It’s the third time this year American vessels entered the strait in a move certain to stoke tensions with China. The United States sent two Navy ships through the Taiwan Strait, the third such operation this year as the US military increases operations in the strategic waterway despite opposition from China. The voyage on Wednesday will add to tensions with China, but is likely to… Read more »
Despite ballot-box failure, proponents say it’s only a matter of time before same-sex marriage is written into law. Taipei, Taiwan – “Every defeat is a deeper blow. But we’ll keep on fighting until we are free,” sings American singer-songwriter Ellery Prescott in his song Keep on Fighting. He dedicates it to Taiwan’s marriage equality movement. It may still be the first… Read more »
Eddie Chu hits back at claim he implicitly supports independence, considers challenging ‘ridiculous’ decision in court. Hong Kong authorities have barred a pro-democracy legislator from running in a local election due to his “implicit” support for Hong Kong’s independence from China, in what critics say is another instance of civil rights being eroded in the Beijing-ruled city. Eddie Chu Hoi-dick, 40, a former journalist… Read more »
It has been a little over a decade since a train from South Korea has entered North Korea. On Friday, that long wait was over. A train carrying South Korean engineers had crossed the border into North Korea, in an attempt to restore the railways to link the two countries together. This was promised in an agreement that was made… Read more »
Two policemen were killed on Friday when gunmen stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi, officials said, with the attack claimed by a separatist group which branded Beijing “an oppressor”. Pakistani authorities said that security forces had secured the area after the attack, the latest in a series of assaults on Chinese nationals, including workers involved in a multi-billion dollar… Read more »
Taiwan began voting on Saturday in local elections, a key test of support for the island’s pro-independence ruling party ahead of presidential polls in just over a year, and will also hold a referendum on same-sex marriage. The results will be closely watched in China, which claims self-ruled and proudly democratic Taiwan as its own and which has ramped up pressure on… Read more »
Indonesian investigators said on Wednesday a Lion Air Boeing 737 jet that plunged into the sea, killing 189 people onboard, was not airworthy on a flight the day before it crashed on Oct. 29. The Oct. 28 flight from Bali to Jakarta had experienced similar technical issues to the doomed flight the next day from Jakarta to Pangkal Pinang, said Nurcahyo Utomo,… Read more »
A train carrying South Korean engineers and officials crossed into the North on Friday to begin a landmark joint survey to reconnect railway tracks between the two Koreas. Linking up the railway systems was one of the agreements made earlier this year in a key meeting between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in. It is the first time since… Read more »
A video posted on YouTube by university professor He Jiankui said that the twin girls, born a few weeks ago, had had their DNA altered to prevent them from contracting HIV, prompting a heated debate among the scientific community. As experts cast doubt over the claimed breakthrough and others decried it as a modern form of eugenics, China’s National Health… Read more »