World

WASHINGTON (REUTERS, BLOOMBERG) - President Joe Biden will speak with Chinese President Xi Jinping on Thursday (July 28) amid fresh tensions over Taiwan, according to people familiar with the matter. Earlier on Tuesday, the White House said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is a likely topic during the call. White House national security spokesman John Kirby told reporters that managing economic competition between the two countries would also be a focus of the call. But tariffs are not likely to be discussed, he said. “I wouldn’t think it would be a major topic of discussion with President Xi unless or until he makes a decision,” Mr Kirby said of the tariffs. It will be the fifth call between the leaders, and comes as China has delivered heightened warnings to the Biden administratio

Mountain B owners, executives have yet to show responsibility, says victim's sister Relatives of dead victims in the Mountain B pub inferno arrive at the nightspot in Sattahip district, Chon Buri, on Saturday to hold religious rites for their loved ones. (Photo: Chaiyot Pupattanapong) CHON BURI: The death toll from a blaze that tore through a nightclub in Sattahip district rose to 15 on Saturday, as one more injured victim was pronounced dead. The number of injured people stood at 37. Thanakit Meenoi, 36, succumbed to his injuries at Rayong Hospital, said a source. His sister, Nittaya Meenoi, 30, said her brother had gone to the Mountain B pub with more than 10 friends to celebrate his birthday. He had reserved a table in front of the stage where a live band was playing, she said Than...

Even as China issued a warning that it would not tolerate any "separatist activities" in Taiwan and reiterated its threat to annex the island if necessary, netizens have taken to social media to express their views on Chinesediplomat’s remarks on Taiwan’s Chinese restaurants.  Memes poking fun of Chinese official using the number of Chinese restaurants in Taipei to prove Beijing's historical claim to Taiwan.From finding flaws in the China's foreign ministry spokesperson HuaChunying’s logic to accusing her of telling a lie. Her remarks werepart of the Chinese government’s psychological warfare campaign against the government of Taiwan. Taiwan Cabinet spokesman Lo Ping-cheng had already indicated of such "psychological warfare"  in the coming days. It was directly linked to

GENEVA (AP) — FIFA has formally moved the World Cup start up by one day to give host nation Qatar an exclusive Sunday evening slot with a global audience. Qatar will now play Ecuador in Doha on Nov. 20 — just 101 days after FIFA’s decision Thursday — stretching the World Cup to 29 days from the 28 agreed seven years ago when a June-July tournament was pushed back to avoid the searing desert heat in midsummer. The surprise late switch was signed off by a FIFA committee comprising its president Gianni Infantino and presidents of the six continental soccer bodies. FIFA said the vote was unanimous. The plan was revealed Wednesday after several rounds of ticket sales to fans worldwide since last year. “FIFA will seek to address any issues arising from this change in a case-by-case basis,” s

Department urged to help stimulate exports to China Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit has ordered the International Trade Promotion Department to speed up the organisation of online business matching with Chinese and Hong Kong importers to boost Thai exports to China after China hit Taiwan with trade curbs amid tensions over the visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to the island. Trade counsellors in China have also been ordered to speed up surveying categories of products that Thailand could export to satisfy demand in China and substitute the products that Taiwan cannot export to China, especially food and beverage products including instant noodles, frozen fresh fish, snacks and fruits. China rolled out curbs on Wednesday on the import of more than 2,000 Taiwanese food imports i...

At this age, with a lot of miles on my jaundiced trunk, I have no excuse for magical thinking. I believed that President Joe Biden was a man of honour. But one little fist-bump jolted me back to my realpolitik senses. Knuckles-to-knuckles with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman. The very man who allegedly had his hand in the assassins’ gloves for the murder and dismemberment of Saudi dissident and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi. And what a PR coup that was for MBS, as the de facto ruler of the Saudi Kingdom is familiarly known. The very man who Biden had vowed should be shunned as a “pariah” by the international community for authorizing that 2018 killing, as an investigation by U.S. intelligence had concluded. Gathered back into the embrace of America. Because, you know

Hong Kong mahjong carver among the last of his kind This photo taken on July 6, 2022, shows mahjong tile artisan Cheung Shun-king, 70, painting Chinese characters on mahjong piece at his shop in the Yau Tsim Mong district of Hong Kong. (Photo: AFP) Eyebrows furrowed in careful concentration as he chisels images and Chinese characters onto mahjong tiles, 70-year-old Cheung Shun-king is one of the last craftsmen of his kind in Hong Kong. Hand carving playing tiles for the popular Chinese game used to be a source of income for many, but the introduction of much cheaper machine-made sets whittled away at their customer base and turned their work into a rarity. Cheung's family alone used to own four separate shops, where as a teenager he learned his trade. Now only one remains. This photo...

SURREY, B.C. - A vehicle was waiting for Ripudaman Singh Malik hours before he was killed in a parking lot in Surrey, B.C., police say. Malik was one of the two men acquitted in the 1985 Air India terrorist bombings that killed 331 people. He was shot in his vehicle in a parking lot not far from his clothing business on Thursday. He was 75 years old. Sgt. David Lee of the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team told a news conference that a white Honda CRV pulled up near the scene of the shooting around 7 a.m. and Malik was shot and killed at 9:27 that morning. “The occupants were waiting for Mr. Malik,” he said. “I can’t specify as to the number of people as I do not want to taint any witnesses. We’d like them to come forward no matter how many people they saw.” The same vehicle was

CAIRO (AP) — The United Nations painted a grim picture for Sudan’s humanitarian situation, saying Wednesday that almost a quarter of the country’s population was inching toward starvation amid a dire shortage of funding. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that 11.7 million people were facing acute hunger between June and September, an increase by nearly 2 million, compared to the same period last year. The deepening food crisis in Sudan is caused mainly by the county’s fragile economy, prolonged dry spells, reduced areas cultivated and erratic rainfall, said the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization. The dark assessment comes as the East African nation has plunged into turmoil since a military coup in October. It upended the country’s short-lived transiti

Taipei, Taiwan:  While China’s live-fire drills encircling Taiwan were taking place from Thursday, Chinese hackers covered a Kaohsiung government website with a China flag picture for over 10 hours from late Friday to Saturday morning, reported Taiwan News.On Friday morning, it was admitted the website of Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs crashed for a few hours on Aug 2, 4, and 5.The ministry explained there was a brute force attempt to crash the server, with up to 17 million times per minute access attempts from numerous Chinese and Russian IP addresses, reported Taiwan News.As a result, central government agencies were told to stay on high alert for malicious internet activities.People familiar with the matter told Taiwan News that central government agencies have been ordered