China accuses Taiwan of ‘hyping up’ military threat ahead of elections | Military News

China accuses Taiwan of ‘hyping up’ military threat ahead of elections | Military News

Taiwan’s presidential and parliamentary polls on January 13 are expected to shape the island’s relations with Beijing. China has accused Taiwan of deliberately “hyping up” a military threat from Beijing for electoral gains ahead of the island’s January polls. “The Democratic Progressive Party [DPP] authorities are deliberately hyping up the…

India targeted high-profile journalists with Pegasus spyware: Amnesty | Cybersecurity News

India targeted high-profile journalists with Pegasus spyware: Amnesty | Cybersecurity News

Investigation shows journalists in India face ‘threat of unlawful surveillance’ along with other ‘tools of repression’. India’s government has used the highly invasive Pegasus spyware to target high-profile journalists, according to a new investigation by Amnesty International and The Washington Post. The findings, published on Thursday, noted India’s repeated use…

In Zimbabwe, a small publisher that helped launch big voices shuts down | Arts and Culture

In Zimbabwe, a small publisher that helped launch big voices shuts down | Arts and Culture

Harare, Zimbabwe – In 2006, a small but supportive publisher helped Zimbabwean author Valerie Tagwira make the transition from doctor to published author, picking up her first novel, The Uncertainty of Hope. Then based in the United Kingdom, Tagwira had sent out her manuscript to UK and Australian publishers and…

No safe place for Palestinians in Gaza as Israel widens offensive | Israel-Palestine conflict News

No safe place for Palestinians in Gaza as Israel widens offensive | Israel-Palestine conflict News

As the Israeli military pounded central and southern Gaza by land, sea and air, Palestinian authorities reported scores of casualties and the United Nations health agency said thousands of people were trying to flee the widening offensive. Residents in the central Gaza Strip said that with nightfall, Israeli tank shelling…

‘Piles of body parts’: Gaza’s Maghazi residents find families ‘in pieces’ | Israel-Palestine conflict

‘Piles of body parts’: Gaza’s Maghazi residents find families ‘in pieces’ | Israel-Palestine conflict

Deir el-Balah, Gaza Strip – It has been four days since Gaza’s smallest refugee camp was pounded in yet another series of Israeli air strikes, but Palestinians there are still digging up the bodies of their loved ones from under the rubble. The onslaught in central Gaza’s Maghazi late on…

North Korea’s Kim calls on military to ‘accelerate’ war preparations | Politics News

North Korea’s Kim calls on military to ‘accelerate’ war preparations | Politics News

Party speech suggests record year of weapons testing will continue into 2024 in defiance of international sanctions. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has ordered the military, including its nuclear programme, to “accelerate” war preparations to counter what he called unprecedented confrontational moves by the United States. Speaking at an…

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 673 | Russia-Ukraine war News

Russia-Ukraine war: List of key events, day 673 | Russia-Ukraine war News

As the war enters its 673rd day, these are the main developments. Here is the situation on Thursday, December 28, 2023. Fighting Two people were killed and four others injured in the southern Odesa region after Russian forces sent dozens of attack drones over Ukraine in a nighttime air raid….

When death metal becomes one of 84,000 ways to practise Buddhism | Music

When death metal becomes one of 84,000 ways to practise Buddhism | Music

Taipei, Taiwan – In the past few years, many of Taiwan’s largest music festivals have seen the unlikely ensemble of a shaven Buddhist nun introducing a band of five black-clad musicians whose faces are smeared blood red. When the first riffs break through the sound system, their hard yet atmospheric…