Author: AFP
Chinese hackers were involved in most of the cyberattacks against Taiwan last year, which doubled to a daily average of 2.4 million, Taiwanese security officials said. China regards Taiwan as part of its territory and for years has been ramping up military, diplomatic and political pressure on the island to accept its claims of sovereignty. Taiwan says cyberattacks have also increased as Beijing uses a range of “greyzone” methods to harass the island — tactics that fall short of an act of war. Most of the daily attacks received by Taiwan’s Government Service Network were attributed to China’s “cyber force”,…
Azerbaijan’s president said on Monday that Russia was “guilty” over the downing of an airline last month that Baku says was shot by Russian air defences. An Azerbaijan Airlines Embraer 190 jet crash-landed in Kazakhstan on December 25, killing 38 of the 67 people on board, after being diverted from a scheduled landing in the southern Russian city of Grozny. Moscow has admitted its air defences were operational in the area at the time, which it said was under attack from Ukrainian drones. Russian President Vladimir Putin has apologised that the “incident” occurred in his country’s air space but has…
Former French president Nicolas Sarkozy, convicted twice in separate cases since leaving office, goes on trial Monday charged with accepting illegal campaign financing in an alleged pact with the late Libyan dictator Moamer Kadhafi. Sarkozy’s career has been shadowed by legal troubles since he lost the 2012 presidential election but he is an influential figure and also known to regularly meet President Emmanuel Macron. The fiercely ambitious and energetic 69-year-old, who while in power from 2007-2012 liked to be known as the “hyper-president”, has been convicted in two cases, charged in another and is being investigated in connection with two…
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday vowed an “all-out battle against corruption” as top leaders convened in Beijing for an annual planning session of the country’s top disciplinary agency. “We must always maintain our tenacity and perseverance… and resolutely fight the tough, protracted and all-out battle against corruption,” Xi said, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The Chinese leader has overseen a wide-ranging campaign against official corruption since coming to power just over a decade ago. Proponents say the policy promotes clean governance, but others say it also serves as a means for Xi to purge political rivals. In November, the…
Russia said on Saturday it had shot down eight US-supplied ATACMS missiles, whose use Moscow has warned could spark a hypersonic ballistic missile attack on central Kyiv. “Air defence systems downed eight ATACMS US-made missiles and 72 drones,” the Russian defence forces told news agencies without specifying whether there were any casualties or damage.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned Elon Musk’s “erratic” comments and his open support for the extreme-right AfD party in an interview published Saturday. The world’s wealthiest man — who owns social media platform X — has in a string of posts attacked several European leaders and ruffled feathers on the continent. Asked about interference by Musk — who last month called Scholz an “incompetent fool” before calling the German president an “anti-democratic tyrant”, the chancellor told Stern magazine it was important “to keep calm” ahead of Germany’s snap elections on February 23. “In Germany, everything is proceeding according to the…
The administration of US President Joe Biden has notified Congress of an $8 billion arms sale to Israel, a source familiar with the plan said on Saturday. “The department has informally notified Congress of an $8 billion proposed sale of munitions to support Israel’s long-term security by resupplying stocks of critical munitions and air defense capabilities,” the official said.
An award-winning political cartoonist for The Washington Post has announced her resignation after a cartoon depicting the newspaper’s billionaire owner groveling before Donald Trump was rejected. Ann Telnaes posted on Substack late Friday that this was the first time she “had a cartoon killed because of who or what I chose to aim my pen at.” The cartoon — which she included in her post — depicts Amazon founder and Washington Post owner Jeff Bezos, as well as Facebook and Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg and other media and tech moguls, kneeling and holding up bags of money before a massive…
The UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon accused Israel Saturday of a “flagrant violation” of the 2006 Security Council resolution that forms the basis of its November ceasefire with Hezbollah. The statement from the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) came as Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem warned the militant group’s patience with Israeli violations could run out before the end of the ceasefire’s 60-day implementation timeframe. The fragile truce, which took effect on November 27, has been marked by mutual accusations of violations from both sides. “This morning, peacekeepers observed an (Israeli military) bulldozer destroying a blue barrel marking the line…
Joe Biden on Saturday awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom to 19 honorees, bestowing the highest civilian honor in the United States on entertainers, sports stars, activists and diplomats including Jane Goodall and Hillary Clinton. Among those receiving honors from the outgoing US president were singer and activist Bono, basketball legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, longtime Vogue editor Anna Wintour, soccer superstar Lionel Messi, actors Denzel Washington and Michael J. Fox, and fashion designer Ralph Lauren. Posthumous recipients included Fannie Lou Hamer, a Black civil rights activist. In a White House ceremony, Biden praised the group of “truly extraordinary people who…