By Kandy Wong The long-delayed Power of Siberia 2 pipeline between Russia and China would create a “structural shock” if it begins operations, analysts said, and cause “strategic and market challenges” for the United States, the world’s current largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) exporter. While President Xi Jinping and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin stood […]
Read MoreBy Julian Ryall Less than 24 hours after Shigeru Ishiba announced his resignation as prime minister, Japan’s ruling party faces a leadership contest that few seem eager to win and even fewer to survive, as it lays bare internal rivalries. Few within Japanese politics were truly taken aback when Ishiba confirmed his decision to step […]
Read MoreBy Raissa Robles Allies of former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte lost their grip in the Senate on Monday after 15 lawmakers backed a leadership change that could alter the balance of power over corruption probes and Vice-President Sara Duterte-Carpio’s scuttled impeachment trial. The process took just 24 minutes – from a motion to declare the […]
Read MoreBy Frank Chenin Nebraska There is a major divide in the American heartland. US farm states are facing a drop in exports of key commodities as Beijing turns to alternative suppliers, primarily in Brazil, as a result of Donald Trump’s trade war. Some farmers, however, want to give the US president the benefit of the […]
Read MoreBy Tom Hussain Nearly two years after Hamas militants stormed southern Israel, the war in Gaza has entered a darker, deadlier phase. The territory now faces a reckoning its residents describe as annihilation. Israel’s latest military campaign in Gaza and its West Bank annexation plans have left observers warning that the age-old Palestinian presence across […]
Read MoreBy Raissa Robles A controversy over an alleged overpriced firearms deal has intensified in the Philippines, with insiders claiming that national police chief Nicolas Torre III was removed from his post for rejecting a proposed procurement of 80,000 assault rifles – a transaction some believe was padded by billions of pesos. While officials framed Torre’s […]
Read MoreProtests have flared in parts of Indonesia since August 25 in some of the country’s worst violence in decades, presenting the biggest challenge so far to Prabowo Subianto’s 10-month-old presidency. WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING? Protests started outside parliament in the capital, Jakarta, initially by groups angered by reports that lawmakers were receiving huge housing allowances on […]
Read MoreTAIPEI: Taiwan President Lai Ching-te criticized strongmen personality cults and secret police networks on Wednesday, as Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted the leaders of Russia and North Korea at a military parade marking the end of World War Two. Democratically-governed Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its own territory, has repeatedly lambasted China for what Taipei […]
Read MoreBy Biman Mukherji India’s stronger-than-expected economic growth of 7.8 per cent in the April–June quarter has been hailed by leaders as a resounding retort to US President Donald Trump’s claim that the country’s economy is “dead”, even as experts warn that retaliatory tariffs from Washington could weigh on the outlook. Bilateral ties have plummeted recently […]
Read MoreMore than 800 people were killed and thousands more injured as a major earthquake struck southeastern Afghanistan late on Sunday, one of the worst such disasters in the country in recent years. As authorities scramble to rescue survivors, here is a look at what happened and the devastation the tremors caused. Where Did The Quake […]
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