Deterrence is necessary in Asia in the face of “threats from the Communist Chinese,” US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in Manila on Friday as he opened his first visit to Asia in his role under a cloud of scrutiny for discussing American war plans on Signal. The US has an “ironclad commitment” to the US-Philippines alliance, Hegseth said in ...
Australians will go to the polls on May 3 for general elections with high costs of living and a shortage of housing likely weighing against the government as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s center-left Labor Party seeks a second three-year term. Albanese drove to Governor-General Sam Mostyn’s official residence on Friday to trigger the election and announced the date later at ...
A powerful 7.7 earthquake hit central Myanmar on Friday, close to the country’s second city of Mandalay, home to around 1 million people and historic temple complexes, with tremors shaking buildings as far away as the Thai capital of Bangkok. Video posted online from both countries showed panicked residents running from swaying residential towers as dust fills the air, and ...
A former police officer who fatally Tasered a 95-year-old Australian woman after she refused his orders to drop a knife has been spared jail, with the victim’s family decrying the sentence as a “slap on the wrist.” Kristian White was found guilty of manslaughter after shocking Clare Nowland with the Taser while on police duty in the early hours of ...
Editor’s Note: Warning: This article contains descriptions of torture. Saman Yasin thought he was leaving prison. It was 5 a.m. and the guards had just told him to pack up his belongings. But the next thing he knew, he was blindfolded with a noose around his neck. “I could tell that they had brought in a cleric, and he was ...
Communities across the Australian state of Queensland are bracing for more rain after record-breaking floods cut off roads and inundated vast areas of the region’s outback. Several areas in western Queensland have recorded their worst flooding in 50 years after days of heavy rainfall engorged rivers and forced residents to evacuate. “This flooding situation is expected to continue not just ...
At 64 and 60 years old, Antoinette and Brucie-Baby are thin and bony. Their skin hangs looser than it did in their youth, but their eyes still gleam with energy. But these aren’t just any sexagenarians we’re talking about; these are geckos, believed to be the world’s oldest on record, discovered on a small island in New Zealand. Marieke Lettink, ...
Four US Army soldiers went missing during a training mission close to Lithuania’s border with Belarus, military officials said Wednesday, and a search is underway. The soldiers were reported missing on Tuesday in a training area near the city of Pabrade at approximately 4:45 p.m. (10:45 a.m. ET), the Lithuanian Armed Forces said in a Wednesday statement. “The soldiers, all ...
A Russian military court has handed down long prison sentences to several members of Ukraine’s Azov Regiment, which led the defense of the key city of Mariupol during the early months of the war. The defendants were convicted on Wednesday of charges including violent seizure of power and participation in a terrorist organization and given prison terms ranging from 13 ...
Belal Abu Zaid, a Palestinian from northern Gaza, took to the streets alongside hundreds of others on Tuesday to protest against Israel’s war and the Palestinian militant group Hamas – both of which he blames for bringing destruction to the enclave. Israel, he says, is primarily to blame for Gaza’s misery, but Hamas also carries responsibility. Palestinians demonstrated against Hamas ...