24-04-2023 Bureau Report + Agencies CANBERRA/ SYDNEY: Australia will speed up efforts to buy longer range missiles to counter the growing threat from China, a major defence review says. It warns the country can no longer be protected by its geographic isolation in the “missile age”. The government will spend …

24-04-2023 OUAGADOUGOU/ BAMAKO: Almost 70 civilians have been killed in a village in northern Burkina Faso, according to the local prosecutor who announced an investigation into the attack. Citing information from police in the town of Ouahigouya, prosecutor Lamine Kabore said the attack took place on Friday in the village …

24-04-2023 KYIV: Ukraine has condemned what it called “absurd” comments from China’s ambassador to France, who questioned the sovereignty of former Soviet countries. France and the Baltic states of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania have also expressed dismay over the remarks. Asked about his position on whether Crimea is part of …

24-04-2023 DOWNTOWN SAIGON: World military spending reached an all-time high of $2.24 trillion in 2022, as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine fueled a sharp jump in military spending across Europe, according to a leading defence think tank. Global spending rose for the eighth consecutive year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute …

24-04-2023 MOSCOW: Russia has announced tit-for-tat expulsion of more than 20 German diplomats following the “mass” removal of Russian embassy staff from the country and accused Berlin of destroying ties, Russian state media said. Foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told state-run television Zvezda on Saturday that “more than 20” German …

24-04-2023 PRETORIA: outh African police have evicted more than 100 asylum seekers camping for over three years outside the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) offices in Pretoria. The asylum seekers began living in makeshift tents pitched outside the UNHCR offices as they asked to be relocated to other countries …

24-04-2023 TOKYO: Japan has activated missile interceptors and is preparing to shoot down any fragments from a North Korean satellite that may fall on Japanese territory. Defence Minister Yasukazu Hamada on Saturday instructed troops to ready PAC-3 surface-to-air missiles in southwestern Japan, including Okinawa and nearby islands, in an area …

24-04-2023 BRASILIA: Brazilian President Luiz Ignacio Lula da Silva has called for a “negotiated” settlement to the Russia-Ukraine war and said he does not want to “please anyone” with his views about the conflict. Lula, who is seeking to revive Brazil’s role as a dealmaker and go-between, angered Ukraine by …

24-04-2023 BEIJING: Chinese Vice Foreign Minister Sun Weidong has lodged a complaint with South Korea’s ambassador to Beijing over “erroneous” remarks by the South Korean president about Taiwan, China’s foreign ministry says. South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol’s remarks were “totally unacceptable”, Sun told the ambassador, and he also expressed “strong …

24-04-2023 WASHINGTON/ KHARTOUM: United States embassy staff and their families have been evacuated by US forces from Sudan’s war-torn capital Khartoum, President Joe Biden said, as fighting between the Sudanese army and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) entered a second week with hundreds killed and thousands injured. “On my …