BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s next-generation crewed spacecraft, which can transport up to seven astronauts, may fly for the first time between 2027 and 2028, a veteran Chinese astronaut said. China’s manned space flights began in 2003 when former fighter pilot, Yang Liwei, was sent into orbit in a small bronze-coloured capsule, the Shenzhou-5, becoming China’s…
SEOUL (Reuters) – For the first time since the 1980s a U.S. nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine (SSBN) is in South Korea, a senior U.S. official said on Tuesday, as the allies launched talks to coordinate responses in the event of a nuclear war with North Korea. White House Indo-Pacific coordinator Kurt Campbell announced the long-expected…
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan is looking to buy National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems, or NASAMS, from the United States to upgrade its air defence capabilities having seen how well they work in Ukraine, the island’s defence minister said on Tuesday. China, which claims Taiwan as its own territory, has stepped up military and political pressure…
By Liliana Salgado PHOENIX (Reuters) -Asia, Europe and the United States baked under extreme heat on Monday as global temperatures soared toward alarming highs and U.S. leaders sought to reignite climate diplomacy with China. The United States was scorched by record-setting heat in the West and South, lashed with flood-triggering rain in the Northeast, and…
(Reuters) – France’s President Emmanuel Macron will visit Papua New Guinea next week, the latest world leader to visit the Pacific Islands nation which says it is “neutral ground” amid competition between China and the U.S. for influence in the region. Papua New Guinea’s Prime Minister James Marape said in a statement on Tuesday that…
By Chris Thomas and Sethuraman N R BENGALURU (Reuters) -India’s Adani Group is confident of its governance and disclosure standards after a top court panel found no lapses at the conglomerate, its chairman said on Tuesday, calling a U.S. short-seller’s report earlier this year a “malicious attempt” at damaging its reputation. The panel “confirmed the…
By Richard Cowan WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Maverick Democratic Senator Joe Manchin on Monday said he believed that having a third-party candidate run in the 2024 U.S. presidential election would “threaten” the two major political parties into tacking towards more moderate positions as their only path to victory. The former West Virginia governor left open the door…
KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) – Malaysian police said on Tuesday they had opened an investigation into the disappearance this month of a Myanmar democracy activist and her family, who are U.N. refugee card holders. Human Rights Watch (HRW) this week said Thuzar Maung, 46, her husband and three children, were feared abducted “in a planned operation”…
By Soo-hyang Choi SEOUL (Reuters) -South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol on Tuesday called for an overhaul of the country’s disaster response system to better cope with climate change-induced crises, after days of torrential rain killed dozens of people in the country. More than 40 people have lost their lives and nine remain missing in…
By Ju-min Park and Hyun Young Yi SEOUL (Reuters) -A year after South Korea vowed to step up readiness for extreme weather driven by climate change, experts say not enough work has been done even as greater volumes of sudden and torrential rains are expected in coming decades. Forty or more people have lost their…