International news with relevance to Thai and regional readers
The US Supreme Court on Friday temporarily preserved access to a widely used abortion pill, freezing rulings by lower courts that would have banned or severely restricted availability of the drug. Two conservative justices disagreed with the decision in the most significant abortion case to reach the nine-member court since it overturned the constitutional right
BEIRUT (AP) — Large parts of the Muslim world marked the end of the fasting month of Ramadan at sundown Thursday and ushered in the holiday of Eid al-Fitr, but the festivities were overshadowed by raging battles for control of Sudan and a deadly stampede in Yemen. In other parts of the region, the holiday
China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang said on Friday that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to China, and that it is right and proper for China to uphold its sovereignty. Qin made the remarks at the Lanting Forum in Shanghai, where he discussed a wide range of topics from debt, the global economy, and Taiwan. “Recently there has
President Joe Biden will welcome Philippines President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. to the White House on May 1 in a sign of a warming bond between the two nations amid US tensions with China over Taiwan. Biden will reaffirm Washington’s “ironclad commitment to the defense of the Philippines, and the leaders will discuss efforts to
Smoke pouring out of Changfeng Hospital in Beijing, as people tried to escape from a fire on Tuesday (April 18). The death toll rose to 29 on Wednesday (April 19) from a fire at a Beijing hospital that was one of the Chinese capital’s deadliest in at least two decades. All but three of the
Some 67 million children partially or fully missed routine vaccines globally between 2019 and 2021 because of lockdowns and health care disruptions caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, the United Nations said Wednesday. “More than a decade of hard-earned gains in routine childhood immunization have been eroded,” read a new report from the UN’s children’s agency,
India is set to overtake China as the world’s most populous country by mid-year with almost three million more people, UN estimates showed on Wednesday. India’s population will be 1.4286 billion compared to China’s 1.4257 billion at mid-year, the United Nations Population Fund’s State of World Population report showed. The number of people in China
The White House on Wednesday announced a new package of artillery ammunition for Ukraine as the pro-Western country gears up for an expected counter-offensive against Russian invasion. Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said the package will include ammunition for the HIMARS multiple rocket system and artillery rounds. Details were to come later from the Pentagon. The
The UN has formally expressed its “concern” to the United States after press reports revealed surveillance of Secretary-General Antonio Guterres’s communications, his spokesman said Tuesday, denouncing actions “inconsistent with (US) obligations.” “The UN officially expressed… its concern regarding recent reports that the communications of the Secretary-General and other senior UN officials have been the subject of
An investigation was under way Wednesday after a fire ripped through a hospital in China’s capital Beijing, killing 21 people, state media reported. Emergency response teams first received word just before 1 pm (0500 GMT) Tuesday that a fire had broken out at the Beijing Changfeng Hospital in the capital city’s Fengtai District, the Communist
SEOUL (Reuters) North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered officials to launch the first spy satellite as planned, saying that boosting reconnaissance capabilities is a priority to counter “threats” from the United States and South Korea, state media reported on Wednesday. North Korea in December conducted what it called an important “final phase” test for a spy satellite and
Apple Inc. opened its first flagship store in India in a much-anticipated launch Tuesday that highlights the company’s growing aspirations to expand in the country it also hopes to turn into a potential manufacturing hub. The company’s CEO Tim Cook posed for photos with a few of the 100 or so Apple fans who had
