Japan’s Suga jumps in popularity, tops favourability poll for next PM
TOKYO – Japan’s Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga is now the most preferred candidate among the public to become the next prime minister, surging in popularity after he entered his…
UNICEF says drugmakers can produce unprecedented vaccine quantities for COVID-19
NEW YORK – Unprecedented quantities of vaccines could be produced by 28 manufacturers in 10 countries over the next two years to tackle the COVID-19 pandemic, the UN children’s agency…
Ship carrying livestock and crew missing off Japan coast: NHK
WELLINGTON – The Japanese coastguard is looking for a cargo ship carrying livestock and dozens of crew members that went missing after issuing a distress signal due to typhoon Maysak,…
‘I am Taiwanese,’ Czech speaker says, angering China
TAIPEI/BERLIN – The head of the Czech Senate has declared himself to be Taiwanese in a speech at Taiwan’s parliament, channelling the late US President John F. Kennedy’s defiance of…
Brazil police to arrest more than 400 people in drug gang crackdown
RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazilian police say they are seeking the arrest of more than 400 people with alleged links to criminal gangs, in a major nationwide operation involving more…
Baltic states hit Lukashenko, other Belarus officials with sanctions
VILNIUS – Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia have imposed travel bans on President Alexander Lukashenko and 29 other Belarusian officials, signaling impatience with the West’s cautious approach by announcing sanctions without…
Japanese PM Abe resigns over worsening health
TOKYO – Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, Japan‘s longest-serving premier, has announced his resignation because of poor health, ending a stint at the helm of the world’s third-biggest economy in which he…
Trump assails rival Biden in White House speech accepting nomination
WASHINGTON – A defiant President Donald Trump has accepted the Republican nomination for a second term with a scathing attack on rival Joe Biden, asserting that a Democratic victory in…
Young Hong Kong democracy protester says he was beaten by prison guards
HONG KONG – A 21-year-old man told Reuters he was beaten and humiliated by guards in a Hong Kong prison during his sentence for possessing a Molotov cocktail at an…
Hurricane Laura slams Louisiana, kills six, but less damage than forecast
LAKE CHARLES, La. – Hurricane Laura tore through Louisiana on Thursday, killing six people and flattening buildings across a wide swatch of the state before moving into Arkansas with heavy…
