JAKARTA: Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on Monday (May 8) condemned an attack in Myanmar on ASEAN officials delivering humanitarian aid, but did not provide details of the incident. Myanmar’s shadow National Unity Government, which is allied with the anti-junta militias, the People’s Defence Forces (PDF), said it was not awareContinue Reading
BEIJING: President Xi Jinping will host a two-day summit with the leaders of five Central Asian nations next week, Beijing said on Monday (May 8), as China moves to increase its influence in the region. Leaders of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan are expected to attend the China-Central AsiaContinue Reading
TORONTO: Alberta on Saturday (May 6) declared a provincial state of emergency after tens of thousands of Albertans have been forced to evacuate their homes as “unprecedented” wildfires rage on in Alberta, Premier Danielle Smith, head of the ruling United Conservative Party (UCP) said at a press conference. By SaturdayContinue Reading
The WHO announcement came after its independent emergency committee on the COVID-19 crisis agreed it no longer merited the organisation’s highest alert level and “advised that it is time to transition to long-term management of the COVID-19 pandemic”. But the danger was not over, according to WHO chief Tedros AdhanomContinue Reading
UNITED NATIONS: The Afghan people are in for a “very difficult year ahead”, warned the top US aid official, as donors grapple with challenging a Taliban administration crackdown on women and girls, more crises around the world and overall less funding. The Taliban seized power in August 2021 as US-ledContinue Reading
WASHINGTON/OTTAWA: China sharply criticized Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s comment that linked Chinese-produced lithium to slave labour, and warned Canada could face consequences if it continues “denigrating maliciously” the human rights situation in China. Trudeau, during his visit to the US last week, linked the production of lithium in ChinaContinue Reading
WASHINGTON: South Korea will soon engage with China at the senior level and also seek the opportunity for diplomacy aimed at trilateral cooperation with Japan and China, South Korea’s ambassador to Washington Cho Hyun-dong said on Thursday (May 4). Cho told an event hosted by Washington’s Center for Strategic andContinue Reading
DOHA: Despite the Taliban’s limitations on its female staff, the UN will remain in Afghanistan to provide aid to millions of desperate Afghans, but funding is running low, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stated on Tuesday( May 2 ) Guterres also stated that worries about Afghanistan’s integrity were growing in hisContinue Reading
KATHMANDU: A US mountaineer has died on Everest in the fourth fatality on the world’s highest peak this climbing season. Jonathan Sugarman, 69, was on an acclimatisation rotation at around 6,400m when he died on Monday (May 1), his expedition organiser said. “He was feeling unwell and passed away atContinue Reading
UNITED NATIONS: A UN Security Council committee on Monday (May 1) agreed to allow the Taliban administration’s foreign minister Amir Khan Muttaqi to travel to Pakistan from Afghanistan next week to meet with the foreign ministers of Pakistan and China, diplomats said. Muttaqi has long been subjected to a travelContinue Reading