Posts by Amelia Frost
Pentagon Chief Says US Will Ensure ‘Deterrence’ Across Taiwan Strait
[ad_1] The United States will ensure “robust, ready and credible deterrence” across the Taiwan Strait, US Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Sunday, calling China “aggressive and coercive”. Hegseth also stopped short of publicly calling on Tokyo to hike military spending, saying in Japan he trusted the close US ally to “make the correct determination of…
Read MoreChina, South Korea And Japan Agree To Strengthen Free Trade
[ad_1] China, South Korea and Japan agreed Sunday to strengthen free trade in the face of a raft of new tariffs imposed by US President Donald Trump. The agreement came at a meeting of top trade officials — the first at that level in five years — days ahead of the start of tariffs on…
Read MoreIn Tokyo, Rice Farmers Protest ‘Misguided’ Rules Fueling Shortages
[ad_1] In the United States, the affordability of eggs has prompted a national discussion — underscoring anxieties about the economy and the government’s role in addressing them. In Japan, there’s an equivalent: rice. Over the past year, Japan has grappled with a more than 200,000-ton shortage of its staple grain. Rice prices have skyrocketed, and…
Read MoreBeachcomber In France Hunts Fragments Of Migrant Lives
[ad_1] The sand-covered notes outlining a migrant’s travel plan to a better life read like an itinerary of hope: from Ethiopia to Sudan, Libya, Italy, on to France and finally, England. The document had travelled thousands of kilometres by the time it was picked up on a beach in Gravelines on France’s North Sea coast…
Read MoreCan Barcelona Solve One of the Toughest Housing Crises in Europe?
[ad_1] In 33 years, Marga Aguilar never missed a rent payment on her apartment in a Modernist-style building in the heart of Barcelona. The owner of the building had always treated her and the other tenants as if they were family, and kept rents reasonable. But when the owner died recently, Ms. Aguilar, 62, got…
Read MoreThey Want More Babies. Now They Have Friends in the Trump White House.
[ad_1] The American conservative movement has long worked to put the nuclear family at the center of cultural and economic life. Lately, it has added a twist. It wants to make those families bigger. As fertility rates have declined, a “pronatalist” cluster on the right wing has been making the argument that public policy should…
Read MoreMyanmar Quake: A Nation Unprepared For Disaster
[ad_1] Ravaged by four years of civil war, Myanmar is ill-prepared to cope with the destruction brought by Friday’s massive earthquake. The 7.7-magnitude quake that struck central Myanmar has killed more than 1,600 people and destroyed thousands of homes. But the bloody conflict sparked by the 2021 military coup has brought the country’s infrastructure, healthcare…
Read MoreIn Turkey, New Technologies Reinforce Repression
[ad_1] With anti-government protests sweeping across Turkey, the authorities have used all technological means to try to curb them, from restricting internet access to using facial recognition to identify protesters, who have been forced to adapt. Amid a ban on protests, nearly 2,000 people have been arrested in connection with the demonstrations that erupted on…
Read MoreUkraine Accuses Russia Of ‘War Crime’ With Military Hospital Strike
[ad_1] Ukraine accused Russia of committing a “war crime” during its weekend attack on the city of Kharkiv, as the US-backed ceasefire efforts continue to prove elusive. Six strikes hit the northeastern border city overnight Saturday into Sunday, wounding personnel undergoing treatment at a military hospital and killing at least two people in a residential…
Read MoreHudson’s Bay Company: From Fur Trade To Department Store Downfall
[ad_1] From the 17th century fur trade that birthed a nation to the last major department store in Canada, The Hudson’s Bay Company has left an indelible mark, but its storied 354 years are crashing to an end. Canada’s oldest company — after filing on March 7 for protection from the creditors that are owed…
Read More‘Something Is Rotten’: Apple’s AI Strategy Faces Doubts
[ad_1] Has Apple, the biggest company in the world, bungled its generative artificial intelligence strategy? Doubts blew out into the open when one of the company’s closest observers, tech analyst John Gruber, earlier this month gave a blistering critique in a blog post titled “Something Is Rotten in the State of Cupertino,” which is home…
Read MoreUS, China Raise The Stakes In Panama Canal Ports Row
[ad_1] China’s fury at the sale of Panama Canal ports to a US-led consortium reflects how container hubs have become prized currency as Beijing and Washington vie for global influence, analysts say. Hong Kong conglomerate CK Hutchison this month sold 43 ports in 23 countries — including operations in the vital Central American canal —…
Read More