- rthk - World -

- UK Foreign Secretary David Lammy in Beijing for talks -

- Fri, 18 Oct 2024 16:55:00 +0800 -

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- British Foreign Secretary David Lammy is in Beijing on an official two-day visit, with the UK's new Labour government seeking to demonstrate its willingness to engage in a pragmatic and strategic approach to ties with China. -
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- Lammy's visit is only the second by a British foreign secretary in six years. -
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- Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said the two sides would focus on implementing the important consensus reached by the leaders of the two countries during the phone talks in August, and have in-depth communication on enhancing strategic mutual trust and strengthening dialogue and cooperation in various fields. -
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- Lammy's visit includes a meeting with his counterpart Wang Yi in Beijing on Friday before visiting Shanghai to meet British businesses operating in China. (Xinhua/Reuters) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1775170-20241018.htm - -

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- Kim Jong-un declares South Korea a hostile nation -

- Fri, 18 Oct 2024 14:43:00 +0800 -

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- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un said South Korea is a foreign and hostile nation, state media KCNA reported on Friday, with photos showing Kim conferring with high-ranking soldiers. -
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- Kim discussed the use of "offensive forces" against the South as retaliation for any move that infringes on its sovereignty, the report said. -
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- There was no elaboration on what forces might be used. -
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- The report comes a day after KCNA said North Korea amended its constitution to designate the South as a "hostile state". -
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- Kim has increasingly lashed out at South Korea this year, accusing Seoul of colluding with Washington to seek the collapse of his regime and has pushed for a clear break with decades of policy engagement with the South, including the scrapping of unification as a goal. -
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- The reclusive state blasted road and rail links with South Korea this week. -
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- Those actions underscored "not only the physical closure but also the end of the evil relationship with Seoul," KCNA quoted Kim as saying. -
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- Seoul has said that if North Korea were to inflict harm upon the safety of its people, "that day will be the end of the North Korean regime." -
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- Kim made the remarks while inspecting the headquarters of the 2nd Corps of the North Korean army on Thursday, KCNA said, a major military unit that includes several forward-deployed brigades with heavy weapons aimed at the South. -
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- During the visit, he also said the changed nature of the South Korea-US alliance and their different, more developed military manoeuvres, highlight the importance of a stronger North Korean nuclear deterrent. (Reuters) -

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- Biden heads to Germany to discuss Middle East -

- Fri, 18 Oct 2024 04:37:00 +0800 -

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- US President Joe Biden took off onThursday on a swift farewell trip to Germany, for talks with allies to shore up Ukraine's increasingly desperate fight against Russia. -
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- Biden was also expected to discuss the escalating crisis in the Middle East, as Israel said it was investigating whether Hamas chief Yahya Sinwar had been killed in a military operation in Gaza. -
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- During a flying 24-hour visit to Berlin, the US leader will meet German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, before they are both joined for talks by French President Emmanuel Macron and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. -
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- Biden was originally due in Germany last week for a multi-day visit that would have included a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and a major summit of Kyiv's allies, but he postponed it as Hurricane Milton barrelled towards Florida. -
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- The White House said the shorter, rescheduled visit to the key Nato ally would "further strengthen the close bond the United States and Germany share as allies and friends and coordinate on geopolitical priorities, including Ukraine's defence against Russian aggression and events in the Middle East." -
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- Biden was also keen to make the visit to thank Scholz for facilitating a prisoner exchange deal with Russia earlier this year that freed US reporter Evan Gershkovich, US officials said. -
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- But the focus will be on Ukraine, with Biden, who dropped out of the 2024 White House race in July, keen to consolidate Western military aid for Kyiv in his final three months in office. -
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- Allies are nervously watching the November 5 US presidential election to see if it brings a return of Donald Trump, who has opposed the current level of US support for Ukraine. -
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- Trump has also repeatedly pledged to push through a peace deal if elected -- even before taking office -- that Kyiv fears would involve it giving up chunks of land to Moscow. -
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- Zelensky told allies in Brussels on Thursday that Ukraine must be in a position of strength before any peace talks with Russia, as he explained his "victory plan" to EU leaders and NATO defence chiefs. -
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- More than two and a half years into the war, Kyiv is slowly but steadily losing territory in its eastern Donbas region and under mounting pressure to forge an exit strategy -- which it says must start with ramped-up Western support. -
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- Biden announced a fresh US$425 million arms package including air defense and armored vehicles for Ukraine in a call with Zelensky on Wednesday. -
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- The United States is by far the biggest supplier of military aid to Ukraine's battle against the 2022 Russian invasion, followed by Germany. (AFP) -

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- Israel confirms killing of Hamas leader -

- Fri, 18 Oct 2024 01:26:00 +0800 -

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- The Israeli military on Thursday announced the killing of Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar by its forces in southern Gaza the previous day. -
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- The Israeli military "confirms that after a year-long pursuit, yesterday (Wednesday), October 16, 2024, IDF (military) soldiers from the Southern Command eliminated Yahya Sinwar, the leader of the Hamas terrorist organisation, in an operation in the southern Gaza Strip," it said in a statement. -
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- "The dozens of operations carried out by the IDF and the ISA (Shin Bet internal security agency) over the last year and in recent weeks in the area where he was eliminated restricted Yahya Sinwar's operational movement as he was pursued by the forces and led to his elimination," the military added. -
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- "IDF soldiers of the 828th Brigade (Bislach) operating in the area identified and eliminated three terrorists. The process of identifying the body confirms the elimination of Yahya Sinwar. -
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- Israel accuses Sinwar, 61, of being the mastermind of the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel that triggered the ongoing war, along with Hamas's military chief Mohammed Deif. -
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- The Israeli military has said Deif was killed in a strike earlier this year, though the Palestinian group has not confirmed it. -
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- In August, Sinwar took over as the leader of Hamas, following the death of Ismail Haniyeh in Iran on July 31. Israel has not commented on Haniyeh's death. -
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- The Hamas attack last year resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people on Israeli soil, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures that include hostages killed in captivity. -
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- Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed 42,438 people, a majority of them civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The UN acknowledges the figures reliability. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1775039-20241018.htm - -

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- Zelensky defends 'victory plan' at EU and NATO -

- Thu, 17 Oct 2024 18:31:00 +0800 -

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- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Thursday said Ukraine must be in a position of strength before any peace talks with Russia, as he explained his "victory plan" to EU leaders and NATO defence chiefs in Brussels. -
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- More than two and a half years into the war, Kiev is slowly but steadily losing new territory in its eastern Donbas region and under mounting pressure to forge an exit strategy -- which it says must start with ramped-up Western support. -
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- "Ukraine is ready for real diplomacy, but for it, we must be strong," Zelensky said as he headed into talks with the EU's 27 leaders. -
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- "A forcefully imposed truce instead of fair peace never provided security." -
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- "Russia will resort to diplomacy only when it sees that it cannot achieve anything by force," Zelensky added. -
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- "This is the plan. This is exactly what's needed, and we must create the right conditions to end this war." -
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- After the EU summit Zelensky was to join defence ministers for the first of two days of talks between NATO's 32 member states. -
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- While calling it a "strong signal," NATO secretary-general Mark Rutte cautioned ahead of time he was not endorsing Zelensky's "whole plan" -- which calls first and foremost for an immediate invitation to join the alliance, a plea widely seen as unrealistic. -
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- Zelensky's plan also rejects any territorial concessions, calls for Western allies to lift restrictions on using donated long-range weapons to target Russian military sites, and suggests deploying a "non-nuclear strategic deterrence package" on Ukrainian territory. -
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- The Ukrainian leader has travelled in recent weeks to Washington, Paris, Berlin, Rome and London to defend his plan -- unveiled to Ukrainian lawmakers Wednesday -- but it has yet to earn backing from Western capitals. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1775017-20241017.htm - -

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- India slams 'cavalier' Trudeau over separatist murder -

- Thu, 17 Oct 2024 13:38:00 +0800 -

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- India criticised Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Thursday as "cavalier" over his handling of the disastrous diplomatic fallout following the 2023 killing of a Sikh separatist in Canada. -
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- New Delhi held firm its defiant stance towards Ottawa -- an approach in sharp contrast to its compliant attitude this week towards the United States, where India is also accused of directing a separate assassination plot. -
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- Canada has alleged that India arranged the killing of a Sikh separatist, naturalised Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar, murdered in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023. -
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- India has called the allegations "preposterous". -
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- But Trudeau, at a parliamentary inquiry on Wednesday, said Canada had "clear indications that India had violated Canada's sovereignty". -
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- Canada's top envoy to New Delhi, Stewart Wheeler, who India has ordered to leave by Saturday night, has said Ottawa had provided "credible, irrefutable evidence of ties between agents of the Government of India and the murder of a Canadian citizen". -
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- India's foreign ministry spokesman Randhir Jaiswal on Thursday said they had not seen that evidence. -
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- "Canada has presented us (India) no evidence whatsoever in support of the serious allegations that it has chosen to level against India and Indian diplomats," he said in a statement. -
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- "The responsibility for the damage that this cavalier behaviour has caused to India-Canada relations lies with Prime Minister Trudeau alone." -
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- Nijjar -- who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 -- had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India. -
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- He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. -
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- Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar's murder. -
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- Last year, the Indian government briefly curbed visas for Canadians and this week both countries expelled each other's ambassadors. -
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- New Delhi's response to Washington has been very different, with the US State Department on Wednesday saying India had told it that an intelligence operative accused of directing an assassination plot on American soil was no longer in government service. -
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- US prosecutors charged an Indian citizen last November over a foiled attempt in New York to kill an advocate for a separate Sikh homeland. -
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- The indictment described an "Indian government employee," who was not publicly named, as recruiting the hitman and directing the assassination plot remotely, including by arranging the delivery of US$15,000 in cash. -
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- India's Hindustan Times, quoting an unnamed US official, said on Monday that India not only removed but arrested the employee on "local charges." -
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- The State Department did not confirm the arrest. (AFP) -

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- US uses stealth bombers to strike Houthi targets -

- Thu, 17 Oct 2024 12:14:00 +0800 -

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- American long-range B-2 stealth bombers launched airstrikes early on Thursday morning targeting underground bunkers used by Yemen's Houthi rebels, officials said. -
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- It wasn't immediately clear what damage was done in the strikes. -
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- However, it is incredibly rare for the B-2 Spirit to be used in the strikes targeting the Houthis, who have been attacking ships for months in the Red Sea corridor over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza. -
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- The Houthis' al-Masirah satellite news channel reported airstrikes around Yemen's capital, Sanaa, which the group has held since 2014. -
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- They also reported strikes around the Houthi stronghold of Saada. They offered no immediate information on damage or casualties. -
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- US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin in a statement said the B-2 bombers targeted “five hardened underground weapons storage locations in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen.” -
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- The strike also appeared to be an indirect warning to Iran, the Houthis' main benefactor who have twice targeted Israel with ballistic missile attacks over the last year. -
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- “This was a unique demonstration of the United States’ ability to target facilities that our adversaries seek to keep out of reach, no matter how deeply buried underground, hardened, or fortified,” Austin said. -
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- Austin and the US military's Central Command offered no immediate assessment on the damage done. -
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- The Red Sea has become a battlefield for shippers since the Houthis began their campaign targeting ships travelling through the waterway, which once saw US$1 trillion a year of cargo pass through it. -
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- The Houthis have targeted more than 80 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started last October. -
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- They have seized one vessel and sunk two in the campaign that has also killed four sailors. -
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- Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels. -
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- The rebels maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the United Kingdom to force an end to Israel’s campaign against Hamas in Gaza. -
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- However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran. -
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- Later on Thursday, the Houthis vowed to retaliate following the strike on the weapons storage facilities in areas controlled by the Iran-backed group. -
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- "We confirm that the American aggression will not pass without a response," said a statement from the group's political bureau. (Agencies) -
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- - - Last updated: 2024-10-17 HKT 18:59 - - -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774947-20241017.htm - -

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- One Direction's Liam Payne falls to death in Argentina -

- Thu, 17 Oct 2024 06:23:00 +0800 -

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- British singer Liam Payne, a former member of the group One Direction, died on Wednesday aged 31 after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Argentina, police in Buenos Aires said. -
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- "Liam James Payne, composer and guitarist, former member of the band One Direction, died today after falling from the third floor of a hotel in Palermo," a police statement said. -
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- Boy band sensation One Direction emerged in 2010 when then-teenagers Payne, Niall Horan, Harry Styles, Louis Tomlinson and Zayn Malik appeared on the British television contest "The X Factor." -
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- In 2016, the group announced it was going on an indefinite hiatus, but not splitting up. -
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- Payne announced he was working on a solo album that same year, following in the footsteps of other band members. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774900-20241017.htm - -

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- China to strengthen cooperation with Russia, Mongolia -

- Wed, 16 Oct 2024 21:31:00 +0800 -

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- Premier Li Qiang on Wednesday proposed closer three-way ties with Russia and Mongolia at a meeting with counterparts from the neighbouring countries on the sidelines of a Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. -
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- Speaking to Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin, Li said the nation is willing to make contributions to the development and revitalisation of the two countries and the prosperity and stability of the world. -
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- He told Mishustin that China was willing to strengthen trade and energy ties with Russia. -
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- Li added that enhancing cooperation and promoting deeper and practical trilateral cooperation with Russia and Mongolia would better benefit the people of the three countries. -
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- Mongolia is not a member of the SCO, having chosen instead to be an observer state since 2004. The landlocked nation is on the planned route of a major pipeline that Russia wants to build to carry 50 billion cubic metres of natural gas each year from its Yamal region to China. -
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- Meanwhile, Eurasian leaders have gathered in the Pakistani capital Islamabad for the SCO summit. -
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- Addressing the event, Li said the SCO is an important platform for safeguarding regional peace and stability and promoting the development and prosperity of all countries. -
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- In his opening remarks, Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif called for the expansion of Beijing's Belt and Road Initiative. -
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- “Flagship projects like the Belt and Road Initiative of President Xi Jinping, the China-Pakistan economic corridor, which is in its second phase and the international north south transport corridor, should be expanded focusing on developing road, rail and digital infrastructure that enhances integration and cooperation across our region," he said. -
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- Also in attendance was India's External Affairs Minister Subrahmanyam Jaishankar, who is the first Indian foreign minister to visit Pakistan in nearly a decade with ties between the nuclear-armed rival neighbours continuing to be frosty. (Agencies) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774872-20241016.htm - -

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- Moscow: Two more villages in eastern Ukraine taken -

- Wed, 16 Oct 2024 20:04:00 +0800 -

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- Russia has captured two more villages in different parts of eastern Ukraine, the defence ministry said on Wednesday, as Russian forces continue their steady advance in the region. -
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- Moscow has been claiming gains in Ukraine's embattled east regularly since the summer, advancing towards the city of Pokrovsk, from where thousands have fled. -
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- Its defence ministry said troops had captured the village of Krasnyi Yar, south of the town of Myrnograd, which lies close to Pokrovsk. -
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- Ukraine has rushed evacuations of tens of thousands of people from Pokrovsk and Myrnograd as Russian troops advance. -
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- Further north, Moscow also said it had captured the village of Nevske, which lies in the Lugansk region, near the border with the Donetsk region. -
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- It published images of a village with one main road, lined with heavily destroyed houses, and a Russian soldier flying Moscow's flag through a window of a badly damaged house. -
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- The aerial footage showed the small village to be almost entirely destroyed. -
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- Moscow made the claims as Ukraine's president Volodymyr Zelensky presented his vision of how to end two years of fighting to parliament in Kyiv. -
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- In it, he rejected any territorial concessions and urged for ramped-up Western backing, including an invitation to join Nato. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774868-20241016.htm - -

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- 15 killed in Israeli strike on southern Lebanon -

- Wed, 16 Oct 2024 16:50:00 +0800 -

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- Israeli strikes have killed at least 15 people in the southern Lebanese town of Qana while the Israeli military attacked Beirut's southern suburbs early on Wednesday for the first time in nearly a week. -
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- There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the strikes in Qana late on Tuesday. -
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- Lebanon's Civil Defence said 15 bodies had been recovered from the rubble of a building and that rescue efforts were still underway. -
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- Meanwhile, the strikes on southern Beirut were the first in six days, and came after Lebanon's caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati said the United States had given him assurances that Israel would curb its strikes on the capital. -
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- There was no immediate word on casualties. -
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- Hezbollah has a strong presence in southern Beirut, known as the Dahiyeh, which is also a residential and commercial area home to large numbers of civilians and people unaffiliated with the militant group. -
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- The Israeli military said it targeted an arms warehouse under a residential building. -
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- It posted an evacuation warning on the X platform ahead of the strike, saying it was targeting a building in the Haret Hreik neighbourhood. -
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- Hezbollah began firing rockets into Israel on October 8 in solidarity with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, following the surprise Hamas attack on southern Israel that triggered the war in Gaza. -
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- A year of low-level fighting along the Israel-Lebanon border escalated into all-out war last month , and has displaced some 1.2 million people in Lebanon. -
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- Some 2,300 people have been killed by Israeli strikes in Lebanon since last October, more than three-quarters of them in the past month, according to Lebanon's Health Ministry. (AP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774815-20241016.htm - -

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- Harris mocks Trump after rally turns into dance-a-thon -

- Wed, 16 Oct 2024 12:05:00 +0800 -

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- Kamala Harris went after her US presidential election rival Donald Trump's mental state and fitness for office on Tuesday after the 78-year-old Republican's televised town hall veered into a surreal, impromptu music session. -
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- Three weeks ahead of the US election, Harris's campaign has begun to focus aggressively on Trump's health and mental stability, and was quick to weigh in, saying the ex-president appeared "lost, confused, and frozen on stage." -
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- For about half an hour, Monday's event in Oaks near Philadelphia was standard fare ahead of the November 5 election, as Trump took friendly questions from supporters on the economy. -
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- But a pause for two medical emergencies in the crowd turned into a bizarre 39 minutes of music and dancing as Trump abandoned the discussion of the election to put on his favourite hits, swaying awkwardly on stage. -
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- "Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?" he said, bringing the Q&A section to an abrupt end and telling his people to crank up the volume. -
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- Trump has made a brief, jerky dance his signature at the end of rallies for years, nearly always to his exit song – the Village People's 1978 disco anthem "YMCA." -
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- On Monday, however, he stayed on stage for nine songs, ranging from opera to Guns N' Roses and Elvis, with the ex-president alternating his dance moves with standing in place and staring into the crowd. -
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- "Hope he's okay," Harris opined dryly on X. -
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- Undeterred, Trump was bopping to the Village People again on Tuesday at a rally in Atlanta, where he turned up 90 minutes late and didn't mention the previous night's events or the criticism. -
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- Delivering his usual stump speech focusing on illegal immigration, Trump pushed his now-customary falsehoods and exaggerations about migrant crime in Colorado and Ohio and referred to the country as "occupied" by foreign criminals. -
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- But if he was trying to draw a line under Monday's strangeness, he didn't succeed. -
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- Trump called the two world wars "beautiful" and claimed to have invented the word "caravan." Explaining how he was going to make America great again, he lurched into an aside about his wealthy friends, beachwear and President Joe Biden. -
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- "I have a lot of rich friends. They go here. They go there. They're boring as hell," he began, apropos of nothing in particular. "Nobody cares. They put on their bathing suit. They don't look a lot better than Biden." -
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- Harris and Trump are locked in a dead heat, according to polls, and the election is set to be decided by seven swing states where the margins could come down to a few thousand votes each. -
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- The Republican is the oldest person ever to be nominated for a presidential bid, after Biden dropped out of the race following a disastrous debate that sparked fears about his own age. -
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- Trump has not released a recent comprehensive report on his state of health, prompting fierce criticism from Harris, 59, who has increasingly been homing in on Trump's age and physical and mental condition. -
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- It was the topic of her closing argument as she sat down with popular radio host Charlamagne tha God in an effort to boost her messaging to black male voters – a part of the electorate where Trump has made gains. -
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- After setting out her policies for improving the lives of African American men, she turned to Trump's rallies and repeated a claim that riled him during their September debate – that bored supporters were leaving his rallies early. -
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- "This man is weak and he is unfit," Harris said. -
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- Trump had begun the day with a less freewheeling tone at an Economic Club of Chicago event, where he said he was for slapping "obnoxious" tariffs on trading partners like Mexico so that companies move factories to the United States. -
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- "To me, the most beautiful word in the dictionary is tariff," Trump said. (AFP) -

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- Japan warns against Korean 'escalation' -

- Wed, 16 Oct 2024 10:54:00 +0800 -

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- Japan's government warned on Wednesday against "escalation" on the Korean peninsula, after North Korea blew up sections of deeply symbolic roads and railways connecting it to the South. -
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- "These North Korean activities could increase tensions between the South and the North, and it is important that this does not lead to an escalation," said Kazuhiko Aoki, deputy chief cabinet secretary. -
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- The North blew up the roads and railways on Tuesday, Seoul's military said, adding it had conducted a "counter-fire" operation in response. -
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- Pyongyang's military last week vowed to permanently seal its southern border after spending months laying mines and building anti-tank barriers in the wake of leader Kim Jong-un declaring the South his country's "principal enemy". -
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- The North also accused Seoul of using drones to drop anti-regime propaganda leaflets on the capital Pyongyang, with Kim convening a security meeting to direct a plan of "immediate military action" in response, state media reported Tuesday. -
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- "The government will do its utmost to collect, analyse and monitor necessary information on future developments in North Korea," Aoki told a regular briefing in Tokyo. (AFP) -

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- Harris could join Joe Rogan podcast, sources say -

- Wed, 16 Oct 2024 06:50:00 +0800 -

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- Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris could sit down for an interview with popular podcaster Joe Rogan, whose audience leans heavily towards young men, as she works to shore up support with male voters, sources said on Monday. -
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- In the final stretch of the US presidential campaign, Harris campaign officials met with Rogan's team this week but an appearance has not been confirmed yet, said two of the sources, who have knowledge of the matter. -
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- Rogan, who runs the most popular podcast in the United States, has a highly coveted and devoted following that numbers in the tens of millions. -
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- The interview will offer Harris an opportunity to make her case to his followers, as she works to shore up support with male voters and black men in particular. Numerous public polls suggest Republican nominee Donald Trump could outperform among young men of all races. -
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- Harris has recently lost ground in particular among black men, a key demographic that helped Joe Biden beat Trump in 2020, and on Monday she launched a new economic plan to court them. -
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- Her "opportunity agenda" is designed to give them "tools to achieve financial freedom, lower costs to better provide for themselves and their families, and protect their rights," her campaign said. -
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- Her campaign is also ramping up outreach to the typically Democratic voting group. -
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- In a rare move, Harris on Wednesday will sit for an interview with Fox News – to reach out to undecided right-leaning voters put off by the former president and counter Republican claims that she is avoiding media scrutiny. -
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- Fox News' day-to-day programming is heavy on conservative punditry that often explicitly supports Trump. -
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- On Monday, Trump said he also plans to go on Joe Rogan's podcast before Election Day on November 5. -
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- Trump and Rogan have sparred in the past. As recently as August, Trump took a shot at Rogan on his social media platform Truth Social but later called him a "good guy." -
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- In 2022, Rogan said he is not a Trump supporter and in August said he preferred Robert F Kennedy Jr, for president. Kennedy has since dropped out of the presidential race and endorsed Trump. (Reuters/AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774656-20241016.htm - -

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- Conker champion investigated for cheating -

- Wed, 16 Oct 2024 01:10:00 +0800 -

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- The World Conker Championships said on Tuesday it was investigating allegations of cheating after this year's men’s winner was found to have a steel chestnut in his pocket. -
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- More than 200 enthusiasts of the traditional game entered the annual competition on Sunday in the small village of Southwick in central England. -
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- The game involves players using conkers – the glossy brown seeds from the horse chestnut tree – threaded onto a string to try and smash their opponent’s chestnut. -
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- Each player takes three alternate strikes. -
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- Veteran player Dave Jakins, 82, won the men's tournament. -
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- But organisers said they launched an investigation after claims that he may have used a steel chestnut. -
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- The allegations were raised by Alastair Johnson-Ferguson, who lost in the men’s final against Jakins after his conker “disintegrated in one hit," The Telegraph newspaper reported. -
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- Organisers confirmed a steel conker was found in Jakins' pocket. -
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- Investigations were ongoing, but they said that it appeared unlikely that he was able to cheat under the scrutiny of judges. -
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- Jakins has denied the allegations. -
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- “He was very closely watched by four judges. It looks like it was absolutely impossible for him to cheat,” St. John Burkett, chair of the event's organising committee, told Sky News. -
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- The title of World Conker Champion went this year to Kelci Banschbach, originally from Indianapolis. -
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- The 34-year-old was crowned “queen conker” after beating Jakins in the final. -
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- She was the first American to win the title since the World Conker Championships began in 1965. (AP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774649-20241016.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Israel issues new evacuation orders to Lebanon -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 20:19:00 +0800 -

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- Israel has issued military evacuation orders affecting more than a quarter of the country, the UN refugee agency said on Tuesday. -
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- The figures underscore the heavy price Lebanese are paying as Israel steps up its campaign to defeat Hezbollah and destroy its infrastructure in their one-year conflict. -
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- The UN refugee agency's Middle East Director Rema Jamous Imseis told a press briefing in Geneva that new Israeli evacuation orders to 20 villages in southern Lebanon meant that over a quarter of the country was now affected. -
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- "People are heeding these calls to evacuate, and they're fleeing with almost nothing." -
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- Israeli strikes have killed at least 2,309 people over the last year, the Lebanese government said, and more than 1.2 million people have been displaced. -
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- The majority have been killed since late September when Israel expanded its military campaign. The toll does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. -
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- Around 50 Israelis, both soldiers and civilians, have been killed, according to Israel. -
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- Israel says its operation in Lebanon aims to secure the return of tens of thousands of its residents forced to flee their homes in northern Israel due to Hezbollah attacks. -
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- Later on Tuesday, Hezbollah said it had launched a barrage of rockets towards the northern Israeli city of Haifa, adding it was "in defence of Lebanon and its people" and in response to Israeli attacks on cities, villages and civilians. -
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- Israel expanded its bombing campaign in Lebanon on Monday, killing at least 22 people - most of them women - in an airstrike in the north on a house where displaced people were seeking refuge from Israeli strikes further south, health officials said. -
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- Rescue workers were still pulling bodies out of the rubble in Aitou on Tuesday, local media reported, following one of the deadliest strikes on displaced families in Lebanon, after strikes earlier this month on the southern Lebanese town of Ain Deleb that left more than 30 dead. -
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- Israel has not commented on the Aitou strike, but has repeatedly said it takes all possible precautions to avoid civilian casualties. -
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- So far the main focus of Israel's military operations in Lebanon has been in the Bekaa Valley in the east, the suburbs of Beirut, and in the south, where UN peacekeepers have said that Israeli fire has hit their bases on numerous occasions and wounded peacekeepers. -
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- The UN Security Council on Monday expressed strong concern after several peacekeeping positions in southern Lebanon again came under fire amid clashes between the Israeli military and Hezbollah. -
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- Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, visiting a military base in central Israel where four soldiers were killed on Sunday by a Hezbollah drone strike, said Israel would continue to attack the movement "without mercy, everywhere in Lebanon – including Beirut". -
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- The conflict between Israel and Hezbollah resumed a year ago when the militant group began firing rockets at Israel in support of Hamas at the start of the Gaza war. -
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- Meanwhile, the Middle East remains on high alert for Israel to retaliate against Iran for an October 1 barrage of missiles launched in response to Israel's assaults on Lebanon. -
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- Netanyahu's office said Israel would listen to the United States but would decide its actions according to its own national interest. -
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- The statement was attached to a Washington Post article which said Netanyahu had told President Joe Biden's administration that Israel would strike Iranian military, not nuclear or oil, targets - suggesting a more limited counterstrike aimed at preventing a full-scale war. -
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- Qatar's emir accused Israel on Tuesday of exploiting "international inaction" on the Middle East crisis to move beyond its "aggression" in Gaza to build more illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank and send troops into Lebanon. -
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- Qatar, the United States and Egypt have repeatedly mediated in an attempt to end the war in Gaza, which broke out a year ago when fighters from the Palestinian militant group Hamas burst into Israel from Gaza and killed 1,200 people, according to Israeli tallies. -
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- Israel's offensive has killed more than 42,000 people in Gaza, turned the enclave into piles of cement and twisted metal and created severe shortages of food, water and fuel. (Agencies) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774642-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- SCO summit to boost economic opportunities: expert -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 19:56:00 +0800 -

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- Regional leaders on Tuesday arrived in Pakistan's capital Islamabad to attend the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit. -
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- Security in the city is tight for the 23rd SCO summit, with Pakistan deploying 10,000 security personnel, including the army. -
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- The SCO is the world's largest regional bloc in terms of geographic scope, and covers more than 40 percent of the world's population. -
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- Shakeel Ahmad Ramay, CEO of the Asian Institute of Eco-Civilisation Research and Development, said enhancing economic opportunities will be high on the summit's agenda. -
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- "China is creating economic linkages through trade and establishing special economic zones," he said. -
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- "In the last few years, China has increased its trade with SCO members, it's around US$383 billion right now." -
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- Another topic that will likely top the agenda, according to Ramay, is regional cooperation to combat terrorism, which has been a big issue for host Pakistan, with the country suffering the recent deadly attacks in Karachi in early October. -
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- Ramay also said that more countries, like Saudi Arabia, are looking to join the SCO, but he underscored the difference between the SCO and other regional groups. -
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- "SCO is a partnership organisation, not an alliance or a bloc, like BRICS, thus leaves it more to its members to decide to what extent they want to enhance cooperation," he said. -
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- Earlier, Premier Li Qiang received the honour guard at the Prime Minister's House, where he met his Pakistani counterpart, Shehbaz Sharif, ahead of the summit. -
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- Sharif and Li discussed economic and trade ties and cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, a US$65 billion investment in the South Asian country under the Belt and Road Initiative. -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774624-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- North Korea blows up roads connected to the South -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 16:51:00 +0800 -

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- In a symbolic display of anger, North Korea on Tuesday blew up the northern section of unused roads that once linked it with the South, with the rivals exchanging threats days after the North claimed that its rival flew drones over its capital Pyongyang. -
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- The roads’ choreographed demolition underlines North Korea’s growing anger against South Korea’s conservative government. -
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- North Korean leader Kim Jong-un has vowed to sever relations with South Korea and abandon the goal of achieving peaceful Korean unification. -
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- Observers say it’s unlikely Kim will launch a preemptive, large-scale attack on South Korea because of fear that an almost certain massive retaliation by the more superior forces of the United States and South Korea would threaten Pyongyang's survival. -
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- In response to the explosions, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said its military fired within southern sections of the border as it bolstered its readiness and surveillance posture. -
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- The statement did not give details, but the move could have been an attempt to avert cross-border fire by North Korea. -
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- It wasn't immediately known whether North Korea responded. -
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- South Korea’s Unification Ministry, which handles affairs with North Korea, separately condemned the North’s detonations as a “highly abnormal” and “regressive” measure that violates previous inter-Korean agreements. -
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- Video provided by South Korea’s military showed a cloud of white and grey smoke emerging from the explosion at a road near the western border town of Kaesong. -
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- North Korean trucks and excavators could be seen clearing out debris. Another video showed smoke emerging from a coastal road near the eastern border. (AP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774615-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Li Qiang inaugurates Beijing-funded Pakistan airport -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 11:45:00 +0800 -

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- After arriving in Islamabad, Premier Li Qiang received the honour guard at the Prime Minister's House, where he met his Pakistani counterpart, Shehbaz Sharif, on Monday. -
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- Pakistan's capital was under strict security lockdown as Li landed in the city ahead of a heads-of-government gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation this week. -
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- Both the premiers held delegation-level talks. Sharif's office said that he and Li discussed economic and trade ties and cooperation under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a US$65 billion investment in the South Asian country under President Xi Jinping's Belt and Road Initiative. -
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- They both also inaugurated virtually the CPEC-funded Gwadar International Airport in southwestern Balochistan province in a ceremony telecast live by Pakistan's state run TV. -
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- Li hailed the new international airport as a vivid illustration of the special friendship between China and Pakistan. -
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- Under the strategic guidance of President Xi and Pakistani leaders, the China-Pakistan all-weather strategic cooperative partnership has been continuously deepened, and the China-Pakistan ironclad friendship, which has stood the test of changes in the international situation, is unbreakable, Li said. -
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- The Premier also met with the country's top military officials including Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee of the Pakistan Army Sahir Shamshad Mirza, according to Xinhua news agency. -
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- Noting that since the establishment of diplomatic ties, China and Pakistan have always respected and supported each other, Li said that the two countries are good brothers and good partners who have stood the test of the changing international landscape and truly shared weal and woe and helped each other. (Agencies) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774565-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Two pandas depart China for US capital -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 11:08:00 +0800 -

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- Two giant pandas on Tuesday departed the mainland for a zoo in the US capital. -
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- Bao Li, a male panda, and female Qing Bao, both three years old, were headed to the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington under a decade-long breeding and research agreement. -
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- "China and the United States have made orderly arrangements... to ensure that the two giant pandas will arrive at the Washington National Zoo safely and smoothly," the China Wildlife Conservation Association said in a statement. -
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- Lu Yongbin, party secretary of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda committee, said at the farewell ceremony in Sichuan that the new round of China-US cooperation will boost bilateral collaboration in endangered species and biodiversity protection and enhance the friendship between the Chinese and American people. -
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- Bao Li and Qing Bao were accompanied by an experienced breeder and a veterinarian to help them adapt quickly to their new environment. -
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- Only a few of the beloved black-and-white bears remain in the US after almost all were returned to China in recent years under pre-arranged contracts – including all three of the National Zoo's pandas last November. -
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- President Xi Jinping said after meeting his counterpart Joe Biden at a summit in California last November that China could send new pandas as "envoys of friendship between the Chinese and American people". -
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- In August, San Diego Zoo welcomed two new giant pandas, the first to be sent by the nation to the US in 21 years. -
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- Anticipation for the pandas' arrival in Washington was high, with the National Zoo's website emblazoned with a banner that read: "The pandas are coming." -
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- Something "giant" is "coming to Washington", the zoo said in a post on X, adding that it would be closed on Tuesday but that for "the safety of the pandas and staff, we will not disclose any additional timing". -
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- Preparations were well underway at the zoo, where pandas have been star attractions for decades. Renovations have been undertaken at the panda habitat "to enhance the safety of the facilities and maximise space for the bears to roam", according to the zoo's website. -
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- The new structures constructed for the pandas include shallow pools to allow them to bathe and bamboo stands that require the bears to mimic the foraging techniques they would use in the wild. -
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- The bears will not, however, be available to the public for more than a month after their arrival, as they will need to be quarantined and to acclimate to their new habitat. -
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- While en route, the pandas' in-flight meals will include bamboo shoots, carrots and Chinese cornbread, the China Wildlife Conservation Association said. (AFP/Xinhua) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774560-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Australia vows ban on some swipe and tap surcharges -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 10:38:00 +0800 -

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- Australia took aim at firms charging consumers for tap or bankcard payments on Tuesday, targeting "hefty" fees in a billion-dollar industry dominated by Visa and Mastercard. -
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- The country's centre-left government said it would "ban debit card surcharges" from 2026 and work to lower the cost of other types of electronic payments. -
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- Australians now use cash for less than 16 percent of transactions, spelling boom times for electronic payment providers. -
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- They take a cut of almost every transaction, charging retailers a fee of between one and two percent to run each payment. -
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- Australia's central bank estimates merchants paid more than US$4 billion in transaction fees from 2022-2023 alone. -
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- Many small shops pass along these costs to the consumer. But some larger companies – such as global retail chains – are often able to negotiate substantial discounts. -
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- Authorities have said it was determined to bring costs down and to stop small vendors from being gouged. -
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- "Consumers shouldn't be punished for using cards or digital payments, and at the same time, small businesses shouldn't have to pay hefty fees just to get paid themselves," said economy minister Jim Chalmers. -
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- In the United States, Visa and Mastercard this year agreed to limit transaction fees and pay US$30 billion to end an anti-trust investigation. -
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- A court has since threatened to reject that deal as overgenerous to Visa and Mastercard. The European Union has longstanding caps on fees. -
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- Credit and debit card companies have previously warned that regulation would mean less competitive markets and only mask the cost for consumers. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774555-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Russia jails French researcher for three years -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 08:18:00 +0800 -

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- A Russian court on Monday sentenced a French researcher to three years in a penal colony after finding him guilty of breaching a "foreign agent" law. -
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- The trial of Laurent Vinatier, who works for a Swiss conflict mediation NGO, comes amid tensions between Russia and the West over the Ukraine war. -
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- The 48-year-old was arrested in Moscow in June and charged with gathering information on Russia's military without being registered as a "foreign agent". -
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- Judge Natalya Cheprasova at Moscow's Zamoskvoretsky district court ruled that Vinatier was guilty and sentenced him to three years in a penal colony, two years less than the maximum possible sentence. -
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- His lawyer Pavel Mamonov told journalists: "We consider the sentence harsh and will definitely appeal." -
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- The Frenchman had acknowledged violating Russian law, saying he was unaware he should have registered as a "foreign agent". -
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- The prosecutor had requested a sentence of three years and three months, saying Vinatier "repented" but the case involved "significant threats connected to Russia's security". -
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- Another lawyer for Vinatier, Oleg Bessonov, had asked the judge to issue him with a fine. -
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- French President Emmanuel Macron had demanded Vinatier's release, saying the "propaganda" against him "does not match reality". -
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- Vinatier was charged over a requirement introduced in 2022 that people who gather information on Russia's military and arms that could harm the country's national security, must register as "foreign agents". -
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- Tensions between Moscow and Paris are running high after France charged Russian-born Telegram founder Pavel Durov in August over illegal content on the popular social media platform, with the Kremlin warning against "political persecution". (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774502-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- India, Canada expel top envoys -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 08:17:00 +0800 -

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- India and Canada each expelled the other's ambassador and five other top diplomats, after New Delhi said its envoy had been named among "persons of interest" following the killing of a Sikh separatist leader. -
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- New Delhi said it was withdrawing its six diplomats from Canada, but Ottawa said it had served them notices of expulsion. -
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- "Subsequent to those notices, India announced it would withdraw its officials," a statement from the Canadian foreign ministry said. -
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- The 2023 murder of Canadian citizen Hardeep Singh Nijjar crashed the country's diplomatic relations with India after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said there were "credible allegations" linking Indian intelligence services to the crime. -
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- The expulsion of the diplomats -- including the most senior envoys on both sides -- is a major escalation in the row. -
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- India "decided to expel" Ottawa's acting High Commissioner Stewart Wheeler, his deputy and four first secretaries, ordering they leave before midnight on Sunday. -
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- Ottawa announced similar measures in return, with Canadian police saying they had "evidence pertaining to agents of the government of India's involvement in serious criminal activity" in Canada. -
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- Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said that India had refused to cooperate in the investigation, or to lift diplomatic immunity for its envoys. -
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- "The decision to expel these individuals was made with great consideration and only after the RCMP gathered ample, clear and concrete evidence which identified six individuals as persons of interest in the Nijjar case," she said in a statement, referring to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. -
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- Nijjar -- who immigrated to Canada in 1997 and became a citizen in 2015 -- had advocated for a separate Sikh state, known as Khalistan, carved out of India. -
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- He had been wanted by Indian authorities for alleged terrorism and conspiracy to commit murder. -
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- Four Indian nationals have been arrested in connection with Nijjar's murder, which took place in the parking lot of a Sikh temple in Vancouver in June 2023. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774512-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifts off for Jupiter's moon -

- Tue, 15 Oct 2024 08:17:00 +0800 -

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- NASA probe Europa Clipper lifted off from the US Kennedy Space Center on Monday, bound for an icy moon of Jupiter to discover whether it has the ingredients to support life. -
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- Lift-off took place aboard SpaceX's powerful Falcon Heavy rocket. -
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- The probe is set to reach Europa, one of Jupiter's many moons, in five and a half years. -
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- The mission will allow the US space agency to uncover new details about Europa, which scientists believe could hold an ocean beneath its iced-over surface. -
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- "With Europa Clipper, we're not searching for life on Europa, but we're trying to see if this ocean world is habitable, and that means we're looking for the water," said NASA official Gina DiBraccio, ahead of the launch. -
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- "We're looking for energy sources, and we're really looking for the chemistry there, so that we can understand what habitable environments might be throughout our whole universe," she added. -
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- If life's ingredients are found, another mission would then have to make the journey to try and detect it. -
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- The probe is the largest ever designed by NASA for interplanetary exploration. Europa Clipper is 30 metres wide when its immense solar panels -- designed to capture the weak light that reaches Jupiter -- are fully extended. -
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- The mission will look to determine the structure and composition of Europa's surface, its depth, and even the salinity of its ocean, as well as the way the two interact -- to find out, for example, if water rises to the surface in places. -
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- The aim is to understand whether the three ingredients necessary for life are present: water, energy and certain chemical compounds. -
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- If these conditions exist on Europa, life could be found in the ocean in the form of primitive bacteria, explained Bonnie Buratti, the mission's deputy project scientist. -
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- But the bacteria would likely be too deep for the Europa Clipper to see. -
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- The probe will cover 2.9 billion kilometres during its journey, with arrival expected in April 2030. -
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- The main mission will last another four years. -
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- The probe will make 49 close flybys over Europa, coming as close as 25 kilometres above the surface. -
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- Some 4,000 people have been working on the US$5.2 billion mission for around a decade. -
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- NASA says the investment is justified by the importance of the data that will be collected. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774510-20241015.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Research on inequality wins Nobel economics prize -

- Mon, 14 Oct 2024 18:08:00 +0800 -

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- Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson and James Robinson won the 2024 Nobel economics prize "for studies of how institutions are formed and affect prosperity", the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on Monday. -
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- The prestigious award, formally known as the Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, is the final prize to be given out this year and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns (HK$8.2 million). -
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- "Reducing the vast differences in income between countries is one of our time's greatest challenges. The laureates have demonstrated the importance of societal institutions for achieving this,” said Jakob Svensson, Chair of the Committee for the Prize in Economic Sciences. -
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- The economics award is not one of the original prizes for science, literature and peace created in the will of dynamite inventor and businessman Alfred Nobel and first awarded in 1901, but a later addition established and funded by Sweden's central bank in 1968. -
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- Past winners include a host of influential thinkers such as Milton Friedman, John Nash – played by actor Russell Crowe in the 2001 film "A Beautiful Mind" – and, more recently, former US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. -
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- The economics prize has been dominated by US academics since its inception, while US-based researchers also tend to account for a large portion of winners in the scientific fields for which 2024 laureates were announced last week. -
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- That crop of prizes began with US scientists Victor Ambros and Gary Ruvkun winning the prize for medicine on Monday and concluded with Japan's Nihon Hidankyo, an organisation of survivors from Hiroshima and Nagasaki who campaigned for the abolition of nuclear weapons landing the award for peace on Friday. (Reuters) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774467-20241014.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Pakistan beefs up security ahead of SCO summit -

- Mon, 14 Oct 2024 16:37:00 +0800 -

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- Pakistan's capital was under strict security lockdown as Premier Li Qiang landed in the city on Monday ahead of a heads-of-government gathering of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) this week. -
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- Li's visit is the first by a Chinese premier to Pakistan in 11 years, Pakistan's Prime Minister's Office said. -
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- Pakistan's Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif received Li at the airport. -
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- The government has announced a three-day public holiday in Islamabad, with schools and businesses shut and large contingents of police and paramilitary forces deployed. -
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- Pakistan army troops will be responsible for the security of the capital's Red Zone, the location of the parliament and a diplomatic enclave and where most of the meetings will take place, according to the interior ministry. -
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- The threat alert has been high in the South Asian nation ahead of the SCO summit, especially after the killing of two Chinese engineers and shooting to death of 21 miners. -
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- Tensions have mounted after jailed former Prime Minister Imran Khan called for a protest on October 15 to press for his release and agitate against the coalition government, following violent clashes between his party loyalists and security forces. -
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- Islamabad has sought to curb all movement of Chinese nationals in the city, citing fears they could be targets for violence from separatist militants. -
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- The 23rd meeting of the SCO, which comprises nine full members including China, India, Iran and Russia, is scheduled for Tuesday and Wednesday in Islamabad. -
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- As well as attending the SCO summit, Li is also undertaking a four-day bilateral visit to Pakistan from Monday to Thursday, accompanied by senior officials, Pakistan's foreign office said. -
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- Li and Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif will lead their respective delegations to discuss economic and trade ties and cooperation under the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), a US$65 billion investment in the South Asian country under the Belt and Road Initiative. -
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- Li will also inaugurate the CPEC funded Gwadar International Airport in restive southwestern Balochistan province, which borders Afghanistan and Iran, Pakistan's prime minister's office said. -
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- In addition to Li, the SCO participants will be represented by the prime ministers of Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan as well as the first vice president of Iran and external affairs minister of India. (Reuters) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774436-20241014.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Military ready to deal with Pyongyang's threats: Seoul -

- Mon, 14 Oct 2024 13:19:00 +0800 -

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- South Korea's military on Monday said it was "fully ready" to respond after North Korea ordered troops on the border to prepare to fire in an escalating dispute over drone flights to Pyongyang. -
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- The nuclear-armed North has accused Seoul of flying drones over its capital to drop propaganda leaflets filled with "inflammatory rumours and rubbish". -
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- It warned on Sunday that if another drone was detected, it would consider it "a declaration of war". -
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- Seoul's military previously denied it was behind the flights, with local speculation centred on activist groups in the South, which have long sent propaganda and US currency northwards, typically by balloon. -
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- But the North insists Seoul is officially to blame, announcing late on Sunday it had told eight artillery brigades already on war footing "to get fully ready to open fire", and reinforced air observation posts in Pyongyang. -
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- "Our military is closely monitoring the situation and standing fully ready for the North's provocations," Lee Seong-joon, a spokesman for the South's Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) told a press briefing. -
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- Pyongyang claims propaganda drones have infiltrated the capital's airspace three times in recent days, with leader Kim Jong-un's powerful sister threatening a "horrible disaster" unless they stop. -
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- In a statement early on Monday, Kim Yo-jong said the drone flights were "an unpardonable, malicious challenge to our state". -
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- She has issued three similar back-to-back statements, calling on South Korea's military to come up with measures to prevent a recurrence of alleged violations of North Korean airspace. -
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- The JCS on Monday neither confirmed nor denied that Seoul's military was responsible for sending drones across the border, instead calling the North's claim "shameless". -
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- "The North can't even confirm the origin of a drone in the Pyongyang sky, but is placing blame on the South -- all the while keeping a shut mouth on its sending of a drone southward on 10 occasions," spokesman Lee said. -
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- Seoul's military also said on Monday that the North appeared to be preparing to carry out explosions at roads connected to the South, days after Pyongyang said it would seal the border. (AP) -

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- Four killed, dozens injured in Hezbollah drone strike -

- Mon, 14 Oct 2024 11:05:00 +0800 -

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- A Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in central Israel killed four soldiers and severely wounded seven others on Sunday, the Israeli military said, in the deadliest strike by the militant group since Israel launched its ground invasion of Lebanon nearly two weeks ago. -
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- The Lebanon-based Hezbollah called the attack near Binyamina city retaliation for Israeli strikes on Beirut on Thursday that killed 22 people. -
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- It later said it targeted Israel’s elite Golani brigade, launching dozens of missiles to occupy Israeli air defense systems during the assault by “squadrons” of drones. -
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- Israel’s national rescue service said the attack wounded 61. -
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- With Israel’s advanced air-defence systems, it’s rare for so many people to be injured by drones or missiles. -
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- Hezbollah and Israel have traded fire almost daily in the year since the war in Gaza began, and fighting has escalated. -
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- Israel launched its ground operation in Lebanon earlier this month with the goal of weakening Hezbollah and pushing the militant group away from the border to allow thousands of displaced Israelis to return to their homes. -
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- Inside Gaza, an Israeli airstrike killed at least 20 people including children at a school Sunday night, according to two local hospitals. -
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- The school in Nuseirat was sheltering some of the many Palestinians displaced by the war. -
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- Meanwhile, explosions hit early Monday outside Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, killing three people and injuring about 50 others, the hospital said. -
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- Tents caught fire, and residents of the Central Gaza community carried the injured into the hospital. -
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- Hezbollah's deadly strike in Israel came the same day that the United States announced it would send a new air-defence system to Israel to help bolster protection against missiles, along with troops needed to operate it. -
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- An Israeli army spokesperson declined to provide a timeline. (AP) -

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- US to send anti-missile system to Israel: Pentagon -

- Mon, 14 Oct 2024 11:00:00 +0800 -

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- The United States on Sunday said it would send an advanced anti-missile system to Israel - and US troops to operate it - in a bid to bolster the country's air defences following missile attacks by Iran. -
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- US President Joe Biden said he was sending the system "to defend Israel". -
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- Pentagon spokesperson Pat Ryder said the deployment of a Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) battery would augment Israel's integrated air defence system. -
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- "It is part of the broader adjustments the US military has made in recent months, to support the defence of Israel and protect Americans from attacks by Iran and Iranian-aligned militias," Ryder said in a statement. -
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- Iran's Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi warned earlier on Sunday the United States was putting the lives of its troops "at risk by deploying them to operate US missile systems in Israel." -
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- "While we have made tremendous efforts in recent days to contain an all-out war in our region, I say it clearly that we have no red lines in defending our people and interests," Araqchi posted on X. -
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- Iran launched missiles and drones at Israel in April. -
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- Then on October 1, Iran fired more than 180 ballistic missiles at Israel amid an escalation in fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. -
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- Many were intercepted in flight but some penetrated missile defences. -
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- Israel has vowed to retaliate against Iran for that October missile attack. (Reuters) -

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- Armed man arrested near Trump California rally -

- Mon, 14 Oct 2024 10:50:00 +0800 -

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- A man found illegally in possession of a shotgun and a loaded handgun was arrested by sheriff's deputies assigned to protect a Donald Trump rally in Coachella, California, the Riverside County sheriff's office announced on Sunday. -
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- It said the deputies, manning a checkpoint near the rally, arrested 49-year-old Vem Miller of Las Vegas as he drove up in a black SUV. -
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- They later booked him at a local detention centre on charges of possessing a loaded firearm and a high-capacity magazine. -
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- "This incident did not impact the safety of former President Trump or attendees of the event," the statement said. -
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- The sheriff's office offered no immediate information on Miller's intentions. -
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- He was released on bail and faces a court hearing on January 2. -
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- But coming on the heels of two assassination attempts -- one in Pennsylvania in which a bullet grazed Trump's ear, and a second, aborted attempt at his Florida golf course -- the arrest raised concerns. -
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- There was no immediate comment from either the Trump campaign or the US Secret Service, which is charged with protecting top officials and candidates. (AFP) -

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- Iceland PM announces end of governing coalition -

- Mon, 14 Oct 2024 08:55:00 +0800 -

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- Iceland's three-party coalition government, in power since November 2021, collapsed on Sunday due to disagreements on policy issues, with new elections to be held in November, Prime Minister Bjarni Benediktsson announced. -
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- Benediktsson, the head of the conservative Independence Party, told reporters tensions had mounted within the coalition in recent months on a range of issues, from foreign policy to asylum seekers and energy issues. -
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- The coalition is made up of Independence Party, the Left-Green Movement and the centre-right Progressive Party. -
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- The issues "were less discussed in the last election than need to be discussed now," Benediktsson said, stressing "how different the (Left-Green) Movement's vision for the future is, compared to what I want to stand for." -
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- Benediktsson said he would meet Monday with Iceland's President Halla Tomasdottir to submit a proposal for the dissolution of parliament and parliamentary elections in November. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774347-20241014.htm - -

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- SpaceX 'catches' megarocket booster after test flight -

- Sun, 13 Oct 2024 23:51:00 +0800 -

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- SpaceX successfully "caught" the first-stage booster of its Starship megarocket on Sunday as it returned to the launch pad after a test flight, a world first in the company's quest for rapid reusability. -
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- The "super heavy booster" had blasted off attached to the Starship rocket minutes earlier, then made a picture-perfect controlled return to the same pad in Texas, where a pair of huge mechanical "chopsticks" reached out from the launch tower to bring the slowly descending booster to a halt, according to a livestream from Elon Musk's SpaceX company. -
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- "Folks, this is a day for the engineering history books," a SpaceX spokesperson said in a voiceover on the company's livestream, after the booster was safely in the tower's grasp and company staffers had erupted in cheers. -
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- "The tower has caught the rocket!!" SpaceX founder Musk posted on X. -
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- Liftoff occurred at 7:25 am (1225 GMT) in clear weather. While the booster returned to the launchpad, the upper stage of Starship was due to splash down in the Indian Ocean within the hour. -
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- During its last flight in June, SpaceX achieved its first successful splashdown with Starship, a prototype spaceship that Musk hopes will one day carry humans to Mars. -
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- Nasa is also keenly awaiting a modified version of Starship to act as a lander vehicle for crewed flights to the Moon under the Artemis program later this decade. -
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- SpaceX said its engineers have "spent years preparing and months testing for the booster catch attempt, with technicians pouring tens of thousands of hours into building the infrastructure to maximize our chances for success." -
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- Teams were monitoring to ensure "thousands" of criteria were met both on the vehicle and at the tower before any attempt to return the Super Heavy booster. -
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- Had the conditions not been satisfied, the booster would have been redirected for a splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico, as in previous tests. -
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- Instead, having been given the green light, the returning booster decelerated from supersonic speeds and the powerful "chopstick arms" embraced it. -
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- The large mechanical arms, called "Mechazilla" by Musk, have generated considerable excitement among space enthusiasts. -
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- Starship stands 397 feet (121 metres) tall with both stages combined – about 90 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty. -
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- Its Super Heavy booster, which is 233 feet tall, produces 16.7 million pounds (74.3 Meganewtons) of thrust, about twice as powerful as the Saturn V rockets used during the Apollo missions. -
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- SpaceX's "fail fast, learn fast" strategy of rapid iterative testing, even when its rockets blow up spectacularly, has ultimately accelerated development and contributed to the company's success. -
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- Founded only in 2002, it quickly leapfrogged aerospace industry giants and is now the world leader in orbital launches, besides providing the only US spaceship currently certified to carry astronauts. -
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- It has also created the world's biggest internet satellite constellation – invaluable in disaster and war zones. -
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- But its founding vision of making humanity a multiplanetary species is increasingly at risk of being overshadowed by Musk's embrace of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump and his alignment with right-wing politics. -
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- In recent weeks, the company has openly sparred with the Federal Aviation Administration over launch licensing and alleged violations, with Musk accusing the agency of overreach and calling for its chief, Michael Whitaker, to resign. -
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- "He's trying to position himself for minimal regulatory interference with SpaceX once Donald Trump becomes president," said Mark Hass, a marketing expert and professor at Arizona State University. "But it's a calculated gamble if things go the other way." (AFP) -

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- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Russia says seized another key east Ukrainian village -

- Sun, 13 Oct 2024 20:07:00 +0800 -

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- Russia on Sunday said it has captured another east Ukrainian village as it closes in on the important city of Pokrovsk, where its forces have been advancing for weeks. -
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- Russian troops have moved westwards in the Donetsk region for months, with Kyiv saying this weekend that the situation was "very difficult." -
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- Moscow's defence ministry said its forces have now taken Mykhailivka, at the gates of the town of Selydove, and south of Pokrovsk. -
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- Selydove has been badly damaged by months of shelling and seen most of its population flee. -
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- Russia has been trying to capture Pokrovsk – a mining town that was home to some 60,000 people before Moscow launched its offensive. It has been claiming east Ukrainian villages for months. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774323-20241013.htm - -

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- 16 killed in latest northwest Pakistan sectarian clash -

- Sun, 13 Oct 2024 19:11:00 +0800 -

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- At least 16 people, including three women and two children, were killed in a fresh sectarian clash in Pakistan's northwest, officials said. -
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- Sunni and Shi'ite Muslim tribes have been engaged in intermittent fighting for several months in the Kurram district of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. -
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- Kurram, formerly a semi-autonomous area, has a history of bloody confrontations between tribes belonging to the Sunni and Shi'ite sects of Islam that have claimed hundreds of lives over the years. -
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- A convoy of Sunnis was travelling under the protection of paramilitary soldiers on Saturday when they came under attack. -
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- "As a result, 14 people, including 3 women and 2 children, were killed, and six others were wounded," a local official said. -
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- Frontier police responded and killed two of the attackers, who were identified as Shi'ites, the official added. -
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- Other recent clashes in July and September killed dozens of people and ended only after a jirga, or tribal council, called a ceasefire. -
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- Officials are attempting to broker a fresh truce. -
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- Tribal and family feuds are common in Pakistan. -
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- However, they can be particularly protracted and violent in remote areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where communities abide by traditional tribal honour codes. -
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- The Shi'ite community in Pakistan, a predominantly Sunni Muslim country, has long suffered discrimination and violence. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774316-20241013.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Indian politician shot dead in Mumbai -

- Sun, 13 Oct 2024 17:33:00 +0800 -

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- A senior politician in India's financial capital Mumbai was shot dead on Saturday, weeks ahead of key state elections, with police probing the role of a notorious crime gang. -
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- Baba Siddique, 66, a local lawmaker and former minister in Maharashtra state, was shot multiple times in the chest outside his son's office in Mumbai, Indian media reported. -
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- Maharashtra's deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar, from the same party as Siddique, said he was "shocked" by the "cowardly attack." -
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- The Hindustan Times newspaper reported that two suspected attackers had been arrested, and police were searching for another. -
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- Broadcaster NDTV said the two suspects claimed they were part of a gang run by Lawrence Bishnoi, who is in jail accused of running a crime gang that has carried out multiple killings. -
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- The shooting comes just weeks after Siddique's security detail was upgraded after he received death threats, and ahead of elections slated for later this year. -
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- "The incident will be thoroughly investigated and strict action will be taken against the attackers," Pawar said in a statement. "The mastermind behind the attack will also be traced." -
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- Siddique was close to several Bollywood stars and was known for throwing grand parties. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774315-20241013.htm - -

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- Peacekeepers warn of 'catastrophic' regional conflict -

- Sun, 13 Oct 2024 10:03:00 +0800 -

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- UN peacekeepers in Lebanon warned on Saturday that the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah and Hamas militants was escalating with potentially dire consequences. -
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- Israel has faced a fierce diplomatic backlash over incidents in south Lebanon that saw five Blue Helmets injured. -
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- Lebanon's health ministry said Israeli air strikes on two villages near Beirut killed at least nine people. Official media later reported an Israeli strike targeted a market in Nabatiyeh, an important southern city. -
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- Israel had earlier told residents of south Lebanon not to return home, as its troops fought Hezbollah militants in a war that has killed more than 1,200 people since September 23, and forced more than a million others to flee their homes, Lebanese authorities say. -
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- "For your own protection, do not return to your homes until further notice... Do not go south; anyone who goes south may put his life at risk," Israeli military spokesman Avichay Adraee posted on X. -
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- Hezbollah said it fired missiles into northern Israel, where air raid sirens sounded and the military said it had intercepted a projectile. -
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- The Iran-backed militants have stepped up their attacks on targets in and around Israel's main northern city of Haifa. -
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- Israel's military said Hezbollah fired about 320 projectiles into Israel over the weekend of Yom Kippur, which ended at nightfall. -
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- It also said roughly 280 "terror targets" were attacked in Lebanon and Gaza over the same period. -
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- For the third time, it declared a "closed military area" along the Lebanese border in northern Israel. -
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- Such measures since late September have preceded ground operations inside Lebanon. -
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- In an interview with AFP, Andrea Tenenti, spokesperson for the United Nations peacekeeping mission, UNIFIL, said he feared an Israeli escalation against Hezbollah could soon spiral out of control "into a regional conflict with catastrophic impact for everyone". -
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- There was "no military solution", Tenenti said. -
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- The UN mission said five peacekeepers have been injured during fighting in south Lebanon in two days, and Tenenti said "a lot of damage" had been caused to its posts there. -
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- Around Israel, markets were closed and public transport halted as observant Jews fasted and prayed on Yom Kippur. -
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- After the holiday, attention is likely to turn again to Israel's promised retaliation against Iran, which launched around 200 missiles at Israel on October 1. -
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- Tehran said the barrage was retaliation for the killing of top militants and an Iranian general. -
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- Israeli forces have been at war in Gaza since Hamas Palestinian militants on October 7 last year carried out the worst-ever attack on Israel. -
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- Hezbollah, saying it was acting as a "support" front for Hamas, had been exchanging cross-border fire with Israel for almost a year. -
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- But on September 30 Israel began a ground offensive against Hezbollah in Lebanon after intensifying air strikes on targets there. -
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- On Friday, Israel faced criticism from the UN, its Western allies and others over what it said was a "hit" on a UN peacekeeping position in Lebanon. -
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- Two Sri Lankan Blue Helmets were hurt in the second such incident in two days, UNIFIL said on Friday. -
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- Israel's military said soldiers had responded to "an immediate threat" around 50 metres (yards) from the UNIFIL base in Naqura, and pledged to carry out a "thorough review". -
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- The Irish military's chief of staff, Sean Clancy, said it was "not an accidental act", and French President Emmanuel Macron said he believed the peacekeepers had been "deliberately targeted". -
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- Both countries are troop contributors to UNIFIL. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774270-20241013.htm - -

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- Harris releases health report, contrasting Trump -

- Sun, 13 Oct 2024 09:36:00 +0800 -

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- US Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential nominee, released a letter from her doctor on Saturday that pronounced her in good health and fit for high office, in an effort to draw a contrast with her counterpart, Donald Trump. -
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- In a memo distributed by the White House, the vice president's physician, Joshua Simmons, said Harris's most recent physical exam in April was "unremarkable," that she maintains an active lifestyle and "very healthy diet" despite a busy schedule, suffers from seasonal allergies and sporadic hives, does not use tobacco and drinks alcohol only in moderation. -
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- "She possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency, to include those as Chief Executive, Head of State and Commander in Chief," the doctor wrote. -
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- Harris, 59, is running against Republican Trump, 78, for the White House. She made her medical information public on Saturday in an effort to draw attention to his refusal to do so, according to a Harris aide. -
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- The Harris campaign is eager to highlight the former president's age since he became the oldest candidate in the race after President Joe Biden, 81, stepped aside as the Democratic standard bearer following a poor debate performance against Trump. -
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- Locked in a very tight race. Harris' campaign hopes that contrasting her comparative youth and mental acuity with Trump's more advanced age and tendency to meander, along with the differences in transparency between the two, will help convince undecided voters that she is more fit for office than he. -
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- A White House doctor said in 2018 when Trump was in office that he was in overall excellent health then but needed to shed weight and start a daily exercise routine. -
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- Simmons said Harris's allergies had been well-managed with over-the-counter and prescription medications. -
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- Her urticaria or hives were "sporadic and transient and do not seem to be triggered by any particular exposure nor are they associated with other symptoms" and respond well to antihistamine treatment. -
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- Harris has been on allergen immunotherapy for the last three years, dramatically improving her allergy and urticaria symptoms and negating her need for medication other than occasional nasal spray, he said. -
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- Harris wears contact lenses. Her family history includes her mother's colon cancer. Harris was up to date on preventative health procedures including colonoscopy and annual mammograms, he said. (Reuters) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774256-20241013.htm - -

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- Tusk says Poland wants to limit asylum rights -

- Sun, 13 Oct 2024 05:16:00 +0800 -

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- Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said on Saturday he planned to partially suspend asylum rights for irregular migrants, accusing human traffickers and countries such as Russia and Belarus of abusing the system. -
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- Tusk, who is due to present a migration policy package on Tuesday, said in a speech to his Civic Coalition movement that Poland would wage a "merciless" fight against undocumented immigrants entering the country. -
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- "I'm saying loud and proud that our migration strategy will include the temporary suspension of the right to asylum on our territory," he said. -
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- He added he would ask the European Union to "recognise" the proposal. -
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- "We know perfectly well how (Belarusian President Alexander) Lukashenko, (Russian President Vladimir) Putin, migrant brokers and human traffickers use it," he said of the asylum system. -
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- "The way asylum rights are being used is completely contrary to the actual essence of the right to asylum," said Tusk, a former European Council president who became premier after ousting Poland's right-wing Law and Justice (PiS) party in elections last year. -
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- "We are not going to respect or apply any European idea that... hinders our security. I'm thinking here of the (EU) migration pact." -
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- Poland, a NATO and European Union member, accuses Russia and Belarus of orchestrating a flood of asylum seekers migrants in a "hybrid" attack to destabilise Europe, an accusation Lukashenko's government denies. -
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- In May, Poland announced it would spend more than 2.3 billion euros to reinforce its border with Belarus, the EU's eastern flank. -
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- Poland and the Czech Republic called on Wednesday for tougher EU migration restrictions than those in the bloc's new pact on migration and asylum, which is due to come into force in 2026. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774243-20241013.htm - -

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- Ukraine, Russia say foiled dozens of drone attacks -

- Sun, 13 Oct 2024 01:09:00 +0800 -

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- Russia and Ukraine traded drone attacks overnight, with Russian officials saying on Saturday that Ukrainian strikes had killed one person in the Belgorod border region. -
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- Russia said it had downed 47 Ukrainian drones overnight, while Ukraine reported it neutralised 24 drones fired by Moscow. -
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- The Ukrainian air force said many missiles were fired from Belgorod, without specifying the number or type. -
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- It said Russia had fired 28 drones at Ukraine, of which 24 were destroyed in the Sumy, Poltava, Dnipropetrovsk, Mykolaiv and Kherson regions. -
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- In the southern region of Zaporizhzhia, Russian bombardments wounded four people, the head of the regional administration said. -
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- The Russian defence ministry said the 47 Ukrainian drones taken down overnight included 17 in the southeastern Russian region of Krasnodar, 16 over the Azov Sea and 12 over the border region of Kursk. -
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- A separate Ukrainian drone attack killed one person in the village of Ustinka in the Belgorod region, the regional governor said on Telegram. -
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- The Ukrainian chief of staff said Kyiv's forces had struck a fuel depot overnight near Rovenky in the eastern region of Lugansk, which is occupied by Russian forces. -
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- It said the strike caused a fire at the depot, which it said supplied Russian forces, but did not provide details about the blaze. -
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- Moscow did not confirm the attack. -
-
- Separately, Russian emergency services said they had brought a massive fire under control at the Feodosia oil terminal in Russian-annexed Crimea, which had burned for six days after being struck by Ukraine, state news agency RIA Novosti reported. -
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- Russian forces have made advances across the front line in eastern Ukraine, targeting the country's power grid as it faces its toughest winter since the full-scale Russian invasion started in February 2022. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774242-20241013.htm - -

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- IDF warns south Lebanon residents 'not to return home' -

- Sat, 12 Oct 2024 18:02:00 +0800 -

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- The Israeli military on Saturday warned residents of south Lebanon "not to return" to their homes as troops continued fighting Hezbollah fighters in the area. -
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- Israeli forces continue to "target Hezbollah posts in or near your villages", military spokesman Avichay Adraee said on X. "For your own protection, do not return to your homes until further notice. Do not go south; anyone who goes south may put his life at risk." -
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- In a separate post, Adraee reiterated an earlier call for health workers and medical teams in southern Lebanon to avoid using ambulances, claiming they are being used by Hezbollah fighters. -
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- "We call on medical teams to avoid contact with Hezbollah members and not to cooperate with them," he said. -
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- "The IDF (Israeli military) affirms that the necessary actions will be taken against any vehicle transporting armed individuals, regardless of its type." -
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- Israel is engaged in a multi-front war as it continues to battle Palestinian militants in Gaza. -
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- In recent days, the military has launched an intense ground and air assault in northern Gaza, particularly in and around the city of Jabalia. -
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- Gaza's civil defence agency on Friday said at least 30 people have been killed by Israeli strikes throughout the day in northern Gaza's Jabalia town and refugee camp amid intense combat operations by the Israeli army in the area. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774218-20241012.htm - -

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- Boeing to cut 10% of workforce as it sees big Q3 loss -

- Sat, 12 Oct 2024 16:05:00 +0800 -

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- Boeing announced that it plans to cut 10 percent of its workforce as it projected a large third-quarter loss amid a machinist strike in the Seattle region. -
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- The aviation giant must "reset our workforce levels to align with our financial reality," Chief Executive Kelly Ortberg said on Friday, adding that the cuts of 17,000 positions globally "will include executives, managers and employees." -
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- The company announced a series of belt-tightening measures and production delays as the nearly monthlong strike of 33,000 workers has added to the company's litany of problems. -
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- Boeing staff with the International Association of Machinists (IAM) and Aerospace Workers walked off the job on September 13 after overwhelmingly rejecting a contract offer. -
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- Boeing, which has also faced significant scrutiny over commercial aviation safety lapses and stumbles in its Starliner space program, said the IAM strike contributed to US$3 billion in pre-tax charges to its commercial aviation results in the third quarter, part of an anticipated loss of US$9.97 per share. -
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- "While our business is facing near-term challenges, we are making important strategic decisions for our future and have a clear view on the work we must do to restore our company," Ortberg said in a press release. -
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- "These decisive actions, along with key structural changes to our business, are necessary to remain competitive over the long term." -
-
- Details of the cuts would come next week, he said. -
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- As a result of the strike, Boeing said it is pushing back first delivery of the 777X to 2026 from 2025. The much-delayed jet was originally supposed to enter service in January 2020. -
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- The company plans to cease production of the 767 Freighter in 2027 once it completes production on current orders. -
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- The striking workers are seeking hefty wage hikes and a reinstatement of their pension, complaining of more than a decade of near-flat wages amid inflation. -
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- Ratings agency S&P estimated this week that the strike was costing Boeing US$1 billion per month. -
-
- Shares of Boeing fell about 1 percent in after-hours trading. (AFP) -

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- Obama calls out Black voters for doubts over Harris -

- Sat, 12 Oct 2024 08:51:00 +0800 -

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- Former US President Barack Obama made a passionate case against Donald Trump on Thursday during a campaign rally in Pennsylvania in which he appealed directly to men to reject Trump's bravado and back Vice President Kamala Harris. -
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- Obama has been a vocal supporter of Harris since she ascended to the top of the Democratic ticket after President Joe Biden stepped aside in July following a poor debate performance against Trump, the Republican former president. -
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- Obama, whose White House term ended in 2017, is still popular with his party's base. The rally he headlined at the University of Pittsburgh, held while Harris spent the day campaigning in Nevada and Arizona, is the first of several events he plans to do in the coming weeks in battleground states that are likely to decide the election. -
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- In remarks that lambasted Trump both for his character and his policy proposals, Obama zeroed in on male voters, a constituency Harris has struggled to win over. -
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- "I’m sorry, gentlemen. I’ve noticed this, especially with some men who seem to think Trump’s behavior, the bullying, and putting people down are a sign of strength. I am here to tell you that is not what real strength is," he said. -
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- "Real strength is about helping people who need it and standing up for those who can’t always stand up for themselves. That is what we should want for our daughters and for our sons." -
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- Before the rally, during a stop at a local campaign office, Obama went a step further, suggesting Black men were not supporting Harris because of her gender. -
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- "Part of it makes me think -- and I'm speaking to men directly -- part of it makes me think that, well, you just aren't feeling the idea of having a woman as president and you're coming up with other alternatives and other reasons for that." -
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- At the rally, Obama said Trump only cared about his own ego and money. He stressed that Harris was raised in the middle class and believed in American values, which he contrasted with Trump's mistruths and deliberate attempts to deceive, including recently about the government's response to hurricanes. -
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- "When did that become okay?" Obama asked. -
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- He highlighted Harris' "concrete plans" on housing and taxes. -
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- "Kamala is as prepared for the job as any nominee for president has ever been," he said. "With Kamala, you've got actual plans. Trump - concepts of a plan." (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774152-20241012.htm - -

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- Thunberg leads pro-Palestine, climate protest in Milan -

- Sat, 12 Oct 2024 03:11:00 +0800 -

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- Swedish activist Greta Thunberg attended a climate change and pro-Palestinian rally in Milan on Friday, days after her criticism of Israel sparked a row over protests in Germany. -
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- More than 1,000 people, many of them teenagers, joined a peaceful march in the northern Italian city organised by Fridays For Future, the climate change movement Thunberg helped found. -
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- Wearing a keffiyeh, a traditional scarf symbolising the Palestinian struggle against Israel, Thunberg walked near the front of the procession as other protesters waved flags, held banners and danced to music. -
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- "Palestinians have been living under suffocating oppression for decades by an apartheid regime, and during the last year with Israel's live broadcasted genocide, the world has once again abandoned Palestine," the 21-year-old said in a speech. -
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- Israel's retaliatory military offensive in Gaza has killed more than 42,000 people, most of them civilians, according to figures provided by the Hamas-run territory's health ministry. The United Nations has acknowledged the figures to be reliable. -
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- Thunberg drew a link between global warming and the weapons industry. -
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- "The fight for climate justice is a fight against the fossil fuel industry, just as much as it is a fight against the weapon industries, militarisation and the over-extraction of natural resources," she said. -
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- German police on Tuesday closed a pro-Palestinian protest camp that had invited Thunberg after a rally she attended in Berlin Monday -- the anniversary of the Hamas attack -- ended in clashes with police. -
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- She accused Germany of "silencing and threatening activists". -
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- The Milan march was part of a "national strike for the climate", a series of protests organised by Fridays For Future across Italy. -
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- "Demonstrating is the only weapon we have against the injustice that we suffer," said protester Sofia Parisi, 17. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774144-20241012.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Nihon Hidankyo: Japan's A-bomb survivors awarded Nobel -

- Sat, 12 Oct 2024 01:20:00 +0800 -

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- Nobel Peace Prize winner Nihon Hidankyo is a group of survivors of the US nuclear bombings that virtually obliterated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki at the end of World War II. -
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- The Japanese grassroots anti-nuclear organisation was established in 1956 and is the only nationwide association of A-bomb survivors, who are known as hibakusha. -
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- It has long been tipped for the Nobel for its calls to abolish nuclear weapons, including through powerful testimonies from its dwindling number of aged members, recounting the horror of the attacks. -
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- Japan remains the only country hit by atomic weapons in wartime and next year is the 80th anniversary of the bombings. -
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- Nihon Hidankyo says it stands for the "prevention of nuclear war and the elimination of nuclear weapons, including the signing of an international agreement for a total ban". -
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- It argues that Japan should acknowledge its responsibility of "having launched the war, which led to the damage by the atomic bombing" and therefore provide survivors with compensation. -
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- On August 6, 1945, the first nuclear bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, flattening the city and leaving some 140,000 people dead, either instantly or in the weeks that followed. -
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- Three days later, a second US bomb hit Nagasaki, killing around 74,000. -
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- All members and officials of Nihon Hidankyo are hibakusha, which says it represents almost all the organised survivors in Japan. -
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- There are currently around 106,800 hibakusha in the country, according to the government. Their average age is 85. -
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- Nihon Hidankyo works to tell survivors' stories, to convey the damage and after-effects of the attacks. -
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- The group has also sent survivors to the United Nations and countries that hold nuclear weapons, and provides counselling and other assistance to survivors. -
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- After then-US president Barack Obama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he met and embraced atomic bomb survivors on a historic visit to Hiroshima. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774143-20241012.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- France summons Israeli envoy over UN attack -

- Fri, 11 Oct 2024 22:09:00 +0800 -

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- France said on Friday it had summoned the Israeli ambassador after UN peacekeepers in Lebanon said Israeli fire on their headquarters wounded two staff. -
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- UN peacekeepers said Israeli fire on their headquarters in south Lebanon on Thursday injured two Blue Helmets, sparking condemnation from European members of the mission. No French soldiers were hurt in Thursday's incident, France said. -
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- "These attacks constitute serious violations of international law and must cease immediately," the French foreign ministry said in a statement, adding that it condemned "deliberate Israeli fire" against the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL). -
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- "The Israeli authorities must explain themselves. France is therefore summoning today the Israeli ambassador to France." -
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- France, which has had a military presence in Lebanon since 1978, contributes about 700 troops to the UN Interim Force in Lebanon, according to the French defence ministry. -
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- "We pay tribute to all UNIFIL personnel, to our French contingent and to all contingents, for their ongoing commitment and professionalism under these difficult conditions," the French foreign ministry said. -
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- Paris reiterated "the urgent need for a cessation of hostilities and a diplomatic settlement." -
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- Israel acknowledged its forces had opened fire in the area, saying the Hezbollah fighters on whom it is waging an escalating war operate near UN posts. -
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- Italy, a major contributor of troops to the force, said the acts "could constitute war crimes" while Washington said it was "deeply concerned." -
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- UNIFIL, which has about 10,000 peacekeepers stationed in south Lebanon, has called for a ceasefire since an escalation between Israel and Lebanese group Hezbollah on September 23, after a year of cross-border fire. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774142-20241011.htm - -

- 電子郵件 Email: - - cnews@rthk.hk - -

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- Russia and Iran hail 'close' world views -

- Fri, 11 Oct 2024 20:05:00 +0800 -

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- Vladimir Putin and Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian on Friday hailed their "close" views on world affairs, with the Russian leader saying ties with Tehran were a "priority" for Moscow. -
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- The pair held a meeting in Turkmenistan, amid soaring tensions in the Middle East, with Israeli air strikes on Lebanon's capital Beirut that it says are aimed at Iran-backed group Hezbollah. -
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- Relations between Russia and Iran, both under Western sanctions, have strengthened massively since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022, with Tehran widely believed to be supplying Moscow with weapons. -
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- "Relations with Iran are a priority for us, they are developing very successfully," Putin said. "We are actively working together on the international arena, and our views of events in the world are often very close." -
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- According to a Russian translation, Pezeshkian said relations between the two countries are "sincere." -
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- "Our positions on the international stage are similar," he said. -
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- He said the situation in the Middle East is "difficult", saying "the USA and Europe do not want the situation to calm down." -
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- In a short video published by a Russian state TV reporter, Pezeshkian accused Israel of bombing civilians and being backed by Western powers, according to a Russian translation. -
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- The leaders are meeting for the first time at a regional summit in the Central Asian country. -
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- The Kremlin earlier said the two will discuss mutual relations as well as the situation in the Middle East. -
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- Pezeshkian will also hold talks with Putin during a visit to Russia later this month to attend the new BRICS summit. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774135-20241011.htm - -

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- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22 -

- Fri, 11 Oct 2024 13:04:00 +0800 -

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- An Israeli air strike killed at least 22 people in central Beirut on Thursday as Israeli ground troops in Lebanon were accused of firing on the UN's peacekeeping headquarters, injuring two Blue Helmets. -
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- The raid on Beirut, where witnesses heard several loud explosions, was the third such attack on the centre of the Lebanese capital since Israel escalated its campaign last month. -
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- Lebanon's health ministry issued the updated death toll and said the number of injured had risen to 117. -
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- Live TV footage showed two plumes of smoke billowing between densely packed buildings, while there was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities about the nature of the target. -
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- A Lebanese security source, without giving further details, said a "Hezbollah figure" was targeted after a series of killings of top officials in the Iran-backed movement. -
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- Most Israeli strikes have targeted the south Beirut area, not the city's centre. -
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- The attack came the same day the UN's peacekeeping force in Lebanon accused Israeli soldiers of "repeatedly" firing on its positions, including with a tank, leaving two Indonesian soldiers with injuries. -
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- Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto, whose country is a major contributor to the force, condemned the "hostile acts," which he said "could constitute war crimes," while Spain called it a "grave violation of international law." -
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- Washington said that while Israel targets Hezbollah facilities "it is critical that they not threaten UN peacekeepers' safety and security." -
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- The Israeli military said it had been operating against Hezbollah militants near Unifil headquarters and had "instructed the UN forces in the area to remain in protected spaces." -
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- Israel has been pounding Hezbollah in Lebanon since September 23 in an escalated campaign that has killed more than 1,200 people and displaced more than a million others, according to a tally of health ministry figures. -
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- Its ground forces crossed into Lebanon on September 30 with the aim of stopping Hezbollah's cross-border fire in support of Palestinian militant group Hamas, which attacked Israel on October 7. -
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- Hezbollah missile and artillery fire has forced tens of thousands of Israelis to flee their homes near the border over the past year, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has promised to fight until they can return. -
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- The Lebanon operation is a second front for Israel's stretched armed forces, which are continuing their campaign against Hamas Palestinian militants in Gaza. -
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- Israeli forces launched a major operation in the north of the territory at the weekend around the Jabalia refugee camp, where about 400,000 people are trapped, according to Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA. -
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- Speaking to reporters on Wednesday about the humanitarian situation, US State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said that Washington was "incredibly concerned" as Israel tightens its siege. -
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- "We have been making clear to the government of Israel that they have an obligation under international humanitarian law to allow food and water and other needed humanitarian assistance to make it into all parts of Gaza," he said. -
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- An Israeli strike on a school building being used as shelter by displaced people in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza on Thursday left at least 28 people dead and 54 injured, according to the Palestine Red Crescent. -
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- It is the latest of numerous such incidents. -
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- The Israeli army said in a statement that the strike targeted Palestinian combatants operating from a command-and-control centre "embedded inside a compound that previously served as the (Rafida) School." -
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- The Israeli military accuses Hamas of hiding in school buildings where thousands of Gazans have sought shelter – a charge denied by the militant group. -
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- UN investigators on Thursday also accused Israel of deliberately targeting health facilities and killing and torturing medical personnel in Gaza. -
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- Israel is "committing war crimes and the crime against humanity of extermination with relentless and deliberate attacks on medical personnel and facilities," the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry said in a statement. -
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- Ahead of Yom Kippur starting on Friday, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar, Israelis are also braced for the country's reaction to a missile attack last week from Iran, which backs both Hamas and Hezbollah. -
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- Iran fired about 200 missiles in what it said was retaliation for the assassination of two of its closest allies, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with an Iranian general. -
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- Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi said in an interview with Al Jazeera Arabic on Thursday that "we do not want a war," but "we are not afraid of it, and we will be ready for any scenario." -
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- Israel's Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Wednesday that "our attack on Iran will be deadly, precise and surprising. They will not understand what happened and how it happened." -
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- President Joe Biden has cautioned Israel against attempting to target Iran's nuclear facilities and opposes striking oil installations. -
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- "I don't think we are currently in a situation that the two countries are seeking an all-out direct war," Hamid, a 29-year-old university student in Tehran, said on Thursday. -
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- "It will have severe economic and military consequences" for both countries, he added. -
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- The Gaza war began on October 7 last year, when Hamas militants stormed across the border and carried out the worst attack in Israeli history. -
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- The militants took 251 people hostage in an attack that resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people, most of them civilians, according to a tally based on official Israeli figures. -
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- According to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry, 42,065 people have been killed in Gaza since the start of the war, a majority civilians, figures the UN has described as reliable. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774087-20241011.htm - -

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- At least 10 dead in Florida after Milton's tornadoes -

- Fri, 11 Oct 2024 09:13:00 +0800 -

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- At least 10 people died after Hurricane Milton sent tornadoes spinning as it ripped across Florida, with flooding swamping swathes of the Tampa Bay area, authorities said on Thursday. -
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- The hurricane carved across the state late on Wednesday before roaring into the Atlantic, leaving behind roads blocked by downed trees and powerlines. Some three million homes and businesses were without power. -
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- So far, though, it appeared that tornadoes, rather than floodwaters, have been responsible for the storm's deaths. -
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- "It was pretty scary," said Susan Stepp, a 70-year-old resident of Fort Pierce, a city on Florida's east coast where four people in a senior living community died after a tornado spawned by Milton struck on Wednesday. -
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- "They did find some people just outside dead, in a tree," she said. "I wish they would have evacuated." -
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- The deaths included five in St Lucie County, three in Volusia County and two in the city of St Petersburg, local authorities said. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas told reporters the deaths "were caused by the tornadoes." -
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- In Polk County, a member of a road crew was struck and killed by a colleague as he removed a downed tree. -
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- Stepp's husband Bill said a tornado "picked up my 22-ton motor home and threw it across the yard." -
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- "Scary and heartbreaking at the same time, to see much damage and all things you really love just gone, but it's only things and we're still here," the 72-year-old said. -
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- The southeastern US state was able to avoid the level of catastrophic devastation officials had feared. -
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- "The storm was significant, but thankfully this was not the worst-case scenario," Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told a news conference. -
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- Milton made landfall on the Florida Gulf Coast as a major Category 3 storm, with powerful winds smashing communities still reeling from Hurricane Helene which hit only two weeks ago, killing 237 people in the United States. -
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- The National Weather Service issued 126 tornado warnings across the state on Wednesday, "the most ever issued for a single calendar day for the state in records dating back to 1986," wrote hurricane expert Michael Lowry. -
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- As of Thursday evening, rescue operations continued as workers evacuated residents stranded by floodwaters in the city of Clearwater, near Tampa. -
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- "We don't know whether we can come back," Justino Torres, 58, said shortly after crews evacuated him from a building. -
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- "I'm going to leave it in the hands of God." -
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- In nearby Sarasota Bay, Kristin Joyce, a 72-year-old interior designer who also did not evacuate, took photos of tree branches snapped by the wind. -
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- "There is no question it needs to be a serious wake-up call for everyone in terms of climate change," she said, surveying the damage. -
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- Scientists say extreme rainfall and destructive storms are occurring with greater severity and frequency as temperatures rise due to climate change. As warmer ocean surfaces release more water vapour, they provide more energy for storms as they form. -
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- President Joe Biden, who said he spoke with DeSantis on Thursday, urged people to stay inside in the aftermath of the storm, with downed power lines and debris "creating dangerous conditions." -
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- In a video posted on social media, Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said he and his wife Melania were praying for Florida residents affected by the storm and urged them to vote for him. -
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- "Hopefully, on January 20th you're going to have somebody that's really going to help you and help you like never before," the former president said, referring to the presidential inauguration date. -
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- Hurricane Helene struck Florida late last month, and the back-to-back storms have become election fodder as Trump spreads conspiracy theories claiming Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris are abandoning victims. -
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- That prompted a furious response from Biden who on Wednesday called Trump "reckless, irresponsible." -
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- In Cocoa Beach, on Florida's east coast, one tornado swept in from the ocean, blowing out almost all the windows of a hair salon and tearing a chunk of roof off a bank. -
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- Katherine and Larry Hingle said they were on their porch, watching water from a nearby river rise, when the tornado came through on Wednesday evening. -
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- "I said 'it sounds like a train's coming,'" Katherine, 53, said while out to walk their dog and survey the damage. -
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- In Sarasota, resident Carrie Elizabeth expressed the feelings of many – that despite the violent night, Milton was not quite as bad as had been feared. -
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- "I feel that we're very lucky," she said. "It'll take a long time to clean up, but it could have been much worse." (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774055-20241011.htm - -

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- Harris, Trump hit campaign trail amid Hurricane Milton -

- Fri, 11 Oct 2024 05:31:00 +0800 -

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- Presidential campaigning in the United States continues even with Hurricane Milton hitting Florida. -
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- Vice President Kamala Harris visited Nevada and Arizona on Thursday, while former President Donald Trump discussed economic issues in the auto industry capital of Detroit in Michigan. -
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- Both the Harris and Trump campaigns are using their travel strategically, trying to increase support with key voting blocs who could decide an election expected to be exceedingly close. -
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- Trump has emphasised picking up votes in heavily Hispanic parts of Pennsylvania, including Reading, where he held a rally on Wednesday. -
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- Also wooing blue-collar voters in the former coal mining town and President Joe Biden’s childhood hometown of Scranton, Trump vowed to "drill, baby, drill" for oil and assailed Harris on the economy. -
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- Harris was out west to yet another swing state, Nevada, as her campaign looked to increase support among Hispanic voters there, especially men. -
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- But the White House said she would be kept informed throughout the day about Hurricane Milton. -
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- The monster hurricane crashed into Florida late on Wednesday with Biden warning that it could be the "storm of the century." -
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- Meanwhile, former President Barack Obama also hit the campaign trail on Thursday night, making his first appearance for Harris at a rally in Pittsburgh, a day after Republican rival Donald Trump charged through the must-win state. -
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- Harris campaign said Obama's trip to Pennsylvania is the first stop in what will be a month of campaigning for the vice president in the seven swing states where the 2024 election is likely to be decided. (AP/AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774022-20241011.htm - -

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- Person shot dead in Martinique price riots -

- Fri, 11 Oct 2024 05:30:00 +0800 -

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- New riots in the French Caribbean island of Martinique saw one person killed by gunshot wounds, 12 police injured and stores looted, authorities said on Thursday. -
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- The island of 350,000 people has been shaken in recent weeks by violent protests over high prices. -
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- During a new night of troubles from Wednesday to Thursday, protesters looted shops, erected burning barricades and clashed with police. -
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- The local prefecture said one person died of his wounds after being shot, but that police did not open fire during the night. -
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- The wounded person was discovered by police responding to reports of looting at a shopping centre in the town of Robert. The victim was declared dead in hospital and a probe was launched, the prefecture said. -
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- A source told reporters, citing preliminary information, that 12 gendarmes received minor injuries, including one wounded by gunfire. -
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- According to the source, at least three stores and several car parks were set ablaze. -
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- Clashes continued into the night and burnt-out cars blocked traffic on one main road in Fort-de-France, the island's main city. -
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- Footage circulating on social networks showed a burning barricade on the ring road in Fort-de-France, and projectiles being thrown at vehicles trying to go around it. -
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- At 6:00 am (1000 GMT), firefighters were still putting out smoking roadblocks in the city, a witness said. -
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- Schools on the island remained closed on Thursday. -
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- On Wednesday, four police were "slightly injured" in the town of Carbet during efforts to dismantle a roadblock, the prefecture said. -
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- Residents of France's overseas territories have long complained about the high cost of living. In Martinique, food prices are 40 percent higher than in mainland France. -
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- The protests were launched in early September by the Assembly for the Protection of Afro-Caribbean Peoples and Resources (RPPRAC), which demands that food prices be aligned with mainland France. -
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- The violence led authorities to impose a night-time curfew, now lifted, in several neighbourhoods of Fort-de-France and Lamentin. (AFP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1774012-20241011.htm - -

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- Two million without power as Milton cuts over Florida -

- Thu, 10 Oct 2024 16:12:00 +0800 -

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- Hurricane Milton marched across central Florida on Thursday after making landfall on the state's west coast hours earlier, whipping up deadly tornadoes, destroying homes and knocking out power to nearly two million people. -
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- The storm made landfall this morning Hong Kong time as a Category 3 hurricane with maximum sustained winds of 195 kph near Siesta Key, the US National Hurricane Centre said. -
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- By early Thursday, wind speeds reduced to a still dangerous 150 kph, dropping Milton to a Category 1 hurricane, with heavy rains and damaging storm surges. -
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- The hurricane was located about 75 kilometres west-southwest of Cape Canaveral, home to NASA's Space Force Station. -
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- A flash flood emergency was in effect for the Tampa Bay area including the cities of Tampa, St. Petersburg and Clearwater, the hurricane centre said, with St. Petersburg already receiving 422 millimetres of rain on Wednesday. -
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- The eye of the storm made landfall in Siesta Key, a barrier island town of some 5,400 off Sarasota about 100 kilometres south of the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, which is home to more than three million people. -
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- Florida Governor Ron DeSantis said he hoped Tampa Bay, once seen as the potential bull's eye, could dodge major damage and that the worst of the predicted storm surge could be avoided thanks to the landfall coming before the high tide. -
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- Forecasters said seawater could still rise as high as four metres. -
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- DeSantis reported Milton had also spawned at least 19 tornadoes caused damage in numerous counties, destroying around 125 homes, most of them mobile homes. -
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- "At this point, it's too dangerous to evacuate safely, so you have to shelter in place and just hunker down," DeSantis said upon announcing the landfall. -
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- At least two deaths were reported at a retirement community following a suspected tornado in Fort Pierce on the eastern coast of Florida, NBC News reported, citing St. Lucie County Sheriff Keith Pearson. -
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- Pearson estimated 100 homes were destroyed in the county where some 17 tornadoes touched down, NBC said. -
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- More than two million homes and businesses in Florida were without power, according to PowerOutage.us. -
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- The storm was expected to cross the Florida peninsula overnight and emerge into the Atlantic, still with hurricane force, on Thursday. (Reuters) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1773968-20241010.htm - -

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- Indian tycoon Ratan Tata dies aged 86 -

- Thu, 10 Oct 2024 11:02:00 +0800 -

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- Ratan Tata, a former chairman of Indian conglomerate Tata Sons hailed as a visionary business leader, died at a Mumbai hospital on Wednesday night. He was 86. -
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- Tata Sons chairman N Chandrasekaran confirmed Tata’s death and described him in a statement as his “friend, mentor, and guide.” -
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- He did not provide a cause of death. -
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- Tata was admitted this week to the Breach Candy Hospital in south Mumbai, the city where he lived. -
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- Soon after he was hospitalised, Tata issued a statement on Monday saying there was no cause for concern regarding his health and he was undergoing checkups for age-related medical conditions. -
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- Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi described Tata as a visionary leader, and a compassionate and extraordinary human being. -
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- "He provided stable leadership to one of India’s oldest and most prestigious business houses. At the same time, his contribution went far beyond boardrooms," Modi said on X. -
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- "Tata endeared himself to people, thanks to his humility, kindness and an unwavering commitment to making our society better,” Modi said, referring to his philanthropy. -
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- Google CEO Sundar Pichai said Ratan Tata left behind an extraordinary business and philanthropic legacy and he was instrumental in mentoring and developing modern business leadership in India. -
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- "My last meeting with Ratan Tata at Google, we talked about the progress of Waymo and his vision was inspiring to hear,” Pichai said on X. "He deeply cared about making India better.” -
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- Mukesh Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries, said, “It is a very sad day for India and India Inc," he said. -
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- "Ratan Tata’s passing away is a big loss, not just to the Tata Group, but to every Indian.” -
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- Tata received the Padma Bhushan, one of India’s most distinguished civilian awards, in 2000 and "Padma Vibhushan" in 2008. -
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- Tata Group is a sprawling collection of nearly 100 companies, including the country’s largest automaker, the largest private steel company and a leading outsourcing firm. -
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- The companies employ more than 350,000 people worldwide. -
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- In June 2008, Tata bought Jaguar and Land Rover from Ford for US$2.3 billion. -
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- Tata pioneered commercial aviation in India when it launched an airline in 1932 that later became Air India. The government later took it over. -
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- Tata Group bought state-owned Air India in 2021. It also started a full-service carrier, Vistara, with Singapore Airlines, but recently merged it with Air India. -
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- Tata companies include Tata Steel, Tata Motors, Tata Power and the information technology company Tata Consultancy Services. (AP) -

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- Hurricane Milton makes landfall in Florida -

- Thu, 10 Oct 2024 07:09:00 +0800 -

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- An expanding Hurricane Milton made landfall on Florida's west coast on Wednesday, spawning tornados and lashing the region with rain as it threatened the Tampa Bay area, where it could deliver a life-threatening surge of seawater. -
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- In a state already battered by Hurricane Helene two weeks ago, as many as two million people were ordered to evacuate, and millions more live in the projected path of the storm. -
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- President Joe Biden urged people to follow local safety recommendations. "It's literally a matter of life and death," Biden said at White House briefing. -
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- Much of the southern US experienced the deadly force of Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago as it cut a swath of devastation through Florida and several other states. -
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- Both storms are expected cause untold billions of dollars in damage. -
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- Most hurricane fatalities occur when trees fall on people in the street, in their cars or in their homes, the National Hurricane Center warned. -
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- Others die from post-storm accidents like setting their houses on fire using candles, igniting leaked gas with flashlights and asphyxiating from carbon monoxide produced by generators. -
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- People die of heart attacks and other medical issues after storms, as well as in accidents while using chainsaws to clear downed trees, NHC Director Michael Brennan said in a video briefing. -
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- Fueled by unusually warm waters in the Gulf of Mexico, the storm was set to hit the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than 3 million people, as a major hurricane with a huge footprint. -
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- By 8:30 pm local time, Milton made landfall near Siesta Key, Florida, about 100 km south of Tampa. -
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- The hurricane centre labeled the storm "extremely dangerous." -
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- It said once past Florida, the storm should weaken over the western Atlantic, possibly dropping below hurricane strength on Thursday night, but will nonetheless pose storm-surge danger on the state's Atlantic coast as well. -
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- While Milton slightly weakened on Wednesday afternoon to a Category 3 hurricane, the third-highest level, it was growing in size as it approached Florida and remained extremely dangerous with maximum sustained winds of 195 kph, the hurricane centre said. -
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- The storm could bring a surge of seawater as high as 2.7 to 4 metres in some areas and dump 150 to 300 mm of rain, with as much as 450 mm possible in spots. -
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- The National Weather Service confirmed at least 16 tornadoes in Florida on Wednesday, and more were expected into the early hours of Thursday. -
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- At sea, the hurricane created waves close to 8.5 meters high, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said. -
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- The four bridges spanning Tampa Bay were closed before the storm was due to make landfall, according to the Florida 511 website. -
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- Nearly everyone who decided to flee appeared to have done so, as most streets in nearby St. Petersburg were nearly deserted by midday on Wednesday. -
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- Most causeways connecting the Gulf barrier islands to the mainland were also shut, stranding any who decided to ride out the storm despite pleas from officials. (Reuters) -
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- Biden, Netanyahu talk as war rages -

- Thu, 10 Oct 2024 05:31:00 +0800 -

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- US President Joe Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held their first call in seven weeks on Wednesday amid tensions with Iran. -
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- The conversation, confirmed by both countries, comes as Israel expands its ground incursion into Lebanon and considers how to respond to Iran’s recent ballistic missile attack. -
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- “It was direct, it was productive,” said White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who added that the leaders discussed a long list of issues on the call, including Israel's deliberations on how it will respond to Iran. -
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- The Middle East has been on edge awaiting Israel's response to a missile attack last week that Tehran carried out in retaliation for Israel's military escalation in Lebanon. The Iranian attack ultimately killed no one in Israel and Washington called it ineffective. -
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- Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant issued a warning to Iran should it attack Israel. -
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- In a video issued by his office, Gallant described Iran's October 1 missile attack as a failure, and said: "Whoever attacks us will be hurt and will pay a price. Our attack will be deadly, precise and above all surprising, they will not understand what happened and how it happened, they will see the results." -
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- Netanyahu has promised that arch-foe Iran will pay for its missile attack, while Tehran has said any retaliation would be met with vast destruction, raising fears of a wider war in the oil-producing region which could draw in the United States. -
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- The White House did not respond to a request for comment. -
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- Relations between Biden and Netanyahu have been tense recently, strained over the Israeli leader’s handling of the war in Gaza and the conflict with Hezbollah. (Reuters/AP/AFP) -

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- Paris may lose control of Eiffel Tower to government -

- Thu, 10 Oct 2024 02:54:00 +0800 -

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- A row over the Olympics logo becoming a long term feature of the Eiffel Tower has taken a fresh turn with a French government minister bidding to take de facto control over the monument away from the city of Paris. -
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- The popular landmark sported giant Olympic rings during this summer's Olympics and Paralympics. The capital's mayor Anne Hidalgo -- encouraged by the popular success of the Games -- said a version of the decoration should adorn the tower until the next Olympics in Los Angeles in 2028. -
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- But that proposal has polarised opinion in the French capital and at the highest level of state. Already, it has been severely criticised by descendants of the tower's designer Gustave Eiffel, as well as conservation groups. -
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- At the end of last month, workers removed the 30-tonne steel rings that were first installed in June between the first and second floors of the tower. -
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- Hidalgo has campaigned for lighter, less prominent, versions of the originals to be installed in their place. -
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- But even this toned-down proposal is too much for sceptics, some of whom are also bitter political enemies of Hidalgo. The Socialist mayor has riled opponents with ambitious pro-cycling and anti-car projects, as well as a recent decision to cut the speed limit on Paris's ring road, the Peripherique. -
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- One of her most prominent critics is right-wing politician, Rachida Dati, who as leader of the opposition in Paris city hall has often locked horns with Hidalgo. Having failed in a previous bid, she is expected to run for mayor again in 2026 at the next municipal election. -
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- Dati was last month reappointed Culture Minister in Prime Minister Michel Barnier's government, a position that gives her much influence over listed buildings and their protection. -
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- On Tuesday, she announced that she had asked for the Eiffel Tower to become part of the state's top heritage list. -
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- If granted, that would, de facto, wrest control over work done on the tower from the city and her rival Hidalgo, placing it in the hands of the central government. (AFP) -

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- Trio win Nobel chemistry prize for work on proteins -

- Wed, 09 Oct 2024 18:23:00 +0800 -

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- Scientists David Baker, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper won the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, the award-giving body said on Wednesday, for their work on the structure of proteins. -
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- The prize, widely regarded as among the most prestigious in the scientific world, is awarded by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and is worth 11 million Swedish crowns (US$1.1 million). -
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- "One of the discoveries being recognised this year concerns the construction of spectacular proteins. The other is about fulfilling a 50-year-old dream: predicting protein structures from their amino acid sequences," the academy said in a statement. -
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- Half the prize was awarded to Baker "for computational protein design" while the other half was shared by Hassabis and Jumper "for protein structure prediction", the academy said. -
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- In 2003, Baker designed a new protein and since then, his research group has produced one imaginative protein creation after another, including proteins that can be used as pharmaceuticals, vaccines, nanomaterials and tiny sensors, the Nobel committee said. -
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- Hassabis and Jumper created an artificial intelligence model that has been able to predict the structure of virtually all the 200 million proteins that researchers have identified, the committee added. -
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- Baker works at the University of Washington in Seattle, while Hassabis and Jumper both work at Google Deepmind in London. -
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- The third award to be handed out every year, the chemistry prize follows those for medicine and physics announced earlier this week. (Reuters/AP) -

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- 原始網址 Original URL： - - https://news.rthk.hk/rthk/en/component/k2/1773846-20241009.htm - -

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- Japan election set for October 27 -

- Wed, 09 Oct 2024 16:21:00 +0800 -

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- Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba dissolved Japan's lower house of parliament on Wednesday to set up an October 27 early election and seek the voters’ mandate for his nine-day-old government. -
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- Ishiba took office last week as Fumio Kishida resigned after three years leading the governing Liberal Democratic Party as it was dogged by corruption scandals. -
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- With the early election, Ishiba is seeking to secure his governing party a house majority while he is still fresh and before the congratulatory mood fades. -
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- The move has been criticised as prioritising an election rather than policies and for allowing little debate. -
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- But Japan's opposition has remained too fractured to push the governing party out of power. -
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- Ishiba announced his plans for an election even before he won the party leadership vote and became prime minister. His cabinet planned later on Wednesday to formally announce the election date and the start of campaigning next Tuesday. -
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- Ishiba and his cabinet will stay in office until they win the election and are reappointed. -
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- The speaker of the house, Fukushiro Nukaga, announced the dissolution of the lower, more powerful of the two parliamentary chambers at a plenary session. -
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- “We will act fairly and squarely in order to win the people’s endorsement for the current administration,” Ishiba told reporters. -
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- “Even while the lower house is dissolved the Japanese government must fully function” in tackling national security, disaster response and deflation, he said. -
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- “We will devote all our body and soul for the people.” -
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- Opposition leaders have criticised the prime minister for rushing to hold an election, allowing only three days of parliamentary debate on his policies and before achieving any results. -
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- Even though opposition parties are too fractured to topple the governing party's almost uninterrupted postwar rule, the first public support ratings for Ishiba as prime minister were around 50 percent or even lower, the lowest levels for a new leader, according to Japanese media. -
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- Ishiba is increasingly seen as backpedaling on a number of proposals he previously advocated so he won’t create controversy ahead of the election. -
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- In his first policy speech at parliament Friday, he did not touch on his goal of establishing a stronger regional military framework and a more equal Japan-US security alliance, a dual surname option for married couples, and other issues seen as controversial or opposed by conservatives within the governing party. -
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- Ishiba is unaffiliated with factions led and controlled by party heavyweights, which some experts say could make his tenure as party leader unstable. -
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- None of his cabinet ministers is from the late Shinzo Abe’s faction that has been linked to damaging misconduct. -
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- He also plans to not endorse some members of the Abe faction in the upcoming election to show his determination for cleaner politics. -
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- Opponents have said that’s still too lax, but Ishiba is getting backlash within the party for being too strict. (AP) -

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- Boeing suspends negotiations with striking workers -

- Wed, 09 Oct 2024 12:55:00 +0800 -

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- Boeing on Tuesday suspended talks with its striking workers as it accused the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM) of making unreasonable demands and withdrew its offer. -
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- "The union made non-negotiable demands far in excess of what can be accepted if we are to remain competitive as a business," the US aerospace giant said in an email to employees late Tuesday. -
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- "Given that position, further negotiations do not make sense at this point and our offer has been withdrawn." -
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- About 33,000 Boeing workers in the Pacific Northwest have been on strike for nearly a month in a fight focused on higher wages and improved retirement benefits. -
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- Workers complain of more than a decade of near-flat wages during a period when inflation has risen. -
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- Boeing's most recent offer included a 30 percent wage hike. -
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- Negotiations, which included the Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service, resumed on Monday and continued into Tuesday, but no agreement was reached. -
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- "Our team bargained in good faith and made new and improved proposals to try to reach a compromise, including increases in take-home pay and retirement," Boeing said in the email, adding that "the union did not seriously consider our proposals." -
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- "We remain committed to finding a resolution and will work with the union when they are ready to bargain an agreement that recognises our employees and preserves our company's future," the email read. -
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- Separately, the company announced earlier on Tuesday that it had delivered 33 new aircraft to customers in September in spite of the strike. -
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- The aerospace giant delivered 27 Boeing 737 MAX jets assembled in Renton, Washington, which has gone quiet since the strike launched on September 13. -
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- The 737 MAX planes were cleared for delivery by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to Boeing, which expects fewer deliveries in the coming period due to the strike. -
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- Airlines receiving new MAX planes included United Airlines, Ryanair, Southwest Airlines, Air India, China Southern Airlines and Shenzhen Airlines. -
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- Boeing also delivered four 787 Dreamliner planes, which are assembled at a non-union plant in Charleston, South Carolina that is not out on strike. -
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- Boeing has delivered 291 aircraft through the end of the third quarter, down 22 percent from the same period in 2023. -
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- Prior to the IAM strike, which has also shuttered an Everett plant where the 777 is assembled, the FAA had limited Boeing's production following a January incident on Alaska Airlines in which a panel blew out mid-flight, necessitating an emergency landing. (AFP) -

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- Florida braces for Category 5 Hurricane Milton -

- Wed, 09 Oct 2024 12:32:00 +0800 -

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- Floridians on Wednesday had one final day to evacuate or hunker down ahead of the Category 5 Hurricane Milton, potentially one of the most destructive ever to hit the Gulf Coast of Florida. -
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- With more than one million people in coastal areas under evacuation orders, those fleeing for higher ground clogged highways and gas stations ran out of fuel, further rattling a region still recovering from the devastating impacts of Hurricane Helene less than two weeks ago. -
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- The storm was on a collision course for the Tampa Bay metropolitan area, home to more than three million people, though forecasters said the path could vary before the storm makes landfall late on Wednesday night or early Thursday morning. -
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- The storm is on a rare west-to-east path through the Gulf of Mexico and is likely to bring a deadly storm surge of three metres or more to much of Florida's Gulf Coast. -
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- Officials from US President Joe Biden to Tampa Mayor Jane Castor warned people in evacuation zones to get out or risk death. -
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- Michael Tylenda, who was visiting his son in Tampa, said he was heeding that advice. -
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- "If anybody knows anything about Florida, when you don't evacuate when you're ordered to, you can pretty much die," Tylenda said. "They've had a lot of people here stay at their homes and they end up drowning. It's just not worth it. You know, the house can be replaced. The stuff can be replaced. So it's just better to get out of town." -
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- Milton packed maximum sustained winds of 260 kph, the US National Hurricane Centre said, putting it at the highest level on the five-step Saffir-Simpson scale. -
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- While wind speeds could drop and downgrade Milton to a lesser category, the size of the storm was growing, putting ever more coastal areas in danger. -
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- Milton was expected to maintain hurricane strength as it crosses the Florida peninsula, posing storm surge danger on the state's Atlantic Coast as well. -
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- About 2.8 percent of US gross domestic product is in the direct path of Milton, said Ryan Sweet, chief US economist at Oxford Economics. -
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- Airlines, energy firms and the Universal Studios theme park were among the companies beginning to halt their Florida operations as they braced for disruptions. -
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- Milton became the third-fastest intensifying storm on record in the Atlantic, growing from a Category 1 to a Category 5 in less than 24 hours. -
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- "These extremely warm sea surface temperatures provide the fuel necessary for the rapid intensification that we saw taking place to occur," said climate scientist Daniel Gilford of Climate Central, a nonprofit research group. -
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- "We know that as human beings increase the amount of greenhouse gasses in the atmosphere, largely by burning fossil fuels, we are increasing that temperature all around the planet." -
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- More than a dozen coastal counties issued mandatory evacuation orders, including Tampa's Hillsborough County. Pinellas County, which includes St. Petersburg, ordered the evacuation of more than 500,000 people. -
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- Lee County said 416,000 people lived in its mandatory evacuation zones. -
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- Mobile homes, nursing homes and assisted living facilities also faced mandatory evacuation. -
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- Bumper-to-bumper traffic choked roads leading out of Tampa on Tuesday, when about 17 percent of Florida's nearly 8,000 gas stations had run out of fuel, according to fuel markets tracker GasBuddy. (Reuters) -

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- Scientists sound AI alarm after winning Physics Nobel -

- Wed, 09 Oct 2024 12:05:00 +0800 -

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- British-Canadian Geoffrey Hinton and American John Hopfield won the Nobel physics prize on Tuesday for their pioneering work on the foundations of artificial intelligence, with both sounding the alarm over the technology they helped bring to life. -
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- The pair's research on neural networks in the 1980s paved the way for today's deep-learning systems that promise to revolutionise society but have also raised apocalyptic fears. -
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- "In the same circumstances, I would do the same again, but I am worried that the overall consequence of this might be systems more intelligent than us that eventually take control," Hinton, 76, told reporters after the announcement. -
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- Hinton, known as "the Godfather of AI", raised eyebrows in 2023 when he quit his job at Google to warn of the "profound risks to society and humanity" of the technology. -
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- In March last year, when asked whether AI could wipe out humanity, Hinton replied: "It's not inconceivable." -
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- The pair were honoured "for foundational discoveries and inventions that enable machine learning with artificial neural networks", the jury said. -
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- Ellen Moons, chair of the Nobel Committee for Physics, told a press conference that these tools have become part of our daily lives, including in facial recognition and language translation. -
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- While lauding the potential of AI, Moons noted "its rapid development has also raised concerns about our future collectively". -
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- "Humans carry the responsibility for using this new technology in a safe and ethical way," she said. -
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- Hopfield, a professor emeritus at Princeton, was spotlighted for having created the "Hopfield network", also known as associative memory, which can be used to "store and reconstruct images and other types of patterns in data". -
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- The physicist joined Hinton in calling for a deeper understanding of modern AI systems to prevent them spiralling out of control, calling recent advances in the technology "very unnerving". -
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- "You don't know that the collective properties you began with are actually the collective properties with all the interactions present, and you don't therefore know whether some spontaneous, but unwanted thing, is lying hidden in the works," the physicist told a gathering at his university via video link. -
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- The jury said Hinton, a 76-year-old professor at the University of Toronto, used the Hopfield network as a foundation for a new network: "the Boltzmann machine". -
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- Hinton was credited with inventing "a method that can autonomously find properties in data, and so perform tasks such as identifying specific elements in pictures". -
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- "I'm flabbergasted, I had no idea this would happen," Hinton told reporters in a phone interview as the laureates were announced in Stockholm. -
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- Hinton said he was an avid user of AI tools such as ChatGPT, and said he believed the technology will have "a huge influence". -
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- "It will be comparable with the industrial revolution. But instead of exceeding people in physical strength, it's going to exceed people in intellectual ability," Hinton said. (AFP) -

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