International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Reuters) – U.S. President Joe Biden said on Monday that the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline would be halted if Russia invades Ukraine and stressed unity with German Chancellor Olaf Scholz as the West rallies to avert a war in Europe. At a White House press conference with the new German leader,
SYDNEY, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Australia said on Monday it will reopen its borders to vaccinated travellers this month, ending two years of misery for the tourism sector, reviving migration and injecting billions of dollars into the world No. 13 economy. The move effectively calls time on the last main component of Australia’s response to
BEIJING, Feb 7 (Reuters) – Chinese tennis player Peng Shuai has denied she ever accused anyone of sexual assault, adding that she herself had deleted her social media post in November that had appeared to make such a claim. The well-being of Peng, a three-time Olympian, became a matter of concern in November when she
TORONTO (AP) — The mayor of Canada’s capital declared a state of emergency Sunday and a former U.S. ambassador to Canada said groups in the U.S. must stop interfering in the domestic affairs of America’s neighbor as protesters opposed to COVID-19 restrictions continued to paralyze Ottawa’s downtown. Mayor Jim Watson said the declaration highlights the
Iceland, one of the only countries that still hunts whales commercially, said Friday it plans to end the practice from 2024 as demand for whale meat dwindles. For the past three years, Iceland’s whalers have barely taken their boats out into the North Atlantic despite the country’s large quotas. Demand for Icelandic whale meat
Moroccan emergency crews found a five-year-old boy dead at the bottom of a well late Saturday in a tragic end to a painstaking five-day rescue operation that gripped the nation and beyond. “Following the tragic accident which cost the life of the child Rayan Oram, His Majesty King Mohammed VI called the parents of
BEIJING (AP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping declared the Winter Olympics open Friday night, inviting the world back — sort of — for the pandemic era’s second Games, this time as an emboldened and more powerful nation whose government’s authoritarian turn provoked some countries’ leaders to stay home. China used its first Olympics in 2008
BEIJING, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin arrived in Beijing on Friday for the 2022 Winter Olympics and a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping, bringing with him a deal to increase natural gas supplies to China amid rising tension with the West. Putin told Xi that Russia had prepared a new deal
This year, the Cobra Gold military exercise will be held between February 22nd and March 4th and will be somewhat scaled down again, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a Thai military source. The source, who asked not to be identified, said that despite being a “heavy year”, the region’s largest annual military exercise, involving
AMMAN/WASHINGTON, Feb 3 (Reuters) – The leader of Islamic State died when he blew himself and family members up during a U.S. military raid in Syria, President Joe Biden said on Thursday, dealing a blow to the jihadist group’s efforts to reorganize as a guerrilla force after losing large swathes of territory. Abu Ibrahim al-Hashemi
COPENHAGEN (AP) — The director of the World Health Organization’s Europe office said Thursday the continent is now entering a “plausible endgame” to the pandemic and that the number of coronavirus deaths is starting to plateau. Dr. Hans Kluge said at a media briefing that there is a “singular opportunity” for countries across Europe to take control
Indonesia’s holiday island of Bali will welcome its first direct flight carrying foreign tourists for nearly two years on Thursday, but just a handful of visitors will be on board to enter strict quarantine on arrival. A Garuda Indonesia flight from Tokyo is scheduled to arrive in Bali in the afternoon, with six foreigners and
