World News
World news, global politics, business, technology, and culture—stay updated with breaking stories, international trends, and major events. Get the latest from The Thaiger, your trusted source for global news.
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Iran still bars women from football stadiums, officials express disagreement
Women in Iran still can’t enjoy watching football matches at the country’s stadiums. On Tuesday, about 2,000 women who bought tickets for the World Cup qualifier against Lebanon went to a stadium in Mashad, but couldn’t enter, according to Iranian media. The Islamic republic has banned women from sports stadiums since its government came to power in 1979. Since then,…
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More Karen flee Myanmar to Thai border, Myanmar arrests Karen journalist
Around 1,000 Karen hill tribe people crossed the border into Thailand on Saturday, only for Thai authorities to send them back, according to an official from a refugee camp. This month, over 10,000 Karen from Myanmar’s Kayin state have fled after clashes between Karen rebels and Myanmar’s military. Now, Burmese police have arrested a reporter for the Karen Information Centre.…
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UKRAINE UPDATES: Russia relents, Ukraine offers concessions at Turkey peace talks; Amnesty decries Russian war crimes
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues into its second month, here’s the latest deadlines… • With Russian and Ukrainian forces at a military stalemate in Ukraine, the door has opened for a diplomatic resolution to end the war. • At Tuesday’s peace talks in Istanbul, Ukrainian negotiators offered a pledge of neutrality and no NATO membership, in exchange for…
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Asia News Today | Vietnamese automaker Vinfast invests big in the US
A mentally disabled man is now awaiting execution in Singapore after Singapore’s highest court rejected a final appeal by a man sentenced to death for drug trafficking. There’s been a concerted campaign over the man’s situation… his lawyers claiming that the trial violated international laws as the man has intellectual disabilities. Yesterday’s ruling ends all legal avenues to prevent his…
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Pirate-fighting pact bolsters maritime safety in Southeast Asian seas
The seas of Southeast Asia are getting safer, after joint naval patrols in the waters of Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines have successfully deterred piracy in the region. It all comes down to a Trilateral Cooperation Agreement, or TCA, in which the nations pledged to conduct joint anti-piracy patrols in their waters and share information. The result has been a…
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Asia News Today | Japanese yen drops to a seven year low
Nearly 9,000 soldiers from the Philippines and US are participating in the largest-ever joint military drills as the two longtime allies do some high-level sabre-rattling amid fresh tensions in the disputed South China Sea. Filipino and American soldiers will take part in the 12 day military exercises across the main Filipino island of Luzon. Philippine military chief welcomed soldiers from…
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UKRAINE UPDATES: Irpin liberated; Turkey peace talks resume; Russian offensive stalled; Oligarch poisoned
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its second month, here’s the latest headlines… • Turkey peace talks: Russian and Ukrainian representatives have arrived in Istanbul for another round of negotiations — first face-to-face talks in more than two weeks. Ukraine says its top priority is to negotiate a ceasefire, but insisted Kyiv would not make concessions on territorial integrity.…
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UPDATE: Will Smith apologises for Oscars outburst, after Academy rebuke
While fans in Asia were going to bed, Will Smith was waking up in Hollywood — to a world full of controversy and condemnation. The 53 year old actor slapped comedian Chris Rock on stage at the 94th Academy Awards on Sunday night, then won his first Oscar. The assault occurred in response to Rock cracking an insensitive joke about…
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Asia News Today | Both black boxes now found on China plane & lockdown in Shanghai
The latest from the crash site of the Boeing 737 in southern China, more threats from the Burmese Junta, one of the largest cities in the world heads into a Covid lockdown and vanishing glaciers in Indonesia, yes Indonesia. Recovery crews at the site of the China Eastern Boeing 737 that crashed last Monday, have found the second black…
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Vietnamese man who tried to paddle to India fell victim to romance scam
The Vietnamese man who tried to paddle an inflatable boat from Thailand to India to meet his “wife” was either scammed or “catfished,” where someone uses a fake profile online to deceive another person for money or personal reasons. International media outlets picked up the story of the 37 year old Vietnamese man who spent 18 days at sea on…
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UKRAINE UPDATES: Putin “cannot remain in power”; Russia narrows war goals; Ukraine counter attacks; Auchan’s Russia stores stay open
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues into its second month, here’s the latest headlines… • In a speech in Poland on Saturday, US President Joe Biden said Russian leader Vladimir Putin “cannot remain in power.” His remarks have increased international pressure and further united NATO allies against Putin over his illegal invasion of Ukraine… “A dictator, bent on rebuilding…
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Shanghai to enter lockdown, one half at a time, for mass testing
The authorities in Shanghai plan to lock down the city of 25 million residents, one half at a time, in order to conduct mass Covid-19 testing. Officials are trying to curb the spread of the virus, with China facing its worst wave since the pandemic was first reported in the central city of Wuhan. According to a Bloomberg report, the…
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Biden slams Russia’s Putin as a ‘butcher’, who “cannot remain in power”
While giving a speech in Warsaw, United States president Joe Biden slammed Russia’s president Putin as a ‘butcher’, stressing that he “cannot remain in power”. Biden added that he was not sure whether Russia had changed its objectives, which he said so far have led to “strategic failure”. The Whitehouse insisted Biden isn’t seeking regime change in Russia, and Biden…
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On anniversary of bloodshed, Myanmar army chief vows to “annihilate” opponents
Days after human rights groups published an extensive report accusing Myanmar’s junta chief of targeting unarmed protestors, the Burmese chief vowed today to “annihilate” opponents of the junta. Today is the anniversary of Myanmar’s most violent crackdown on pro-democracy protests. The army chief, Min Aung Hlaing, said the military will “no longer negotiate… and annihilate until the end” groups fighting…
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Russia conducts drills on territory disputed with Japan
Japanese media reported today that over 3,000 Russian troops are conducting military drills on Tokyo’s Kuril islands. Japan’s Foreign Ministry and Prime Minister’s Office could not be reached outside business hours to comment on the exercises. Russia calls the chain of four islands part of its Kuril chain, while Japan calls them part of its northern territory. In its drills,…
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British and Thai armies train in jungle together
The UK announced in a press release yesterday that 120 of its military’s Grenadier Guards are training in the jungle with Thailand’s army. The UK Defence Minister visited Thailand this week and met with Thailand’s deputy defence minister. The Minister signed the first Memorandum of Understanding between the two countries, to continue building defence cooperation between the countries’ militaries. The…
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Iran-backed Houthis attack Saudi petroleum storage facilities
Yemen’s Iran-backed Houthi party says it struck Saudi petroleum facilities in Jeddah with missiles yesterday, just as Saudi Arabia prepares to hold a motor race on Sunday. The missiles caused fires in two storage tanks, however there were no casualties. A Houthi spokesman says they targeted ‘vital facilities’. Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil exporter. Saudi’s energy ministry said…
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Asia News Today | North Korea missile launch rattles US/South Korea & Myanmar’s ‘sniper’ squads
North Korea has fired its first intercontinental ballistic missile in more than four years. Well, that’s what Japan’s defence ministry is calling it. The suspected ICBM flew to an altitude of 6,000 kilometres and a distance of just over 1000 kilometres, flying around 70 minutes before splashing down in waters off Japan’s western coast yesterday. The provocative test is North…
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Thai and Cambodian officers raid two offices of alleged call centre scams
Thai and Cambodian authorities raided two offices of an alleged call centre scam operation in Cambodia. 61 Thai and Chinese suspects were arrested. The officer also found a dialogue or conversation script that each scammer followed and used to lure victims into transferring money. Yesterday, the Thai Police Cyber Taskforce and officers in Cambodia raided two suspected scam call centre…
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UKRAINE UPDATES: Zelensky says EU acted late, pleads for membership; Nato sends battalions to eastern Europe
As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine enters its second month, here’s the latest headlines… • World leaders have been holding a round of emergency summits in Brussels. NATO, the European Council and the G7 are reportedly seeking to unify their response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The US has announced new sanctions on Russia, as well as assistance for Ukrainian refugees.…
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Bali due to host Vladimir Putin during G20 Summit in late October
Despite calls for Russia to be kicked out of the G20 over its invasion of Ukraine, Bali is still on course to host Vladimir Putin during October’s summit. According to a Coconuts report, Russia’s Ambassador to Indonesia, Lyudmila Vorobyova, was evasive when answering questions about Putin’s potential visit during a press conference in Jakarta. “Depends on the situation, (but) so…
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New report “Nowhere is Safe” accuses Myanmar of sniper attacks
A human rights group, along with Yale Law School’s Scholl Center, accuse Myanmar’s junta chief of creating a special command that deployed snipers to kill unarmed protestors. The groups say this was to create fear. The Scholl Center and Fortify Rights investigated leaked documents and 128 testimonies from survivors, medical workers, witnesses and former military and police personnel, on violence…
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UKRAINE UPDATES: Ukraine counter offensives prevail; Nato, G7 & EU convene in Brussels; US condemns Russian ‘war crimes’
As Russia’s war against Ukraine marks one month today, here’s the latest headlines… • The Ukrainian Navy claims they have destroyed a large Russian ship in the Russian-occupied port of Berdyansk in southeastern Ukraine. Social media videos show a large fire with secondary explosions in the port. Berdyansk is roughly 70 kilometres southwest of Mariupol on the Azov Sea. The…
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Singapore to end pandemic-era restrictions, embrace ‘living with covid’ strategy
Singapore is set to end most of its Covid-19 restrictions starting next Tuesday, March 29, as the country shifts from a pandemic to an endemic state of mind — learning to live with Covid, instead of trying to eliminate it. Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced the significant policy changes in a national address on Thursday… “Our fight against COVID-19…
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Amidst shortage, cooking oil ‘mafias’ form in Indonesia
As the global price on crude palm oil surges, Indonesia faces a shortage of cooking oil. The Russia-Ukraine crisis has impacted the supply of vegetable oil in Indonesia, making palm oil more expensive. In November last year, the global CPO price was about US$1,300 per tonne. Now, it’s US$1,600 per tonne. Indonesian authorities tried to enforce one price, 14,000 rupiah…
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Thailand’s Navy intercepts one of three Vietnamese fishing boats in Gulf
Yesterday, Thailand’s navy intercepted one of three Vietnamese fishing boats seen in the Gulf of Thailand on Tuesday night. The navy first tried firing warning shots at three ships. The ships ignored the warning and fled. The navy managed to catch one of the ships yesterday, and arrested five people for illegally fishing in Thai waters. The five face charges…
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Thailand’s tourism minister wants all border checkpoints in South opened by May
Thailand’s tourism minister says he expects all border checkpoints with Malaysia to be open by May 1, adding that the move will benefit both countries. According to a Nation Thailand report, Phiphat Ratchakitprakarn says his ministry will coordinate with the Foreign Affairs Ministry to agree the re-opening with the Malaysian authorities, including deciding Covid-19 prevention measures to be implemented at…
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Air crash investigators baffled by China Eastern nosedive from cruising altitude
A preliminary look into the possible causes of a fatal China Eastern crash on Monday has investigators baffled, according to a Bloomberg report. In particular, mystery surrounds why the Boeing 737-800 appeared to enter a sudden nosedive from a cruising altitude of 29,000 feet, an hour before it was scheduled to land. The aircraft was flying from the southern city…
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Black box flight recorder found in China Eastern wreckage
One of the black box flight recorders, a key for determining the cause of the China Eastern Airlines crash, was found today by aviation investigators searching the wreckage. The Boeing 737-800, known as the workhorse in commercial aviation and one of the safest aircraft, suddenly declined into a nosedive during a flight from Kunming to Guangzhou carrying 132 people, crashing…
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Asia News Today | Tourists found dead in Philippines & China-Laos railway
The crash of the Boeing 737-800 passenger plane in China’s southwest ignited a fire big enough to be seen from space. Rescuers continue today to cold through the wreckage on the rugged, remote mountainside, just outside the city of Wuzhou. Investigators admit that just two days following the crash, there appears more questions than answers. Rescue workers have resorted to…
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