International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
A French man is believed to have fallen to his death from a high-rise residential building in Hong Kong last week, police said on Monday, with local media outlets identifying him as daredevil Remi Lucidi. Police said a 30-year-old man’s body was found on a patio in the city’s upscale Mid-Levels area. He was believed
A Chinese zoo has been forced to deny that its sun bear is actually a human in a costume, after footage of one standing on its hind legs raised online accusations of a furry imposter. A video clip of a bear rearing up and interacting with a group of people at a zoo in eastern
A drone hit an office tower in Moscow on Tuesday that was struck over the weekend, while at least one other drone was downed, the city’s mayor said. “Several drones were shot down by air defense systems while trying to fly to Moscow. One (drone) flew into the same tower in (Moscow) City as last
The United States on Friday unveiled a $345 million military aid package for Taiwan designed to quickly bolster the island’s ability to deter a Chinese invasion. The package — which an official said features intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance equipment and small arms munitions — will be drawn from the US’ own reserves, allowing it to
Chinese and Russian officials stood shoulder to shoulder with Kim Jong Un as they reviewed North Korea’s latest nuclear-capable missiles and new attack drones at a military parade in Pyongyang, North Korean state media showed on Friday. The widely anticipated parade in the capital on Thursday night commemorated the 70th anniversary of the end of
The last of nearly 100 whales that beached on the southwestern Australian coast were euthanized Wednesday after a second day of frantic, but unsuccessful efforts to rescue them, authorities said. The pod of long-finned pilot whales stranded themselves Tuesday on Cheynes Beach east of the former whaling station of Albany in Western Australia state, south
When Gao Peng landed in Thailand on July 3, he was not expecting to be accused of making bomb threats, to be put on an EU travel blacklist, or to see his mother and 16-year-old sister detained and threatened with deportation back to China. But bomb threats made in his and his mother’s names against
Russia’s defence minister accompanied North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to a defence exhibition that featured the North’s banned ballistic missiles as the neighbours pledged to boost ties, North Korean state media reported on Thursday. The Russian minister, Sergei Shoigu, and a Chinese delegation led by a Communist Party politburo member arrived in North Korea
Taiwan staged its first-ever military drill at Taoyuan International Airport on Wednesday, briefly halting commercial traffic as soldiers practised defending the facility against a simulated attack by Beijing. The exercise is part of Taiwan’s week-long massive wargames — the annual “Han Kuang” (Han Glory) drills — which this year has included protecting civilian airports as
China’s foreign minister Qin Gang was removed from office on Tuesday, state media reported, after disappearing from the public eye for a month with little explanation from the ruling Communist Party. Qin’s absence had sparked a storm of speculation that the 57-year-old, considered a confidant of President Xi Jinping, had fallen from grace or was
Pyongyang conducted twin missile launches late Monday, ahead of Korean War anniversary celebrations that will be attended by Chinese dignitaries in the first foreign delegation visit to the country since its 2020 pandemic border closure. South Korea’s defence ministry described the two projectiles as ballistic missiles that flew about 400 kilometers (248 miles) before falling
Taiwan held air raid drills simulating its response to Chinese missile attacks in several cities on Monday, the same day the island’s military kicked off its annual war games. Self-ruled Taiwan holds frequent defence drills in the face of increasing military and political pressures from China, which regards the island as its territory. Preparation efforts
