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    Taiwan coast guard says deploys vessels in response to China operation

    TAIPEI — Taiwan's coast guard said Sunday it has deployed vessels "to respond appropriately" to a Chinese operation in waters east of the island democracy, which it said "violates international law". It comes after Chinese state media reported Saturday that the "law enforcement operation" was in response to talks between Japan and the Philippines to draw a boundary in the affected waters. China, which asserts Taiwan is part of its territory, called the talks "illegal" and has claimed exclusive control over the waters. The Chinese ships have been monitored "throughout the entire process" and Taiwan "has deployed the necessary vessels to respond appropriately," the Taiwanese coast guard said in a statement. Taiwan said it had detected four Chinese government vessels departing from Xiamen port which had sailed outside Taiwanese restricted waters southwest of the island. Taiwan's coast guard dispatched more than five vessels "to assist with surveillance". The Chinese vessels were expected to arrive "in the relevant waters" on Sunday, the statement said, adding that "China does not enjoy any

    2 MIN READBy AFP
    Taiwan coast guard says deploys vessels in response to China operation
  • World

    Zelenskyy accuses Russia of deliberate strike on Chernobyl facility

    2 MIN READBy DPA
    Zelenskyy accuses Russia of deliberate strike on Chernobyl facility
  • World

    US plan to use Iranian assets for Gulf reconstruction: reports

    1 MIN READBy DPA
    US plan to use Iranian assets for Gulf reconstruction: reports
  • World

    Is the dream over? Mainland students rethink Hong Kong over costs and cultural fit

    4 MIN READBy SCMP
    Is the dream over? Mainland students rethink Hong Kong over costs and cultural fit
  • World

    Iran FM urges Lebanon president to save country from 'real foe'

    1 MIN READBy AFP
    Iran FM urges Lebanon president to save country from 'real foe'
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World

What to know as US tries to open Strait of Hormuz and ceasefire wavers

The ceasefire in the Iran war abruptly faced its most perilous moment Monday after the United States began trying to open the Strait of Hormuz to allow hundreds of stranded commercial ships sail out. There had been warning signs in the hours before the United Arab Emirates said it came under attack for the first time since the early April ceasefire, and before a British military monitor said two cargo vessels were ablaze off the UAE. Iran had called the new U.S. military-aided effort to guide ships through the strait a violation of the fragile, three-week ceasefire. There were few signs of ships taking advantage of “Project Freedom,” announced Sunday by President Donald Trump, though the U.S. said two U.S.-flagged merchant ships safely transited with its help. Caution is quickly growing among shippers, and in markets , over the lack of details from Washington. Who would risk their crew and cargo to possible Iranian fire? Here’s what to know. U.S. appears to be going it alone Iran’s grip on the crucial waterway has left hundreds of commercial ships and tens of thousands of sailors s

May 5, 2026By AP
What to know as US tries to open Strait of Hormuz and ceasefire wavers
World

Fujairah oil zone fire after drone strike; UAE intercepts Iran missiles

Fire broke out at a major UAE oil industry zone on Monday after a drone attack originating from Iran, authorities said, as the Gulf state's military separately intercepted three Iranian missiles over its waters and a fourth crashed into the sea. Civil defence teams were deployed immediately to contain the blaze at the Fujairah Oil Industry Zone, the Fujairah Media Office said in a statement, adding that three Indian citizens were moderately injured in the attack and taken to hospital. The UAE defence ministry said on X that its forces had intercepted three missiles, with a fourth falling into the sea. Iran's Revolutionary Guards Navy issued a map it said showed an expansion of areas under Iranian control near the Strait of Hormuz, encompassing the UAE ports of Fujairah and Khorfakkan as well as the coast of the Umm Al Quwain emirate, Iranian news agencies reported. The drone attacks shattered a period of relative calm in the UAE since a Pakistani-mediated ceasefire between Washington and Tehran took effect on April 8, pausing more than two months of intense fighting in the Gulf region. Du

May 5, 2026By Reuters
Fujairah oil zone fire after drone strike; UAE intercepts Iran missiles
World

USTR to hold public hearings this week on foreign practices tied to excess capacity

WASHINGTON — The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) said Monday that it will hold public hearings this week concerning its trade investigations into South Korea, China, Japan and 13 other countries related to "structural" excess capacity and production in manufacturing sectors. The hearings are set to take place at the U.S. International Trade Commission in Washington from Tuesday through Friday, as the office has been carrying out the investigations under Section 301 of the 1974 Trade Act, which could result in tariffs or other measures. Section 301 is a provision that allows the USTR to investigate unfair foreign trade practices on a country-by-country basis. The investigations were launched in March as the administration is pushing to replace the invalidated country-specific "reciprocal" tariffs struck down by the Supreme Court in February. On the first day of the hearings, a South Korean official plans to explain Seoul's position on the trade investigations. The official is expected to underscore that South Korea's industrial structure is anchored in market economy prin

May 5, 2026By Yonhap
USTR to hold public hearings this week on foreign practices tied to excess capacity
World

US claims progress in reopening Hormuz, saying 2 merchant ships have transited

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military said Monday that two American-flagged merchant ships had successfully transited the Strait of Hormuz after it launched a new initiative to restore traffic. Iran has effectively controlled the critical waterway since the U.S. and Israel launched the war in late February. Breaking Iran’s chokehold over the strait would ease global economic concerns and deny Tehran a major source of leverage in talks aimed at ending the war. But U.S. President Donald Trump's latest effort also risks reigniting full-scale fighting, as the U.S. and Iran steadily ramp up pressure. The United Arab Emirates issued its first missile alert since a ceasefire reached in early April and accused Iran of targeting an oil tanker. An explosion and fire meanwhile broke out aboard a South Korean-operated ship anchored in the strait, though its cause was unknown, the South Korean government said. In another sign of possible escalation, Iran claimed to have struck a U.S. Navy vessel near the strait. The U.S. denied the claim. Iran's effective closure of the strait, which ru

May 5, 2026By AP
US claims progress in reopening Hormuz, saying 2 merchant ships have transited
World

8 Korean adoptees sue Danish state over human rights

COPENHAGEN — Eight people adopted by Danish citizens from South Korea in the 1970s and 1980s are suing Denmark for allegedly denying them the right to their identity, origin and family life, their lawyer said Monday. In the lawsuit, the eight, who were all adopted when they were very young, claim Danish authorities should have known their adoptions were illegal and therefore did not fulfill their responsibility to protect them. The plaintiffs have each sought 250,000 kroner ($39,150) in damages, for a total of two million kroner, citing article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights that refers to the respect of private and family life. "The Danish state had an obligation to ensure that the children were legally allowed to be adopted from their birth families, and that was clearly not the case," their lawyer Viktor Kieler Herskind told AFP. The state should have "actively investigated" the adoption process in South Korea, he said. He claimed successive Danish governments were aware of the murky conditions surrounding adoptions in the Asian country, which sent more than 140,000 chi

May 4, 2026By AFP
8 Korean adoptees sue Danish state over human rights
World

US denies Iran struck military vessel during new effort to reopen Strait of Hormuz

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The U.S. military on Monday denied claims that Iran struck a U.S. Navy vessel as American forces now offer to guide commercial ships through the Strait of Hormuz , where hundreds have been stuck since the Iran war began. Tehran has blocked vessels that don’t receive its authorization. Iranian news agencies, including the semiofficial agency Fars and the Iranian Labour News Agency, claimed that Iran had struck a U.S. vessel near an Iranian port southeast of the strait, accusing it of “violating maritime security and navigation norms.” The reports said the vessel was forced to turn back. The U.S.-led Joint Maritime Information Center advised ships to cross the strait in Oman’s waters, saying it had set up an “enhanced security area.” The U.S. military has said the new initiative might involve guided-missile destroyers, more than 100 aircraft and 15,000 service members but has not specified what kind of assistance or escorts it would provide. It was unclear whether any vessels were attempting to cross the strait, or whether shipping companies, an

May 4, 2026By AP
US denies Iran struck military vessel during new effort to reopen Strait of Hormuz
World

Pope Leo to meet US Secretary of State Rubio Thursday

VATICAN CITY — Pope Leo XIV will meet U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Thursday, the Vatican said Monday, just weeks after serious criticism of the pontiff by U.S. President Donald Trump. The private visit with the top U.S. diplomat, who is a Catholic, will take place at 11:30 a.m. (local time), according to a calendar published on the Vatican's media site. A Vatican source on Sunday confirmed for AFP Italian media reports that the meeting was an attempt to "thaw" relations between the leader of the world's 1.4 billion Catholics and the U.S. government. Rubio is also expected to meet Vatican Secretary of State Pietro Parolin and Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani while in Rome, according to an Italian government source on Sunday. Rubio had also asked for a meeting with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, one of Trump's closest European allies, against whom he turned after she defended the pope, the source added. Leo has increasingly spoken out against international conflicts and the politicians waging them, and last month issued his most forthright critique yet of the Trum

May 4, 2026By AFP
Pope Leo to meet US Secretary of State Rubio Thursday
World

European leaders see Trump's troop drawdown from Germany as new proof they must go it alone

YEREVAN, Armenia — European leaders on Monday said that U.S. President Donald Trump’s snap decision to pull thousands of U.S. troops out of Germany came as a surprise but is a fresh sign that Europe must take care of its own security. The Pentagon announced last week that it would pull some 5,000 troops out of Germany, but Trump told reporters on Saturday that “we’re going to cut way down. And we’re cutting a lot further than 5,000.” He offered no reason for the move, which blindsided NATO, but his decision came amid an escalating dispute with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz over the U.S-Israeli war on Iran, and Trump’s anger that European allies have been reluctant to get involved in the conflict in the Middle East. Asked about the decision to pull out 5,000 troops from Germany, Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre said: “I wouldn’t exaggerate that because I think we are expecting that Europe is taking more charge of its own security. “I do not see those figures as dramatic, but I think they should be handled in a harmonious way inside the framework of NATO,

May 4, 2026By AP
European leaders see Trump's troop drawdown from Germany as new proof they must go it alone
World

What to know about suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. — A rodent-borne illness is suspected of causing an outbreak aboard a cruise ship that has killed three people and sickened others. Studies indicate hantaviruses have been around for centuries, with outbreaks documented in Asia and Europe. In the Eastern Hemisphere, it has been linked with hemorrhagic fever and kidney failure. It wasn’t until the early 1990s that a previously unknown group of hantaviruses emerged in the southwestern United States as the cause of an acute respiratory disease now known hantavirus pulmonary syndrome. The disease gained attention last year after late actor Gene Hackman’s wife, Betsy Arakawa, died from a hantavirus infection in New Mexico. The World Health Organization said in a statement Sunday that detailed investigations of the cruise ship outbreak are ongoing, including further laboratory testing and epidemiological investigations. Sequencing of the virus also is ongoing. Virus is spread by rodents and more rarely, people Hantavirus is mainly spread by contact with rodents or their urine, saliva or droppings, particularly when the m

May 4, 2026By AP
What to know about suspected hantavirus outbreak on cruise ship
World

US-led task force tells ships to reroute on first day of new effort to reopen Strait of Hormuz

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — The United States on Monday kicked off an effort to “guide” stranded ships from the Iran-gripped Strait of Hormuz, as it tries to counter economic disruptions that outlasted the peak of fighting with no peace deal in sight. A day after U.S. President Donald Trump announced what he called “Project Freedom,” the Joint Maritime Information Center said Monday that the U.S. had set up an “enhanced security area” south of typical shipping routes and urged mariners to coordinate closely with Omani authorities “due to anticipated high traffic volume.” The strait sits between Iranian and Omani territory. The center warned that passing close to the usual routes, known as the traffic separation scheme, “should be considered extremely hazardous due the presence of mines that have not been fully surveyed and mitigated.” The U.S.-led maritime task force’s announcement marked the start of the effort to revive traffic and restore confidence among commercial vessels transiting the strait. It risked unraveling the fragile ceasefire that has held even

May 4, 2026By AP
US-led task force tells ships to reroute on first day of new effort to reopen Strait of Hormuz
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