Taiwan’s presidential office held a “tabletop” exercise on Thursday simulating military escalations by China, a first-of-its-kind drill involving government agencies beyond the armed forces that highlights Taipei’s urgency in ensuring preparedness against an increasingly assertive Beijing. The simulation involved central and local government units and civil groups, and was aimed at testing governmental responses to various scenarios if cross-strait tensions ...
China has launched its first next-generation amphibious assault ship, adding a powerful cutting-edge warship to the country’s fast-expanding navy as it races to rival the military power of the United States. The Type 076 amphibious assault ship entered the water on Friday at a launch ceremony at a shipyard in Shanghai, the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) said in a ...
Staff at a hospital in northern Gaza say the building has been surrounded by Israeli forces and they are being ordered to evacuate along with all patients, after reports of a nearby airstrike that the local health ministry said killed about 50 people. Israeli forces “are besieging Kamal Adwan Hospital and issuing orders for its evacuation,” hospital director Dr. Hussam ...
The signs point to a Russian system striking Azerbaijan Airlines flight J2-8243 before it crashed near the city of Aktau, the US official said Thursday. This is the first time the US has offered an assessment of Wednesday’s crash, which killed at least 38 of the 67 people aboard the plane. If the early indications are ultimately confirmed, it may ...
German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Friday dissolved the country’s lower house of parliament to pave the way for snap elections on February 23 following the collapse of Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s three-way coalition. “Especially in difficult times, like now, stability requires a government capable of acting, and reliable majorities in parliament,” which was why early elections were the right way forward ...
At least 10 people were killed and several wounded when a Nigerian military fighter jet pursuing bandits in two villages mistakenly bombed civilians in the northwestern state of Sokoto on Wednesday, the state governor Ahmed Aliyu said. “The military jets were on their mission to eliminate criminal armed groups terrorizing the state, and mistakenly bombed innocent people of this community,” ...
A Starbucks barista strike is expanding to 5,000 workers at what organizers said was more than 300 stores in 45 states, just as the company’s busy holiday stretch begins. Though it still represents only about 3% of all U.S. Starbucks locations, it’s an expansion of an action that began last week in three cities. Organized by the Service Employees International ...
If the Covid era marked a boom time for digital health companies, 2024 was the reckoning. In a year that saw the Nasdaq jump 32%, surpassing 20,000 for the first time this month, health tech providers largely suffered. Of 39 public digital health companies analyzed by CNBC, roughly two-thirds are down for the year. Others are now out of business. ...
King Charles III has used his Christmas message to hail the efforts of healthcare workers and all those who support others, praising the medical staff who provided “strength, care and comfort” during his and the Princess of Wales’ cancer treatments. In his third Christmas address, the 76-year-old British sovereign spoke of how “all of us go through some form of ...
Saudi Arabia executed 330 people this year, the highest number in decades, despite de facto ruler Mohammed bin Salman’s 2022 assertion that the death penalty had been eliminated except for murder cases under his vision for a new open kingdom. The country is spending billions to transform its reputation for strict religious restrictions and human rights abuses into that of ...