Taipei (AFP) – The idea of a distinctly Taiwanese identity is looming large in the minds of some voters as the island prepares to go to the polls on Saturday to elect a new president and choose the path of relations with Beijing over the next four years.
Sao Paulo (AFP) – Thousands of Sao Paulo residents suffer a third day of power outages due to rain and wind storms, which have hit Latin America’s largest metropolis since last Monday. IMAGES
Sunderland (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Tucked away down an unassuming street in Sunderland, northeast England, in a room filled with super-powerful computers, students are being trained to play video games at the highest level. The kit is part of a new campus that aims to boost the country’s virtual sports sector in response to the global booming popularity of eSports – professional level competitive gaming – that officially became recognised as a sport by the International Olympic Committee (IOC) in 2017.
Port Moresby (AFP) – Buildings burn and looters target shops around Papua New Guinea’s capital after a pay dispute involving the nation’s security forces sparked angry protests. Soldiers, police officers and prison staff staged a lively but peaceful protest in the morning of January 10, after noticing their pay had been docked without explanation. But by the afternoon pockets of unrest had spread through the capital Port Moresby.
Vilnius (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warns that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not stop at Ukraine and will attack other neighbours unless allies join forces to stop him. Zelensky arrived in Lithuania on Wednesday on an unannounced visit to staunch Baltic allies as he seeks to bolster wavering support among other Western backers.
Thimphu (Bhutan) (AFP) – Bhutanese voters have elected Tshering Tobgay to become prime minister for a second time after his party won nearly two-thirds of seats. The January 9 poll was dominated by economic challenges threatening the Himalayan nation’s longstanding policy of prioritising “Gross National Happiness” over growth.
Seoul (AFP) – South Korean opposition leader Lee Jae-myung, who was stabbed in the neck by a man pretending to be his supporter, calls for an end to “warlike politics” as he is discharged from Seoul National University Hospital. Lee, chair of the Democratic Party, was victim of the near-fatal attack on January 2 in southern Busan city.
Las Vegas (AFP) – A robot equipped with artificial intelligence, a screen that analyses health risks … “CES Unveiled”, an event where start-ups present their innovations two days ahead of the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, offers a glimpse of an AI-centric world.
Guayaquil (Ecuador) (AFP) – Images of police surrounding a public television station outside in Ecuador’s drug violence-torn port city of Guayaquil after armed men wearing balaclavas burst into the studio, taking hostage several journalists and staff members, live footage showed. IMAGES
Los Angeles (AFP) – American actor Willem Dafoe gets his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. “It never crystalized as an ambition but now that I’m here, it feels beautiful,” he says. The 68-year-old is known for his roles in films including The Lighthouse, Platoon, Spider-Man, and more recently, ‘Poor Things’.
