BANGKOK: The United States and ten Southeast Asian countries kicked off maritime drills yesterday, as part of a joint exercise extending into the flashpoint South China Sea with eight warships, four aircraft and more than a thousand personnel. The first Asean-US Maritime Exercise (AUMX) between the regional bloc and Washington
SINGAPORE: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong (pic) threatened Sunday the editor of an online publication with libel for repeating “false” allegations related to a bitter feud in the city-state’s founding family. In a letter to Terry Xu, chief editor of The Online Citizen (TOC), Lee’s press secretary demanded that
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis flies out tomorrow for a week-long tour visiting three Indian Ocean African countries hard hit by poverty, conflict and natural disaster. The pope will visit Mozambique and Madagascar, as well as Mauritius, countries visited by pope John Paul II in 1988 and 1999. Commentators see the
TRIPOLI: Rocket fire by forces loyal to strongman Khalifa Haftar against the Libyan capital’s sole functioning airport wounded four civilians overnight, the UN-recognised government said Sunday. The strikes coincided with the arrival of a Libyan plane carrying pilgrims back from Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Three pilgrims, including a woman, were
TOKYO: Japan will launch a special police unit equipped with submachine guns and helicopters to patrol disputed isles in the East China Sea — a source of tension between Tokyo and Beijing, according to police and media. The deployment near the tiny islands known as the “Senkakus” in Japanese and
RIVIERA BEACH (United States): Hurricane Dorian battered the Bahamas with ferocious wind and rain on Sunday, the monstrous Category 5 storm wrecking towns and homes as it churned on an uncertain path toward the US coast where hundreds of thousands were ordered to evacuate. There was no immediate word on
ROME: Italy’s premier-designate Giuseppe Conte said Sunday he would present his new coalition cabinet by midweek at the latest, as he races to resolve the political crisis in the eurozone’s third largest economy. “At the start of next week — not Monday, but Tuesday or Wednesday at the latest —
HONG KONG: Thousands of black-clad students rallied yesterday at the start of a two-week boycott of university classes, piling pressure on Hong Kong’s leaders to resolve months of increasingly violent anti-government protests that show no sign of easing. Students have been the backbone of a movement that sprang up to
HONG KONG: Most Asian markets fell yesterday as fresh Chinese and US tariffs on goods worth hundreds of billions of dollars kicked in, though Donald Trump reiterated that the two sides were still due to hold talks this month. Hong Kong was weighed down by another weekend of violence, fuelling
NEW YORK: Serena Williams overcame an injury scare to maintain her pursuit of a recordtying 2 4 t h Grand Slam singles title at the US Open on Sunday while Roland Garros champion Ashleigh Barty and Karolina Pliskova crashed out in the last 16. Williams, a six-time US Open winner,
