International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
(Reuters) – Hollywood actress Angelina Jolie says she hopes to empower children around the world with tools to “fight back” for their rights with a book she has written with Amnesty International. “Know Your Rights and Claim Them” – written with human rights lawyer Geraldine Van Bueren, one of the original drafters of the 1989 UN Convention on
Australian authorities on Wednesday extended the COVID-19 lockdown in Melbourne for another three weeks, as they shift their focus to rapid vaccination drives and move away from a suppression strategy to bring cases down to zero. Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews flagged a staggered easing of the tough restrictions once 70% of the state’s adult residents
Beijing (AFP) – Chinese pupils returned to school Wednesday with new textbooks peppered with “Xi Jinping thought”, as the Communist Party aims to extend his personality cult to children as young as seven and rear a new generation of patriots. The education ministry has said it will incorporate Xi’s vaguely defined political ideology into the national curriculum,
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – President Joe Biden on Tuesday defiantly rejected criticism of his decision to stick to a deadline to pull out of Afghanistan this week, a move that left up to 200 Americans in the country along with thousands of U.S.-aligned Afghan citizens. In a televised address, Biden offered a sweeping defense of his handling of the Afghanistan withdrawal, saying he inherited an unstable situation
(Reuters) – Celebratory gunfire resounded across Kabul on Tuesday as Taliban fighters took control of the airport before dawn, following the withdrawal of the last U.S. troops, marking the end of a 20-year war that left the Islamist militia stronger than it was in 2001. Shaky video footage distributed by the Taliban showed fighters entering
BEIJING (AP) — Universal Studios announced Monday that its first theme park in China will open in the country’s capital in September. The company set the opening date for Sept. 20, according to a statement and video posted on the Chinese social media site WeChat. Under construction since 2016, the theme park has received strong
Tokyo (AFP) – After a dramatic evacuation from Taliban-held Kabul and a secret operation to fly him to Tokyo, Afghan Paralympian Hossain Rasouli beat the odds on Tuesday to compete in the long jump. It was not the event he had been expecting to contest, after qualifying for the 100m T47, but then just about everything
Aug 30 (Reuters) – U.S. anti-missile defences intercepted rockets fired at Kabul’s airport early on Monday, as the United States flew its core diplomats out of Afghanistan in the final hours of its chaotic withdrawal. U.S. troops are due to pull out of Kabul by Tuesday, after they and their allies mounted the biggest air
Nuclear-armed North Korea appears to have restarted its plutonium-producing reprocessing reactor in a “deeply troubling” development, the UN atomic agency has said, a possible sign Pyongyang is expanding its banned weapons program. The development on the 5-megawatt reactor in Yongbyon — North Korea’s main nuclear complex — comes with nuclear talks between Pyongyang and Washington
(Reuters) – A U.S. drone strike killed a suicide car bomber who Pentagon officials said was preparing to strike Kabul airport on Sunday, as American forces worked to complete a withdrawal that will end two decades of military involvement in Afghanistan. The strike was the second by the U.S. military since an Islamic State suicide
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Hurricane Ida was rapidly intensifying early Sunday, becoming a dangerous Category 4 hurricane on track for a potentially devastating landfall on the Louisiana coast while emergency officials in the region grappled with opening shelters for displaced evacuees despite the risks of spreading the coronavirus. Ida quickly gained strength as it moved
A Tesla using its partially automated driving system slammed into a Florida Highway Patrol cruiser Saturday on an interstate near downtown Orlando and narrowly missed its driver, who had pulled over to assist a disabled vehicle. Earlier this month, the U.S. government opened a formal investigation into Tesla’s Autopilot driving system after a series of
