International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
AFP – Russia backs the Myanmar junta’s efforts to “stabilise” the crisis-wracked country and hold elections next year, its foreign minister said in talks with top generals on Wednesday, according to Russian state media. The Southeast Asian nation has been in turmoil since the putsch last year, with the junta accused by rights groups of
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Senate approved on Wednesday Finland and Sweden‘s accession to NATO, the most significant expansion of the 30-member alliance since the 1990s as it responds to Russia‘s invasion of Ukraine. The Senate voted 95 to 1 to support ratification of accession documents, easily surpassing the two-thirds majority of 67 votes required to support ratification of the two countries’ accession documents. “This historic vote
Aug 2 (Reuters) – Republican voters on Tuesday chose a raft of candidates supporting Donald Trump’s 2020 election falsehoods in multiple party primaries for the November general election – a stark display of the former president’s grip on his party. In Kansas, abortion rights activists celebrated a major victory when voters overwhelmingly rejected a ballot
U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan on Tuesday night despite threats from Beijing of serious consequences, becoming the highest-ranking American official in 25 years to visit the self-ruled island claimed by China. Pelosi’s visit has triggered increased tension between China and the United States. China claims Taiwan as part of its territory, to
(Reuters) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will visit Myanmar on Wednesday, TASS news agency reported, marking one of the most high-profile visits to the Southeast Asian country since the military seized power in a coup last year. Citing a briefing by Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova, TASS said Lavrov is expected to hold talks with Myanmar Foreign Minister Wunna
AFP- Moscow on Tuesday denounced a potential visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan as a provocation, expressing full solidarity with ally China. “What is connected with this tour and a possible visit to Taiwan is a pure provocation,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. He said the potential visit was leading to an
WASHINGTON, Aug 1 (Reuters) – The United States killed al Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in a strike in Afghanistan over the weekend, President Joe Biden said on Monday, the biggest blow to the militant group since its founder Osama bin Laden was killed in 2011. Zawahiri, an Egyptian surgeon who had a $25 million bounty
TAIPEI/BEIJING, Aug 1 (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi was set to visit Taiwan on Tuesday, three sources said, as the United States said it wouldn’t be intimidated by Chinese threats to never “sit idly by” if she made the trip to the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. Pelosi, who began an
KOCHI, India, Aug 1 (Reuters) – India confirmed its first monkeypox death on Monday, a young man in the southern state of Kerala, in what is only the fourth known fatality from the disease in the current outbreak. Last week, Spain reported two monkeypox-related deaths and Brazil its first. The death in India is also
SINGAPORE, Aug 1 (Reuters) – U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi kicked off a closely-watched Asia tour on Monday in Singapore as China warned that its military would never “sit idly by” if she were to visit Taiwan, the self-ruled island claimed by Beijing. Amid widespread speculation over whether she would make a stop in Taiwan, Pelosi‘s office announced on Sunday that she was leading a
Sri Lanka issued an urgent appeal on Monday to tackle rapidly spreading malnutrition among children as its economic crisis leaves nine out of 10 people dependent on state handouts. The Ministry for Women and Child Affairs said they were seeking private donations to feed possibly several hundred thousand children wasting due to insufficient food. The bankrupt state, grappling with Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis since independence, was unable to
KYIV, July 31 (Reuters) – Russian missiles pounded the southern Ukrainian port city of Mykolaiv on Sunday, killing the owner of a major grain exporter, while a drone strike on Russia’s Black Sea naval base in Sevastopol was launched from within the city in a “terrorist attack,” a Russian lawmaker said. Oleksiy Vadatursky, founder and owner of agriculture company Nibulon, and his wife were killed in their home, Mykolaiv Governor Vitaliy
