia‘s first military draft since World War Two. The independent OVD-Info protest monitoring group said that according to information it had collated from 38 Russian cities, more than 1,311 people had been held by late evening. It said those figures included at least 502 in Moscow and 524 in St
