TOKYO (AP) — Images taken by miniature drones from deep inside a badly damaged reactor at the Fukushima nuclear plant show displaced control equipment and misshapen materials but leave many questions unanswered, underscoring the daunting task of decommissioning the plant. The 12 photos released by the plant’s operator are the first from inside the main … Read more
BENGALURU, India (AP) — Bhavani Mani Muthuvel and her family of nine have around five 20-liter (5-gallon) buckets worth of water for the week for cooking, cleaning and household chores. “From taking showers to using toilets and washing clothes, we are taking turns to do everything,” she said. It’s the only water they can afford. … Read more
BEIJING (AP) — China on Tuesday announced a 7.2% increase in its defense budget, which is already the world’s second-highest behind the United States at 1.6 trillion yuan ($222 billion), roughly mirroring last year’s rise. Tensions with the U.S., Taiwan, Japan and neighbors with competing claims to the crucial South China Sea are seen as … Read more
MANILA, Philippines (AP) — Chinese and Philippine coast guard vessels collided in the disputed South China Sea and four Filipino crew members were injured Tuesday in high-seas confrontations as Southeast Asian leaders gathered for an Asian summit where alarm over Beijing’s aggression at sea was expected to be raised. The Chinese coast guard ships and … Read more
HANOI, Vietnam (AP) — Real estate tycoon Truong My Lan faces the death penalty in a trial that began Tuesday over alleged fraud amounting to $12.5 billion — nearly 3% of the country’s 2022 GDP and Vietnam’s largest financial fraud case on record. The 66-year-old chair of the real estate company Van Thinh Phat allegedly … Read more
OSLO, Norway (AP) — An airplane carrying Norway’s King Harald V arrived in Oslo on Sunday, a day after he was implanted with a pacemaker while on holiday in Malaysia. Europe’s oldest reigning monarch was hospitalized for an infection during a private vacation on the northern resort island of Langkawi, the royal house said last … Read more
LANGKAWI, Malaysia (AP) — A Scandinavian Airlines medical evacuation plane arrived on Friday in Malaysia’s northern resort island of Langkawi, where the Norwegian king is in hospital and being treated for an infection. King Harald V, Europe’s oldest monarch at 87, was hospitalized after he fell ill during a vacation, the royal palace in Oslo … Read more
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — Tuvalu’s former Attorney General Feleti Teo was named prime minister of the tiny South Pacific nation Monday after elections a month ago ousted the last government leader. Teo was the only candidate nominated by his 15 lawmaker colleagues and Governor General Tofiga Vaevalu Falani declared him elected without a vote, government … Read more
MELBOURNE, Australia (AP) — A China-born Australian democracy blogger will not appeal his suspended death sentence imposed by a Beijing court, with his family saying Wednesday a legal challenge would be detrimental to his welfare. Yang Hengjun was found guilty of espionage following a closed trial and sentenced two weeks ago to death with a … Read more
BANGKOK (AP) — Thailand’s former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the Southeast Asian nation’s most controversial politician for more than two decades, was released on parole early Sunday from a Bangkok hospital where he spent six months serving time for corruption-related offenses. The telecoms billionaire was toppled in a 2006 coup but voluntarily returned from self-exile … Read more