Senior Ukrainian officer coordinated Nord Stream attack: Washington Post

KYIV (Reuters) - A Ukrainian military officer coordinated last year's attack on the Nord Stream natural gas pipeline, the Washington Post reported on Saturday, citing anonymous sources in Ukraine and Europe. No one has taken responsibility for the September 2022 blasts, which occurred off the Danish island of Bornholm and ruptured three out of four lines...

Portugal’s PM soothes investors after resignation over corruption probe

LISBON (Reuters) - Portugal's premier Antonio Costa, who resigned this week, told foreign investors on Saturday the country was open for business and wanted to remain attractive despite an ongoing corruption probe into "green" energy projects. Costa stepped down on Tuesday over an investigation into alleged illegalities in his government's handling of lithium and hydrogen projects,...

Russia renews missile attacks on Kyiv, pounds Ukraine’s east and south

KYIV (Reuters) -Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine's capital Kyiv and the nearby region for the first time in weeks on Saturday and pounded the east and south of the country with drones, Ukrainian officials said. Serhiy Popko, head of the Kyiv city military administration, said a Russian ballistic missile was launched toward the capital...

Jimmy Lai’s trial will spark new smear campaign against Hong Kong but people will also see how ‘bad’ his actions were, says security minister

Hong Kong’s security minister Chris Tang Ping-keung expects the trial of media tycoon Jimmy Lai Chee-ying to spark a fresh wave of smear campaigns against the city, but he was confident the open hearing will also reveal the extent of the “bad” crimes the Apple Daily founder had allegedly committed. Lai, 75, is facing charges of sedition and...

BMA cautions Bangkok residents of high PM2.5 levels from Nov 9-12

BANGKOK: Bangkok residents should beware of harmful levels of PM2.5 from Nov 9-12, the city administration cautioned on Wednesday (Nov 8). The assistant secretary to the Bangkok governor and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) spokesman, Aekvarunyoo Amrapala, said that due to co-related factors and the weather, air quality was expected to be poor from Nov 9-12. The concentration...

Taiwan’s land squeeze pits advanced chips against ancestral temples

HSINCHU/LONGTAN, Taiwan (Reuters) - Wearing rain ponchos and holding photos of their ancestral temples near Hsinchu, Taiwan's semiconductor capital, 40 residents braved lashing winds in early October to protest plans to take their rural land for cutting-edge chip production. Two weeks later, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co Ltd (TSMC), the world's largest contract chipmaker, dropped plans to...

Fitness gym collapse kills 3 in China’s Heilongjiang province

BEIJING (Reuters): Three people were killed and one injured after a structural collapse at a fitness club in northeast China's Heilongjiang province, local officials said on Tuesday (Nov 7). Government officials and state media said seven people were in the Yuecheng Fitness Gymnasium in Jiamusi city, Huanan County, when it collapsed late on Monday. Officials said rescue...

Man in S.Korea arrested for assaulting woman for having short hair

SEOUL: A man in his 20s has been arrested by police for assaulting a female convenience store clerk for having short hair, according to police officials in Jinju, South Gyeongsang Province. According to police, the man allegedly told her: “Since you have short hair, you must be a feminist. I’m a male chauvinist, and I think...

Cambodia’s largest ever wholesale market set to open by end of year

PHNOM PENH (Phnom Penh Post/ANN): Cambodia's Asean-International Wholesale Market, also known as Deum Kor Thmey – the country's largest wholesale marketplace – is set to open by the end of the year. Presently, approximately 70 per cent of traders have completed their registrations. Located along Win-Win Blvd in Kork Roka commune of Phnom Penh’s Prek Pnov district,...

Singapore deputy PM Wong to lead ruling party before general election – PM

SINGAPORE (Reuters) -Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Sunday said he will hand leadership of the ruling People's Action Party to Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong as soon as the party's 70th anniversary in November 2024, a year before an election is due. The party is widely expected to extend its dominance of a nation...