On Sunday, the U.S. military sent two Navy warships, the William P. Lawrence and Stethem, through the Taiwan Straight to show their support for Taiwan. The Taiwan Straight is located north of the South China Sea, an unclaimed sea that is disputed over by China and other Pacific islands. While the United States does not have formal ties with Taiwan,… Read more »
OTTAWA (Reuters) – The leaders of Canada and Japan on Sunday touted the benefits of a Pacific trade deal that U.S. President Donald Trump walked away from and said the pact should serve as a model for future agreements. The landmark 11-country trade deal, a revamped version of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), came into force last December. It does not… Read more »
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. military said it sent two Navy warships through the Taiwan Strait on Sunday as the Pentagon increases the frequency of movement through the strategic waterway despite opposition from China. The voyage risks further raising tensions with China but will likely be viewed by self-ruled Taiwan as a sign of support from the Trump administration amid growing… Read more »
Global pandemics that impact on food supplies are scary things. The latest threat comes from African swine fever, a highly contagious virus with no known cure, and a near zero survival rate for infected pigs. The good news is that the disease is not harmful to human health. The bad news is that it will probably hurt our wallets. The… Read more »
Thousands of people protested in Hong Kong over a proposed law change that would allow suspects to be sent to mainland China for trial. Officials say they need to amend the law before July so that they can extradite a murder suspect to Taiwan. Demonstrators – some marching with umbrellas – fear Beijing is trying to exert more power over the… Read more »
With India’s election coming up soon, candidates are competing for the position of Prime Minister. The two front runners include Narendra Modi, who is the current Prime Minister, and Rahul Ghandi, who is a fourth generation member of the Nehru-Gandhi dynasty that has ruled India for much of its history since independence from Britain in 1947. Ghandi has taken the… Read more »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – If Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi wins this spring’s general election, as is widely expected, it will also be another massive victory for the marketing machine created to amplify Brand Modi into every Indian living room. Opinion polls regularly show Modi is India’s most popular politician, and to turn that appeal into votes, his ruling Bharatiya… Read more »
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Indian opposition leader Rahul Gandhi filed his papers on Thursday to run for parliament from a southern constituency, aiming to strengthen his Congress party’s prospects in a region where the ruling Hindu nationalists have a limited presence. Although surveys show Congress is trailing Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the elections that begin… Read more »
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte told China on Thursday to “lay off” an island occupied by Manila in the disputed South China Sea and said he would deploy his soldiers there if Beijing touches it. Duterte’s remarks, which he said was not a warning but rather a word of advice to a friend, follow a statement made by… Read more »
MALE (Reuters) – The Maldives heads for a parliamentary election on Saturday with President Ibrahim Mohamed Solih seeking a majority for his party to investigate debts to China, which it fears could run as high as $3 billion and risk sinking the economy. Since he unseated pro-China leader Abdulla Yameen in September, Solih’s Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP), which has governed… Read more »