Category: WORLD NEWS

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken renewed a call to China to comply with a 2016 arbitration ruling that invalidated Beijing’s vast claims in the South China Sea and warned that Washington is obligated to defend treaty ally Philippines if its forces, vessels or aircraft come under attack in the disputed waters. Blinken’s statement, issued by the U.S. Embassy in Manila on Tuesday, was released on the sixth anniversary of the 2016 decision by an arbitration tribunal set up in The Hague under the United Nations Convention on the Law…

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By Hugo Dobson, Professor of Japan’s International Relations, University of Sheffield and Kristian Magnus Hauken, Teaching Associate in East Asian Studies, University of Sheffield Sheffield (UK), Jul 9 (The Conversation) Our reaction upon hearing the news of the shooting of former prime minister Shinzo Abe was one of shock and incredulity in equal measure. What followed was a frenzy of trying to piece news reports and gossip together to make sense of events, until his eventual death was announced a few hours later. At first glance, Abe’s assassination harks back…

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President Joe Biden, preparing for a trip to Saudi Arabia amid criticism of its poor human rights record, defended his decision in a newspaper opinion piece, insisting that he had long supported reforms and sought to reorient but not rupture relations with a longstanding strategic partner. In the article posted online Saturday night by The Washington Post, Biden pointed to developments in the Middle East that he contended had made the region more stable and secure than when the Trump administration ended, among them intense diplomacy as well as military…

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More than 30,000 residents of Sydney and its surrounds have been told to evacuate or prepare to abandon their homes on Monday as Australia’s largest city braces for what could be its worst flooding in 18 months. Parts of the city of 5 million people are facing a fourth flooding emergency in a year and a half after torrential rain since Friday caused dams to overflow and waterways to break their banks. The latest information we have is that there’s a very good chance that the flooding will be worse…

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 A gunman opened fire inside a busy shopping mall in the Danish capital on Sunday, killing several people and wounding several others, police said. A 22-year-old Danish man was arrested after the shooting, Copenhagen police inspector S ren Thomassen told reporters, adding there was no indication that anyone else was involved, though police were still investigating. He said it was too early to speculate on the motive for the shooting, which happened in the late afternoon at Field’s, one of the biggest shopping malls in Scandinavia, located on the outskirts…

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New York has expanded legal protections for people seeking and providing abortions in the state under legislation signed by Gov. Kathy Hochul on Monday. The Democratic governor pushed for the laws in anticipation of the US Supreme Court potentially overruling its 1973 Roe v. Wade’s decision, which established a constitutional right to abortion. A ruling that could weaken or end abortion protections is expected as early as this week, and abortion providers are worried New York will see a surge in out-of-state residents. Today, we are taking action to protect…

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Ukrainian and British officials warned Saturday that Russian forces are relying on weapons able to cause mass casualties as they try to make headway in capturing eastern Ukraine and fierce, prolonged fighting depletes resources on both sides. Russian bombers have likely been launching heavy 1960s-era anti-ship missiles in Ukraine, the UK Defence Ministry said. The Kh-22 missiles were primarily designed to destroy aircraft carriers using a nuclear warhead. When used in ground attacks with conventional warheads, they are highly inaccurate and therefore can cause severe collateral damage and casualties, the…

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 US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman met with her counterparts from South Korea and Japan on Wednesday, emphasising the US commitment to defend its allies and trilateral security cooperation to confront an accelerating nuclear threat from North Korea. The latest top-level meetings between the countries came as North Korea apparently presses ahead with preparations for its first nuclear test explosion in nearly five years, which US officials say could occur in the coming days. After a meeting in Seoul, Sherman and the South Korean and Japanese vice foreign ministers…

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US Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman on Tuesday warned of a forceful response if North Korea carries out its first nuclear test explosion in nearly five years as she travelled to Seoul to meet with South Korean and Japanese allies and discuss the escalating standoff. US and South Korean officials have said North Korea is all but ready to conduct another detonation at its nuclear testing ground in the northeastern town of Punggye-ri, which last hosted a test in September 2017, when it claimed to have detonated a thermonuclear…

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UK’s embattled Prime Minister Boris Johnson will face a vote of confidence in his leadership of the Conservative Party on Monday, the chair of the party’s backbench committee announced, days after more details of the partygate scandal at Downing Street emerged. Sir Graham Brady, who is in-charge of collating the letters of no-confidence received by the 1922 Committee, said the threshold of 15 per cent of the Tory parliamentary party, or 54 MPs, seeking such a vote has been met and it will take place on Monday evening in the…

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