Author: desk team

Indian agency raids home of journalist, activists in Kashmir
1Nov By desk teamNo Comments
World

Indian agency raids home of journalist, activists in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India - India’s premier investigating agency on Wednesday said it raided 10 locations in Indian-controlled Kashmir, including the offices and residences of a journalist and two prominent activists, triggering concerns of a crackdown on information and a free press in the disputed region. The National Investigation Agency said in a statement it searched the premises of Agence France-Presse’s Kashmir correspondent Parvaiz Bukhari, offices of rights activist Khurram Parvez and Parveena Ahanger, and the region’s leading daily Greater Kashmir, along with a non-profit group, and seized “several incriminating documents and electronic devices.“ The agency said it was investigating “non-profit groups and charitable trusts” that were collecting funds and using them for “carrying out sece
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EU set to resume FTA talks with Thailand
1Nov By desk teamNo Comments
Asia, World

EU set to resume FTA talks with Thailand

EU set to resume FTA talks with Thailand The European Union is ready to resume Thai-EU free trade agreement (FTA) talks as soon as possible, senior officials have insisted. Director-General of the Department of European Affairs Sasiwat Wongsinsawat and the EU's Deputy Managing Director for Asia and Pacific Department at the European External Action Service (EEAS) Paola Pampaloni on Wednesday co-chaired the 15th Thai-EU Senior Officials' Meeting via video conference. This year's annual meeting discussed Covid-19 and its impact on the economy, as well as the political developments in Thailand, according to a statement released by the Department of European Affairs, with both parties also agreeing to strengthen ties by signing the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement by the end of next ye...
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Today’s coronavirus news: Toronto adds 560 new beds for homeless for winter; de Villa warns outbreak in Toronto could be worse than April; COVID-19 cases increased 40% in Canada over past 7 days
1Nov By desk teamNo Comments
Business, World

Today’s coronavirus news: Toronto adds 560 new beds for homeless for winter; de Villa warns outbreak in Toronto could be worse than April; COVID-19 cases increased 40% in Canada over past 7 days

KEY FACTS 2:15 p.m.: De Villa warns outbreak in Toronto could be worse than April 2 p.m.: COVID-19 cases increased 40% in Canada over past 7 days 1:27 p.m.: Italy imposes nationwide outdoor mask mandate The latest coronavirus news from Canada and around the world Wednesday. This file is no longer updating. Click here to read the latest coverage. Web links to longer stories if available. 10:35 p.m. South Korea has 69 new confirmed coronavirus cases, most of them in the Seoul region area where health workers are struggling to track transmissions tied to hospitals, churches, schools and an army unit. The figures released by the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency on Thursday brought the national total to 24,422 cases, including 427 deaths. Forty-nine of the new cases were report...
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7 held for suspected tanker hijack after UK commando raid
31Oct By desk teamNo Comments
World

7 held for suspected tanker hijack after UK commando raid

LONDON - Seven stowaways seized when British naval special forces stormed an oil tanker in the English Channel have been arrested on suspicion of hijacking, police said Monday. Hampshire Police said the men, believed to be from Nigeria, were being held at several police stations on suspicion of “seizing or exercising control of a ship by use of threats or force.” They have not been charged. Police said the 22 crew members of the Nave Andromeda were “safe and well” after the raid, which unfolded after darkness fell on Sunday. Special Boat Service commandos were lowered by rope from helicopters onto the tanker, whose crew had locked themselves in a secure part of the ship known as the citadel. Within minutes, the stowaways were in custody. Maritime tracking websites showed the ship reache
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China’s Xi Jinping sends sympathy message to Trump over infection
31Oct By desk teamNo Comments
World

China’s Xi Jinping sends sympathy message to Trump over infection

BEIJING - Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message of sympathy Saturday to U.S. President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump following their coronavirus diagnosis, state TV reported. “My wife, Peng Liyuan, and I express our sympathies to you and your wife and wish you a fast recovery,” state TV on its website cited the message as saying. Chinese-U.S. relations have tumbled to their lowest point in decades amid disputes over trade, technology, security, Beijing’s tightening of control over Hong Kong and complaints about abuses in China’s Muslim northwestern region of Xinjiang. Trump has blamed China, where the coronavirus outbreak began in December, of mishandling the outbreak and allowing it to spread. Read more about:
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3 politicians from India’s ruling party killed in Kashmir
31Oct By desk teamNo Comments
Conflict, World

3 politicians from India’s ruling party killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India - Assailants shot and killed three politicians from India’s ruling party in Kashmir late Thursday, police said, blaming militants fighting against Indian rule in the disputed region. Militants fired at the three members of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party, or BJP, in southern Kulgam district, police said in a statement. The three were taken to a hospital, where they died, it said. The party says they were members of the BJP’s youth wing and one was general secretary of the party’s Kulgam district. In a tweet, the BJP condemned the killings, calling them a “barbaric terror attack.” “Those who are responsible for this will not be spared,” it said. Government forces launched a search for the shooters, police said. Officials did not immediately reveal o
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SARS was ‘dress rehearsal for COVID-19’ but Canada failed health-care workers: report
31Oct By desk teamNo Comments
World

SARS was ‘dress rehearsal for COVID-19’ but Canada failed health-care workers: report

Canada put health-care workers at risk of contracting COVID-19 and taking it home to their families because it failed to learn lessons from Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2003, a new report says. Mario Possamai, who authored the report and was senior adviser to a two-year commission on SARS, outlines multiple shortcomings by the Public Health Agency of Canada. The agency was established to respond to emerging infectious diseases after an early recommendation by the commission investigating how the SARS epidemic that killed 44 people arrived in Canada and spread. Hundreds of people died of SARS elsewhere, including in China and Taiwan. However, Possamai says in the report released Monday that unlike Canada, those countries heeded the warnings from SARS, which he calls “a dress rehe
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Thailand declares emergency after unprecedented protest
30Oct By desk teamNo Comments
Singapore, World

Thailand declares emergency after unprecedented protest

BANGKOK - Thailand’s government declared a strict new state of emergency for the capital on Thursday, a day after a student-led protest against the country’s traditional establishment saw an extraordinary moment in which demonstrators heckled a royal motorcade. After the pre-dawn declaration, riot police moved in to clear out demonstrators who after a day of rallies and confrontation had gathered outside Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha’s office to push their demands, which include the former general’s resignation, constitutional changes and reform of the monarchy. Several top leaders of the protest movement were taken into custody, with one later declaring on his Facebook page that he had been denied access to a lawyer and was being forced onto a helicopter and taken to a city in the co
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China FM calls US Indo-Pacific strategy a huge security risk
30Oct By desk teamNo Comments
Asia, World

China FM calls US Indo-Pacific strategy a huge security risk

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia - The United States poses a “huge security risk” to Asia by pushing to boost engagement with the region, China’s foreign minister said Tuesday during a tour of Southeast Asia, where Beijing and Washington are locked in a battle for influence. Speaking in Malaysia, Wang Yi said the U.S.’s real aim is “to build an Indo-Pacific NATO,” in a strategy he said harkened back to the Cold War. Washington is trying to “stir up confrontation among different groups and blocs, and stir up geopolitical competition while maintaining the predominance and hegemony system of the U.S.,” Wang said at a joint news conference with his Malaysian counterpart, Hishammuddin Hussein. “In this sense, this strategy itself is a huge security risk,“ Wang said. Wang also urged Southeast Asian na
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Child abuse in all forms unacceptable: Poll
30Oct By desk teamNo Comments
Opinion, World

Child abuse in all forms unacceptable: Poll

Child abuse in all forms unacceptable: Poll Parents press for assurances their children are being cared for in a safe environment from the management of Sarasas Witaed Ratchaphruek School in Nonthaburi on Monday, following the beating of kindergarteners by their carers. (Photo by Pattarapong Chatpattarasill) A huge majority of people say abuse and maltreatment of children at schools is unacceptable and everyone should work together to prevent it, according to the result of a survey by the Suan Dusit Rajabhat University, or Suan Dusit Poll. The poll was conducted online Sept 29-Oct 2 on 1,896 people thoughout the country to compile their opinions on the reported abuse and maltreatment of children in the kindergarten and primary school levels in Nonthaburi and Bangkok. A majority of resp...
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