Author: News Desk

Air raid sirens sound in Israel after rocket fired from Gaza
12Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Conflict, World

Air raid sirens sound in Israel after rocket fired from Gaza

JERUSALEM (AP) — Air raid sirens sounded in southern Israel on Monday after a rocket was fired from the Gaza Strip, the first since the 11-day war between Israel and Palestinian militants in May. There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the rocket fire. It came hours after Israeli troops clashed with Palestinian gunmen during a late-night arrest raid in the occupied West Bank, killing four Palestinians in one of the deadliest battles in the area in years. The Israeli military said in a statement that it identified one rocket launch that was intercepted by aerial defense batteries. Amateur video footage appeared to show the rocket being intercepted over the southern town of Sderot. The rocket fire could jeopardize three months of relative calm since Israel and the militant grou
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Censure debate kicks off
12Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Politics, World

Censure debate kicks off

House Speaker Chuan Leekpai, left, receives the censure motion from opposition leader Sompong Amornwiwat at the parliament on Aug 16. (Parliament photo) A four-day no-confidence debate, the third of its kind against the government, kicks off on Tuesday with a long list of allegations ranging from flawed management to corruption. The grilling will revolve around the government's handling of Covid-19 and related issues such as the national vaccine rollout and economic fallout from the crisis. However, academics believe the censure debate is unlikely to topple the government and more or less aims to seek support from anti-government protesters who are taking to the streets to call for Prime Minister Gen Prayut Chan-o-cha to step down from his position. Yutthaporn Issarachai, a political s...
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US: pro-China media spreading misinformation about covid spread in world
11Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Asia, China, World

US: pro-China media spreading misinformation about covid spread in world

SAN FRANCISCO: A campaign spreading misinformation about the origin of covid-19 is being circulated in many platforms of different language. Defending the Chinese Government and blaming the US government for the transmission if coronavirus. Experts at security company FireEye and Alphabet´s Google said the operation was identified in 2019 as running hundreds of accounts in English and Chinese aimed at discrediting the Hong Kong democracy movement. The effort has broadened its mission and spread from Twitter, Facebook and Google to thousands of handles on dozens of sites around the world. This expansion suggests Chinese interests have made a deeper commitment to the sort of international propaganda techniques Russia has used for several years, experts said. Some of the new account
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Fixing the US-China tech split
11Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Asia, Business, China, Singapore, World

Fixing the US-China tech split

Fixing the US-China tech split Heightened US-China tensions have raised the prospect of a deep global technology divide, potentially forcing other countries to choose which camp to join. There are plenty of grim scenarios involving irreconcilable splits between core technologies that power a wide range of products and services, from aircraft and automobiles to precision engineering for robotics and payment systems for e-commerce. Should these scenarios materialise, the world's two largest economies will pour huge amounts of resources into a zero-sum race to control technology's cutting edge. Both the United States and China understand the central role of technology in driving their economies and global development. They also know that mastering it, as well as safeguarding relevant intell...
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Taliban success in Afghanistan seen as boost for extremists
11Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Conflict, World

Taliban success in Afghanistan seen as boost for extremists

BEIRUT (AP) — A few days after the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan, a convoy of militants drove through the city of Idlib in northwestern Syria in cars bearing the group’s white-and-black flags, honking horns and firing their guns in the air. The celebrations by an al-Qaida affiliate in a remote corner of war-torn Syria were an expression of the triumph felt by radical Islamic groups from the Gaza Strip to Pakistan and West Africa who see America’s violence-marred exit from Afghanistan an opportunity to reassert their presence. For such groups, the chaotic U.S. departure following the collapse of security forces it had trained for two decades is a gift, underlining their message that Washington eventually abandons its allies, and that defeating powerful armies is possible with enough pat
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Virus cases pass 1 million
11Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Business, China, Opinion, World

Virus cases pass 1 million

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha talks to a Covid patient via a telehealth system during his visit to 'Sanam Saeng Haeng Jai' field hospital in Samut Prakan province on Friday. The facility has 450 beds and uses robots to get food and medicines to patients. (Government House photo) There are several lessons the country must learn from the mishandling of the Covid-19 crisis after Thailand reached the grim milestone of more than one million accumulated cases on Friday, according to the president of the Rural Doctors Society. The first domestic case on Jan 12 last year was a 61-year Chinese woman from Wuhan where Covid-19 had first been detected the previous month. Then, the first Thai to test positive was on Jan 31 after a 50-year-old taxi driver drove an infected arrival from Wuhan to ho...
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Afghan leader rallies forces in besieged northern city
11Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Conflict, World

Afghan leader rallies forces in besieged northern city

Afghan leader rallies forces in besieged northern city A Taliban fighter on a motorbike is surrounded by locals after the insurgents seized Pul-e-Khumri, capital of Baghlan province about 200 kilometres north of Kabul. MAZAR-I-SHARIF (AFGHANISTAN) - Afghan President Ashraf Ghani returned to the capital Wednesday after a flying visit to the northern city of Mazar-i-Sharif to rally his beleaguered forces, with Taliban fighters having now taken more than a quarter of the country's provincial capitals in less than a week. His visit was overshadowed by the mass surrender of hundreds of Afghan soldiers in nearby Kunduz, along with the overnight capture of another provincial capital -- the ninth city to be overrun since Friday. One army officer in Kunduz, who asked not to be identified, said ...
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Brutal benchmark: Arizona passes 1 million COVID-19 cases
11Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Business, China, Conflict, World

Brutal benchmark: Arizona passes 1 million COVID-19 cases

PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona surpassed 1 million COVID-19 cases Friday, becoming the 13th state to reach the grim milestone while contending with yet another major spike in infections. The benchmark is the latest in a tumultuous year and a half where Arizona went from being touted as a pandemic success story to being “the hot spot of the world” and then being a model again when vaccinations became available. Now, the state, like the rest of the country, is coping with a surge — mostly of the unvaccinated — and ongoing conflicts over mask and vaccine mandates. It ranks 13th nationwide in the number of cases per 100,000 residents, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s COVID Data Tracker. COVID-19 came early to Arizona. In January 2020, a person with ties to Arizona
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‘No Dash, no deal’: Aerospace workers spar with company owned by Canada’s richest family over future of Downsview plant
11Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Business, World

‘No Dash, no deal’: Aerospace workers spar with company owned by Canada’s richest family over future of Downsview plant

“Whose plant? Our plant!” The chant echoed across the De Havilland aircraft manufacturer in Downsview on Monday, where dozens of workers gathered to protest the planned relocation of one of the company’s staple programs. Since late July, workers at the decades-old plant have been on strike following a decision from their relatively new employer, Longview Aviation Capital, to move production of their signature Dash 8 aircraft elsewhere in Canada. Longview, majority owned by Thomson family heir Sherry Brydson, owns De Havilland, the aerospace manufacturer that bought the Dash 8 program from Bombardier in 2018. Canada’s wealthiest family, the Thomsons, created Longview in 2016 to build a portfolio of long-term investments in the Canadian aerospace industry. Longview’s move to leave its Do
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The Latest: Russia reports daily record of 820 virus deaths
10Sep By News DeskNo Comments
Asia, World

The Latest: Russia reports daily record of 820 virus deaths

MOSCOW — Russia reported a one-day record of 820 coronavirus deaths. The national coronavirus taskforce says the number of new daily infections reached 19,630. That follows a consistent ebb since the beginning of the month when 22,800 cases were reported. The previous record for deaths was 819 on Aug. 14. Russia has reported more than 6.8 million confirmed cases and 179,243 confirmed deaths. ___ MORE ON THE PANDEMIC: — U.S. may reach 100,000 more COVID-19 deaths by Dec. 1. — AP-NORC poll: Half of US workers favor vaccine, mask mandate in workplaces — Illinois Gov. Pritzker requires educators, health workers to get vaccine — U.S. virus surge breaks hospital records amid rising toll on kids ___ — Find more AP coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/coronavirus-pandemic and https://apne
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