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US VP Harris visits Philippine island near China-claimed waters
US Vice President Kamala Harris on Tuesday visited a Philippine island near waters claimed by China to show support for the longtime US ally and counter Beijing's growing influence in the region. Harris is the highest-ranking US official ever to visit the western island of Palawan, the closest Philippine landmass to the Spratly archipelago in the hotly contested South China Sea.
Power out as 7.0 quake hits Solomon Islands
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake struck the Solomon Islands on Tuesday, with eyewitnesses reporting violent shaking that hurled items to the ground and knocked out power in parts of the capital Honiara. An AFP reporter in Honiara said the shaking lasted for around 20 seconds.
US, China defence chiefs meet in Cambodia
US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin met his Chinese counterpart Wei Fenghe in Cambodia on Tuesday as the two sides move to keep tensions in check. The meeting on the sidelines of a conference of defence ministers in Siem Reap is the first between Austin and Wei since June, before a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan sparked fury in Beijing.
Beijing sees record Covid cases as China outbreak spirals
China's capital Beijing posted a record number of new Covid cases on Tuesday, with the city hunkering down under a tightening chokehold of restrictions that have sent schools online, closed many restaurants and forced employees to work from home. New cases in Beijing have also jumped in recent days, more than doubling from 621 on Sunday to Tuesday's 1,438 -- a pandemic record for the city.
Asian markets struggle as China Covid worries build
Growing fears about China's latest Covid-19 outbreaks Tuesday rattled investors, who fear authorities will revert to highly restrictive containment measures that have already dealt a chilling blow to the world's number two economy this year. "Some investors are convinced that China's reopening is a formality and will be catalysed by the (World Health Organization) downgrading Covid to an endemic.
36 killed in central China fire
Thirty-six people were killed and two were missing after a fire at a plant in central China, state media said Tuesday, citing local authorities. And last year, a gas blast killed 25 people and reduced several buildings to rubble in the central city of Shiyan.
Australian tells of Myanmar jail squalor, torture fear
An Australian economist released last week after nearly two years in a Myanmar jail on Tuesday told of interrogations in leg irons, squalor and the sounds of screams from tortured cellmates. Turnell told the paper he was initially kept at Yangon's Insein prison in a six metre by 2.5 metre concrete cell in which an iron chair with leg irons had been bolted to the floor.
Hunt for buried survivors after Indonesia quake kills 162
Rescuers searched on Tuesday for survivors buried under rubble after a strong earthquake on Indonesia's main island of Java killed 162 people, injured hundreds and left more feared trapped in collapsed buildings. "The room collapsed and my legs were buried under the rubble.
Health or jobs: Peruvian mining town at a crossroads
The Peruvian mining city of La Oroya, one of the most polluted places in the world, is seeking to reopen a heavy metal smelter that poisoned residents for almost a century. - A lifetime of disease - In 2011, La Oroya was listed as the second-most polluted city on Earth, falling into fifth place two years later, according to the Blacksmith Institute, an NGO which works on pollution issues.
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