Amid the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, India has received defence equipment for the training squadron of the Russia-made S-400 Triumf advanced surface-to-air missile defence system, local media reported on Friday. In December, India announced that Russia had begun deliveries of the S-400 long-range defense systems to India. Local news agency Asian …
Read More »UK could send asylum seekers to Rwanda ‘within weeks’
The British government’s new immigration strategy that would see asylum seekers and refugees being sent to Rwanda could begin in a matter of weeks, according to an official. Andrew Griffith, the director of Downing Street’s policy unit, said the prime minister’s new immigration strategy could be up and running by …
Read More »Chinese astronauts land on Earth after China’s longest crewed space mission
Three Chinese astronauts returned to earth on Saturday after 183 days in space, state television reported, completing the country's longest crewed space mission to date. The astronauts landed nine hours after they left a key module of China's first space station. While in orbit, the Shenzhou-13 mission astronauts took manual …
Read More »Thai rebels excluded from talks take responsibility for Ramadan bombings
Thai rebels sidelined from peace talks claimed responsibility on Saturday for deadly bombings in the country's Muslim-majority deep south that broke a Ramadan holiday agreed between the main rebel group and the government. The two explosions on Friday, which killed a civilian and injured three policemen, were carried out by …
Read More »Girls’ education ban reveals deep rifts within Taliban
The Taliban prohibition on girls' education shows the movement's conservatives retain tight control of the group, and exposes a power struggle that puts at risk crucial aid for Afghanistan's desperate population, experts say. The ban has triggered international outrage and even left many in the Taliban movement baffled by the …
Read More »China holds drills around Taiwan as US lawmakers visit
China said it conducted military drills around Taiwan on Friday as a US Congressional delegation visited the island in a show of support to a fellow democracy, with Beijing blaming the lawmakers for raising tensions with their "provocative" trip. China's military sent frigates, bombers and fighter planes to the East …
Read More »Growing defiance of Covid curbs in China brings wave of arrests
Sun Jian, a 37-year-old master's degree student in the Chinese city of Yantai, for months staged a solo campaign against his university's Covid-19 prevention measures, including blistering criticism on social media. The last straw for authorities came on March 27, when Sun walked around his campus carrying a placard that …
Read More »Shanghai turns residences into Covid isolation facilities, sparking protest
Shanghai is converting residential buildings into quarantine centres to house a mounting number of Covid-19 cases, but the move is sparking anger and protest from neighbours worried they are being put at increased risk of infection. In an incident livestreamed on Thursday afternoon on Chinese messaging platform WeChat, about 30 …
Read More »Israeli police clash with Palestinians inside Al-Aqsa mosque, 152 injured
At least 152 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israeli riot police inside Jerusalem's Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday, extending a recent resurgence of violence that has raised fears of a slide back to wider conflict. Most of the Palestinian injuries were incurred by rubber bullets, stun grenades and beatings …
Read More »Penthouses in North Korea are mainly for the unfortunate few
For people in many countries, living in a penthouse is the dream. In North Korea? Not so much. Leader Kim Jong Un keeps building outwardly glamorous high-rise apartment buildings in the capital, Pyongyang, with the latest being an 80-storey skyscraper completed this week. But defectors and other North Koreans say …
Read More »