KYIV, April 30 (Reuters) – Ukraine’s top general on Thursday ordered a mandatory two-month time limit for front-line troops serving in forward positions, aiming to address a key challenge for Kyiv’s outmanned military in the fifth year of war with Moscow. Oleksandr Syrskyi’s decree comes amid frequent and often harrowing reports of Ukrainian soldiers serving…
TAIPEI, April 30 (Reuters) – Taiwan has activated backup communications for its northernmost territory, the remote and strategically located island of Dongyin, after poor weather conditions apparently shifted the wreckage of a ship onto an undersea cable causing it to break. The vulnerability of undersea communication cables linking Taiwan with its outlying islands has been…
A Chinese tree pangolin in the Leipzig zoo – credit, released by author into the public domain For the Chinese subspecies of the world’s most trafficked wild animal, the darkest days may be in the rearview mirror. The Chinese tree pangolin, a Critically-Endangered species according to the IUCN, is steadily growing in population size 6…
ATHENS, April 29 (Reuters) – Greece said on Wednesday it had agreed with Qatar to bolster cooperation in areas including trade, energy and defence, extending a deal first struck in 2024. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani discussed bilateral ties and investment opportunities in Greek infrastructure, energy and…
TAIPEI, April 29 (Reuters) – The Taiwanese minister in charge of the Coast Guard visited a second Taiwan-controlled islet deep in the South China Sea, she said on Wednesday, adding that complaints by Vietnam about her trip would not cause any regional tensions. Taiwan and China claim sovereignty over most of the South China Sea…
Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (HKEX), operator of Asia’s third-largest stock market, reported a record quarterly profit in the first three months of 2026, buoyed by more new listings and increased turnover. Net profit rose 27 per cent to HK$5.19 billion (US$662 million) – or HK$4.10 per share – from a year earlier, the company…
BEIJING/TAIPEI, April 29 (Reuters) – Taiwan’s economy will see unprecedented opportunities should it agree to union with China, Beijing said on Wednesday as it continues to try to persuade Taipei to accept its rule, which President Lai Ching-te’s government has repeatedly rejected. China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, has since late…
LONDON, April 28 (Reuters) – Britain said on Tuesday the Iranian ambassador to London had been summoned over what the government described as the Iranian embassy’s “unacceptable and inflammatory” comments on social media. Britain’s minister for the Middle East, Hamish Falconer, made clear that the embassy “must cease any form of communications that could be…
Hong Kong singer Hins Cheung has pledged to be a companion rather than a mentor to youngsters arrested during the 2019 anti-government protests during an event organised as part of a youth rehabilitation programme. The sharing session, themed “New Opportunity, New Journey”, was held at the Hong Kong Museum of History on Tuesday night. More…
April 28 (Reuters) – Saudi Arabia will host an exceptional meeting of the Gulf Cooperation Council in Jeddah on Tuesday, the first in-person meeting of Gulf leaders since their states became a front in the Iran war two months ago. A Gulf official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the meeting aimed to craft a…