26 dead, dozens hospitalised in China building fire: state media

BEIJING (AFP): Twenty-six people have died and dozens were sent to hospital after a fire tore through a building in northern China's Shanxi province on Thursday (Nov 16), state media reported. The fire started at a four-storey building belonging to the Yongju coal company in Shanxi province's Luliang city at around 6.50am local time, state media...

New Zealand prime minister-elect will not attend APEC, government says

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon will not attend APEC in San Francisco and instead the country's caretaker trade minister will represent the country, the political parties confirmed on Tuesday. A spokesperson for the caretaker government said Damien O'Connor, who remains the country's trade minister until a new government is sworn in, will...

Indonesia to host K-pop award show Golden Disc Awards for the first time

JAKARTA (The Jakarta Post): The 38th edition of Golden Disc Awards, one of South Korea’s oldest and famed music award shows, is set to be held in Jakarta for the first time, marking Indonesia’s increasing relevance as one of the largest K-pop consumer markets in the world. The show will be held on Jan 6, 2024,...

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...