International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
Typhoon Saola made landfall in the southern Chinese province of Guangdong early on Saturday as violent winds lashed nearby Shenzhen, Hong Kong and Macau, leaving at least one dead and a trail of destruction and flooding in many areas. The Asian financial hub of Hong Kong and China’s neighbouring populous province of Guangdong cancelled hundreds
Singaporeans head to the polls Friday in the city-state’s first contested presidential election in more than a decade, a vote being closely watched as an indication of support for the ruling party after a rare spate of political scandals. The president’s role is largely ceremonial, but there are stringent requirements for the position, which formally
JOHANNESBURG (AP) — At least 58 people died when a fire ripped through a multi-story building in Johannesburg that had been overtaken by homeless people, emergency services said Thursday. Spokesman Robert Mulaudzi said another 43 people were injured in the blaze that broke out in the predawn hours. He said the death toll was likely
US Vice President Kamala Harris is scheduled to attend the first ASEAN Indo-Pacific Forum (AIPF), to highlight the importance of the region and the bloc’s ongoing efforts to implement its ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP), according to highly placed sources. The AIPF, which will be held on September 5 and 6 in Jakarta, on the sidelines
A dozen Gabonese soldiers appeared on television Wednesday announcing they were “putting an end to the current regime” and the cancellation of an election that, according to official results, President Ali Bongo Ondimba won. During the announcement, AFP journalists heard gunfire ring out in the Gabonese capital, Libreville. While announcing the cancellation of the results
Montreal, Canada (AFP) Canadian police filed 12 new charges Tuesday against a man accused of selling a substance over the internet to assist people with suicides, potentially sending more than 1,000 packages across dozens of countries. Authorities suspect Kenneth Law, 57, of marketing the substance, often used as a food additive, online to people at
Foxconn’s billionaire founder Terry Gou announced Monday (28 August) that he will run for president of Taiwan as an independent candidate. Gou made his fortune turning Foxconn into the world’s largest contract producer of electronics, including for Apple’s iPhones. He has a long-running ambition to become the leader of the self-ruled island but failed this
Japan said Tuesday that harassment being faced by Japanese in China after the release of water from the Fukushima nuclear plant was “extremely regrettable”, confirming that a brick was thrown at his country’s embassy in Beijing. Last week, China banned all seafood imports from its neighbour as Japan began releasing treated wastewater from the crippled
Saudi Arabia has sentenced to death a government critic who denounced alleged corruption and human rights abuses on social media, his brother and others familiar with the case told AFP on Monday. The judgement was handed down against Mohammed al-Ghamdi in July by the Specialised Criminal Court, which was established in 2008 to try terrorism
Eight US marines were in hospital on Monday — one of them in intensive care — following a military aircraft crash in northern Australia that killed three of their comrades, authorities said. Twenty-three marines were on board the Boeing MV-22B Osprey tilt-rotor aircraft when it crashed on Melville Island, north of Darwin, on Sunday morning
A gunman in Jacksonville, Florida driven by racial hatred shot dead three Black people in a discount store Saturday before killing himself after a standoff with police, authorities said. “He targeted a certain group of people and that’s Black people. That’s what he said he wanted to kill. And that’s very clear,” Jacksonville Sheriff TK
North Korea has moved to further open up from strict pandemic-era isolation, with state media reporting Sunday that citizens living abroad have been allowed to reenter the country. State-run KCNA said that the State Emergency Epidemic Prevention Headquarters had announced that “citizens abroad have been allowed to return home”. “Those returned will be put under
