Category Archives: WORLD NEWS

China and the United States could face a communication breakdown and risk “fierce confrontation” if Donald Trump ushers in a hawkish team of advisers to oversee the country’s China policy. According to analysts, China does not fear the possibility of an increasingly hardline policy from the new Trump administration and is awaiting the US president-elect’s first move. The assessment came amid speculation over who would take the top jobs in Trump’s new cabinet following the Republican’s decisive victory in this week’s presidential election. On Friday, Trump picked Susie Wiles, one of his two campaign managers, to be his White House chief of staff. According to Reuters, Robert O’Brien, one of Trump’s national security advisers during his first term, is in the running to be the next secretary of state. Mike

Featured Graphic.com.gh Nov – 08 – 2024 , 15:31 The government, through the Ghana Cocoa Board (Cocobod), is converting the Cocobod Scholarships Scheme, which operated at the senior high school level, into scholarships at the tertiary level. The decision comes in the wake of the successful implementation of the Free Senior High School programme, which caters for thetuition, feeding, accommodation, books and uniforms – some of which were covered by the scholarship. Thus, children of cocoa farmers, who previously enjoyed from the Cocoa Scholarship Scheme, will now enjoy scholarships at the tertiary level, the Vice President, Dr Mahamudu Bawumia has announced. Dr Bawumia, who is the presidential candidate of the New Patriotic Party (NPP) for Election 2024 made the disclosure on Friday [Nov 8, 2024] while speaking at Jacobu in

It has been more than two weeks since 17-year-old Erma Fatima Shamsul Bahari went missing in the middle of a family breakfast at a restaurant in Malaysia , with a flurry of action on a smartphone before she vanished being the only clue to her disappearance. “We just don’t know where she is,” her father, Shamsul Bahari Abu Bakar, told This Week in Asia. As days have turned into weeks, Erma Fatima’s parents have become increasingly desperate, not knowing what more they can do as they wait for any shred of information about her whereabouts. She went missing on October 25, after using the restroom at a restaurant where her family was having breakfast in a rural town in northern Terengganu state. The family has gone on a frantic search

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) , the world’s largest contract chipmaker, told its graphics-processor and AI-accelerator clients in mainland China that the company will no longer produce advanced chips for them, according to a person familiar with the matter. TSMC said in a notice sent earlier this week that it will stop accepting orders requiring the processing of advanced nodes at 7-nanometre or smaller from those customers starting next week, according to the source, who is an executive at a mainland chip design firm briefed on the notice. The source declined to be named because of the sensitivity of the issue. Ijiwei.com, a Chinese news site covering the domestic semiconductor industry, first reported the news on Friday. TSMC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The company’s move

Prof. Opoku-Agyemang Featured Zadok Kwame Gyesi Politics Nov – 07 – 2024 , 11:55 The Dufia of Adaklu Anfoe, Togbe Agbobada IV, has expressed confidence in the 24-Hour Economy manifesto policy of the National Democratic Congress (NDC), saying it would help create jobs for the unemployed youth. Addressing artisans, queen mothers and professional bodies at Ahunda in the Adaklu Constituency as part of the Volta Regional campaign tour of NDC vice presidential candidate, Prof. Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang, the Dufia of Adaklu Anfoe was optimistic that the NDC will implement the policy for the benefit of Ghanaians when the party wins the December 7 general elections. Togbe Agbobada commended Prof. Opoku-Agyemang for her instrumental role in including pro-women policies such as the Women’s Development Bank. Touching on development projects in the

‘Strikes at heart of Putin’s war machine’ also target people involved in Ukraine war and Salisbury nerve agent attack. The United Kingdom has announced dozens of new sanctions against Russia, targeting African mercenary groups backed by Moscow and people involved in the Ukraine war and a nerve agent attack on British soil. The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office on Thursday announced 56 new designations against individuals and entities, which it said target Russia’s military industrial complex and “further restrict the supply of vital military equipment” that Russian President Vladimir Putin requires in Ukraine. Entities based in China, Turkey and Central Asia were targeted for the alleged supply and production of goods such as machine tools, microelectronics and components for drones. Three private mercenary groups, including the Wagner Group’s successor Africa

Germany’s federal prosecutor office said it arrested an American citizen on Thursday who allegedly spied for China. The office said that the suspect, who was only identified as Martin D., was arrested in Frankfurt and that his home was being searched. The accused, who until recently worked for the US Armed Forces in Germany, is strongly suspected of having agreed to act as an intelligence agent for a foreign secret service, the statement said. Earlier this year, he contacted Chinese government agencies and offered to send sensitive information from the US military to a Chinese intelligence service, according to an investigation by Germany’s domestic intelligence service. He had obtained the information in question during his work in the US army, the prosecutor’s statement said, without giving any further information. 02:41

Malaysians have parodied the latest proposal to build a wall along their country’s northern border with Thailand as an effort to “Make Kelantan Great Again”, saying it echoes US President-elect Donald Trump ’s failed bid for a wall to block unauthorised immigrants from Mexico. The Kelantan state government’s proposal came just days after Thai authorities arrested a group of six Malaysians, including a popular singer from Kelantan, for reportedly smuggling 6,000 Yaba pills into the kingdom. Calls for such a wall have been floated before as authorities on both sides struggle to plug the porous borders used by criminal elements ranging from drug smugglers to human trafficking syndicates. The timing of the latest proposal – with the state government asking the federal government on Tuesday to pay for the wall

Japan’s top envoy in Hong Kong has said officials from his country are in talks with local authorities over the city’s seafood import ban as he launched an inaugural exhibition on sushi. Kenichi Okada, the outgoing Japanese consul general in Hong Kong, also expressed his wish on Thursday for the city to continue shining as the “pearl of the orient” as he prepares to leave after a three-year tenure. “We are now in discussions with [the] Hong Kong government and we will continue to offer scientific evidence in a transparent and faithful manner,” he said. “I hope that the Hong Kong government can take action at an appropriate time.” Okada was speaking at the opening of the inaugural “I Love Sushi” exhibition in the city, which was co-organised by the

Former US president Donald Trump ’s return to the White House could reshape the Philippines ’ defence strategy, with experts debating whether his robust approach would strengthen Manila’s security ties with Washington or push it into a risky stand-off with Beijing in the contested South China Sea . Alan Chong, a senior fellow at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies in Singapore, predicted that Trump would potentially play “hardball with China” and prioritise the US economy after his return. “If Beijing does not play ball, Trump will arm the Philippines for a confrontation in the South China Sea,” Chong told This Week in Asia. Trump, who initiated a trade war with China during his first term, has said his administration would raise tariffs to 60 per cent on all

The descendants of chief Hosea Kutako claim they have been excluded from an unveiling ceremony of the chief’s memorial homestead. The Memorial Museum and Homestead Shrine unveiling ceremony is scheduled to take place on Friday at Toasis in the Aminuis constituency, to commemorate Kutako’s role in Namibia’s liberation. Kutako, who died in 1970, petitioned the United Nations (UN) to remove the then South West Africa from South Africa’s rule. He also founded the South West Africa National Union (Swanu). Family spokesperson Kejamuina Mungendje says the Office of the President, which is organising the unveiling, invited a different clan of the family, despite his side of the family’s involvement with the shrine from the beginning. He says N$4 million for the shrine was donated by a German organisation through the government.

Two Chinese technology firms involved in the development of pharmaceutical drugs have clinched partnership agreements in Southeast Asia and the Middle East , as the industry increasingly looks beyond China’s shores with its cutting edge technology in search of growth opportunities. Fosun Group ’s Shanghai Henlius Biotech subsidiary struck a deal with the Fakeeh family’s Al Tiryaq Al-Khalawi Medical Company (SVAX) to set up two ventures in Saudi Arabia to produce and market pharmaceuticals, according to an announcement at the China International Import Expo in Shanghai. QuantumPharm, a drug discoverer powered by artificial intelligence (AI) that has been renamed XtalPi, signed a partnership with Sinar Mas Multiartha to use quantum physics, AI and robotics to spur the research and development of innovative products, including drugs and new materials in Indonesia.

France’s highest civil court on Wednesday rejected an appeal by the heirs of a former sultan who sought nearly US$15 billion from Malaysia’s government, drawing a line under a lengthy legal battle stemming from an 1878 land deal . Malaysia ’s law minister described the ruling as a “historic victory”, while Paul Cohen, a lawyer for the heirs, said they were disappointed by the decision as it made “no sense”. Malaysia had been left stunned when the Filipino heirs of the last Sultan of Sulu won a US$14.9 billion award in a French arbitration court in 2022, prompting them to go after Malaysian assets. But a Paris court later upheld the Malaysian government’s challenge against enforcing a partial award. The Cour de Cassation on Wednesday confirmed the decision, ruling that