World News
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Assassination plot of Burmese UN Ambassador thwarted
Kyaw Moe Tun has been standing in a precarious position as the current or former Burmese ambassador to the United Nations – depending on who you believe – and is now the subject of a thwarted assassination plot. The plan to murder or maim the diplomat was to be carried out by 2 Burmese nationals on US soil at the…
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‘Chinese Taipei’: Taiwan’s Olympic success draws attention to team name
As the 2020 Tokyo Olympics comes to an end this week, Taiwan’s record-breaking number of medals has put a spotlight on the name of its delegation at international competitions like the Olympics. Over the past three weeks, athletes from Taiwan have won a total of 12 medals at the Tokyo Olympics, including a first gold medal in badminton. After defeating…
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Ugandan blogger’s ‘life in peril’ after arrest in Turkey
Fred Lumbuye, a well-known blogger, social media activist and critic of Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni, was arrested in Turkey on Tuesday, according to several news reports. Human rights and political activists have raised concerns about the possibility the Ugandan activist being extradited to Uganda “… we know that, if he is handed over to Uganda he will not get a…
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Ukraine investigating Belarusian activist’s death as possible murder
Suicide, or premeditated murder disguised as suicide? Those are the main hypotheses authorities in Kyiv are currently investigating in the death of Vitaliy Shishov according to National Police of Ukraine boss Ihor Klymenko. Shishov, a 26-year-old Belarusian activist who co-founded the Kyiv-based Belarusian House in Ukraine (BHU), was found hanged in a forest on the outskirts of the Ukrainian capital…
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How the Japanese get through scorching summers
Soaring temperatures and uncomfortably high humidity levels have been among the biggest complaints from athletes taking part in the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. And while temperatures have set new record highs in some parts of the country, most Japanese are fairly sanguine about the situation. They have, after all, both traditional and modern ways of beating the heat. The temperature…
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Rumours of meeting with Aung San Suu Kyi as Burmese military accept ASEAN envoy
The ruling military junta in Myanmar has issued a statement accepting the appointment of Erywan Yusof as ASEAN Special Envoy. Yusof will also oversee the association’s humanitarian programmes in the country, although it’s understood the military regime has refused to allow aid workers to deliver assistance to the worst-affected areas. Thai PBS World reports that Singapore has confirmed a contribution…
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Opinion: Iranian regime will stop at nothing to ensure survival
The recent protests that erupted under the pretext of socioeconomic deprivations, but are rooted in political grievances stemming from decades of lack of accountability and repression, have become a trend in the country. Regrettably, the brutal crackdown of these protests by the regime is also the disconcerting order of the day. This is all while the authorities continue to make…
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German-Iranian ties face scrutiny as hard-liner Raisi takes office
Iran has a new head of government: Ebrahim Raisi. The 60-year-old cleric with the rimless glasses and what comes across as a shy smile was inaugurated as president on Tuesday, and takes the oath of office Thursday. The ultraconservative lawyer is taking over the presidency at a crucial time. Indirect negotiations with the United States in Vienna on the future…
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Kashmir: A conflict between wild animals and humans
On June 3, 4-year-old Adda Mudasir was playing with her toys a few feet away from her brother and grandfather on the lawn of her home in Ompora village in India-administered Kashmir. By the time her family heard the screams it was too late. A leopard had attacked the girl and dragged her away, leaving only her toys and shoes…
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Iran’s new President Ebrahim Raisi: What to expect
On Thursday, 60-year-old Ebrahim Raisi will be sworn in before parliament as the Islamic Republic’s sixth president after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inaugurated him on Tuesday in a ceremony broadcast live on state television. However, the handover of power to a new administration is being greeted by many Iranians with a sense of hopelessness and resignation. “Raisi and his…
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Ebrahim Raisi: What to expect from Iran’s new president
On Thursday, 60-year-old Ebrahim Raisi will be sworn in before parliament as the Islamic Republic’s sixth president after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei inaugurated him on Tuesday in a ceremony broadcast live on state television. However, the handover of power to a new administration is being greeted by many Iranians with a sense of hopelessness and resignation. “Raisi and his…
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On Tunisian streets, economic worries and political fury
Wadi bin Soleiman taps at his mobile phone. He’s sitting on his chair, inside his ceramics store in the historic old city of Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. The market is usually a focal point for tourists. But it’s shortly before midday and bin Soleiman has yet to get a single customer. Like so many other Tunisians involved in the…
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Myanmar envoy updated to Brunei’s 2nd Foreign Affairs Minister
In a reversal of previous discussion and decisions that would have seen former Thai Deputy Foreign Minister Virasakdi Futrakul appointed as the ASEAN envoy to Myanmar, multiple sources are now reporting that it will be Brunei’s Second Minister for Foreign Affairs Erywan Yusof that will be taking up the envoy role. The agreement to send an envoy to Myanmar to…
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Third phase testing successful for Vietnam Covid-19 vaccine
The storyline of Covid-19 in Vietnam has run very similar to Thailand with early successes and recent widespread outbreaks. Now, just as Thailand is working on a domestic mRNA vaccine, Vietnam is developing its own locally created and manufactured Covid-19 vaccine, and the progress is promising. Vietnam, like Thailand, started strong throughout 2020, being among the first countries to detect…
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A year after Beirut explosion, parents seek justice for their daughter
Paul Naggear and Tracy Awad-Naggear thought they and their 3-year-old daughter would at least be safe at home. It wasn’t like they expected much from the state in Lebanon anyway. The economy was in free fall and the COVID-19 pandemic was also impacting the country. Nobody really believed things could get much worse than they were. But anybody who thought…
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What is the India-France Rafale fighter jet deal all about?
As India continues to embark on modernizing its aging military amid ongoing geopolitical challenges, one of Delhi’s biggest defense deals continues to draw controversy years after it was concluded. In 2015, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the landmark defense deal with French aviation company Dassault to buy 36 Rafale fighter jets to refurbish India’s rusting air force. In late…
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Ethiopia: A catastrophe in the making
In Ethiopia’s Tigray province, a lack of medical supplies, frequent power cuts and a severe fuel scarcity — not to mention a cash shortage due to closed banks, and growing unemployment after factories were shut down or looted — is making life increasingly difficult for the population, according to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). “The humanitarian situation…
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COVID-19: France makes life difficult for unvaccinated
Business has been difficult for restaurateur Sylvain Belaud ever since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, with turnover plummeting by 60% last year. And now, the director of the Cafe Francoeur in the Montmartre area in northern Paris will have to face what feels like yet another obstacle on the way back to business as usual. A “health pass” will…
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How US-China sanctions create two parallel tech universes
As the US continues to blacklist dozens of Chinese companies, Beijing is increasingly imposing its own sanctions on US organizations and individuals it accuses of meddling in China’s internal affairs. Last month, the US government added 23 Chinese companies to an economic blacklist, including 14 companies that have allegedly enabled Beijing’s oppression of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.…
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How US-China sanctions create parallel tech universes
As the US continues to blacklist dozens of Chinese companies, Beijing is increasingly imposing its own sanctions on US organizations and individuals it accuses of meddling in China’s internal affairs. Last month, the US government added 23 Chinese companies to an economic blacklist, including 14 companies that have allegedly enabled Beijing’s oppression of the Uyghur Muslim minority in Xinjiang province.…
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Earthquake hits Papua, Indonesia
Earlier today, a 5.9 magnitude earthquake occurred off the coast of Indonesia’s Papua region, says the United States Geological Survey. There was no reported tsunami warning, nor were there any reports of damage. The earthquake struck at what is considered a shallow depth of 12 kilometres. According to a 2020 census report, the population of Papua is over 4 million…
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Journalists under threat: August’s 10 most urgent cases
Photojournalists experience a unique set of challenges, as the nature of their work means they must get direct, close access to the action. In a 2018 global survey of photojournalists, 90% of respondents told the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) they have had to work in high-risk environments, and almost half had been injured at least once while working. In…
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Police bust gambling operations in Bangkok and Kamphaeng Phet
Recently, police busted 3 separate places that were allegedly part of an online gambling operation. The buildings were located in Bangkok and Kamphaeng Phet, which sits in northern Thailand. Reportedly, the operation raked in 250 million baht a month and had collectively taken in 1.5 billion baht in the last 6 months. 2 unnamed women were arrested in the busts.…
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Europe remembers Sinti, Roma murdered under Nazi rule
“Dear Banetla, I have to tell you that my two youngest children have died.” Those words were written by Margarete Bamberger in a 1943 letter to her sister in Berlin. It was smuggled out of the so-called “gypsy camp” at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp. Margarete, her husband Willi and their children were all detained at the death camp. Margarete and…
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Thai candidate selected as ASEAN envoy to Myanmar
Following the ASEAN Summit in Jakarta April 24 where nation leaders and representatives met to push for a resolution to the worsening crisis following the February 1 Burmese military coup, several steps had been laid out by the hopeful association on nations, but the Burmese junta has since seemed in no rush to implement any measures to work toward the…
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More violence, less income: Arab women bear the brunt of COVID-19, study finds
The COVID-19 pandemic has turned Heba Mordaa’s life upside down. “Ever since the lockdowns started in March 2020, my work has been deteriorating,” the 29-year-old manicurist and mother of three in Beirut says. “At first, the shop owner deducted our salaries because we had no customers coming in. Then, in July 2020, the owner decided that we will start offering…
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Border between Kanchanaburi and Myanmar closed until…
Kanchanaburi, a western Thai province, has been ordered to close its border with Myanmar, effective Monday. The border will stay closed until further notice. The closure is a precaution against people fleeing the deteriorating Covid situation in the nearby country. The order comes from Kanchanaburi’s governor, Jirakiart Phumisawat. Myanmar’s healthcare system is reportedly in shambles, a result of mass arrests…
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Shell’s Niger Delta cleanup: Ogoniland’s uncertain future
The conflict between the indigenous people of Ogoni in Nigeria’s Niger Delta is a perennial one. This year’s court ruling by an appeals court in the Netherlands — in favour of Milieudefensie/Friends of the Earth Netherlands and four Nigerian farmers — was heralded by some of them as justice. The court delivered its judgment at the end of a long-running…
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COVID: Will India be able to meet its vaccination target?
Over 450 million Indians have received one jab of a coronavirus vaccine and 98 million have received both shots — that means just over 7.2% of the country’s 1.3 billion populationare vaccinated. Based on available data, statisticians say India needs to accelerate its vaccination drive by six to achieve its target of immunizing its entire adult population of 940 million…
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Thailand moves to strengthen EU ties amid US-China rivalry
European investors are increasingly playing a bigger role in the Thai economy, allowing the Southeast Asian country to diversify trade and business away from the United States and China, analysts say. In 2020, European Union investment accounted for 8.2% of all overseas investment in Thailand, compared with 3.8% for the US and 15.4% for China. The figure has increased each…
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