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☆ What it’s really like to live in Antarctica
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Lilit Marcus | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +14 min

The Minnesota native first went to the White Continent in 2007 to work as a janitor at McMurdo Base, one of the three US outposts there. She was one of half-a-dozen people staffing the world’s southernmost post office, UK-administered Port Lockroy. Counting penguins is one of the roles Port Lockroy staff have during their time in Antarctica. Once you get the Antarctica bug, Long and Nelson say, it’s pretty hard to get rid of. In a fast-paced globalized world where everyone is on their phones all the time, Antarctica offers a rare opportunity to live a different kind of life.

Persons: United States –, Keri Nelson, Amundsen, ” Nelson, “, McMurdo, Palmer, Evan Townsend, ” Keri Nelson, ”, Nelson, Scott Base, –, Scott, Keri Nelson “, Chris Long, Long, Laura Bullesbach, Bridie Martin, Laura Bullesbach doesn’t, you’re, You’re, Port Lockroy, Bullesbach, Clare Ballantyne, ” Long, Keri Nelson Long, he’s, vacationer, ” Klaus Dodds Organizations: CNN, United, Antarctic, Minnesota, Base, Scott, Palmer, grownups, McMurdo Base, McMurdo, US, Geographic, Pole, Ocean, Scott Base, Port, Lockroy, Port Lockroy, Electronics, University of London Locations: Antarctica, Chile, Japan, Australia, United States, McMurdo, New, Ross, Amundsen, New Zealand, Russian, South America, Port Lockroy, Lockroy, Port, Denver, China

☆ China has launched new drills encircling Taiwan. Why now?
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-23 | by ( Jessie Yeung | Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

CNN —Tensions are once again ratcheting up in the Taiwan Strait, with China launching military drills encircling Taiwan just days after the democracy swore in a new leader long loathed by Beijing. The Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) said it launched joint military drills involving the army, navy, air force and rocket force in areas around Taiwan early Thursday morning. The drills are being conducted in the Taiwan Strait – a narrow body of water separating the self-ruling island with mainland China – as well as north, south and east of Taiwan. The Chinese guided missile frigate Nantong, one of the vessels in the series of military drills around Taiwan. The defeated Nationalist Party fled to Taiwan, moving the seat of their Republic of China (ROC) government from the mainland to Taipei.

Persons: ”, Lai Ching, China’s, Xi Jinping, Li Xi, Lai, Wu Mei, Carlos Garcia Rawlins, Tsai Ing, Tsai –, Mike Gallagher Organizations: CNN, Communist Party, Eastern Theater Command, People’s Liberation Army, PLA, People's Liberation Army, Weibo, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry, Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, Chinese Communist Party, CCP, Nationalist Party, US, Communist, Beijing, Tuesday Locations: Taiwan, China, Beijing, Kinmen, Taipei, People’s Republic of China, Republic of China, Xi, Washington

☆ Holocaust Death Toll on English Channel Island Is Raised by Hundreds
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Claire Moses | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

A long-running debate about a small part of Britain’s Holocaust history has been settled. A panel of historians tasked with investigating the death toll in Alderney, a British Crown Dependency and one of the Channel Islands in the English Channel, has adjusted the island’s historical record, adding several hundred people to an official count from the 1940s. On Wednesday, he presented the findings with members of the panel in a packed room at the Imperial War Museum in London. It concluded that the likely range of deaths was between 641 and 1,027, with a maximum number of 1,134 people. Most of them were forced laborers from the Soviet Union.

Persons: Eric Pickles, Britain’s, — Organizations: British, Channel, Imperial War Museum Locations: Alderney, London, Soviet Union, France

Taipei CNN —Thousands of mostly young protesters surrounded Taiwan’s legislature late into the night on Tuesday, protesting a push by opposition parties to subject the island’s new leader and his administration to tighter scrutiny from a parliament controlled by lawmakers who favor closer ties to China. Meanwhile, the president would be required to deliver an annual address to the parliament on key policy issues. Yasuyoshi Chiba/AFP/Getty ImagesOn Tuesday, as the parliament resumed its meeting to discuss the bill, protesters gathered outside the Legislative Yuan – Taiwan’s unicameral parliament – from morning until midnight, braving downpours in the afternoon. Lai, 64, a former doctor and vice president, was inaugurated Monday alongside new Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, who recently served as Taiwan’s top envoy to the United States. Both leaders and their party are openly loathed by Beijing for championing Taiwan’s sovereignty.

Persons: Lai Ching, TPP, Yasuyoshi Chiba, Yuan –, braving, Ricky Li, “ I’m, ”, Lai, Hsiao Bi, China’s Organizations: Taipei CNN, Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan’s, Kuomintang, KMT, Taiwan People’s Party, DPP, –, Communist Party Locations: Taipei, Taiwan’s, China, Beijing, Taiwan, AFP, United States

☆ New Caledonia: French President Emmanuel Macron heads to violence-hit Pacific territory
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-22 | by ( Edward Szekeres | Alex Stambaugh | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

CNN —French President Emmanuel Macron is on his way to New Caledonia, a government official has said, after a week of deadly unrest in the Pacific archipelago. Macron was leaving Paris on Tuesday night and will “set up a mission” in the French territory, government spokesperson Prisca Thevenot told a press conference, without giving further details. He will be accompanied by Interior Minister Gérald Darmanin, Defense Minister Sébastien Lecornu, and Overseas Minister Marie Guévenoux, Darmanin told the National Assembly. Darmanin also told the French legislature the number of police and gendarmes in New Caledonia would soon reach 3,000. Lying in the South Pacific with Australia, Fiji and Vanuatu for neighbors, New Caledonia is a semiautonomous French territory — one of a dozen scattered throughout the Pacific, Caribbean and Indian Ocean.

Persons: Emmanuel Macron, Prisca Thevenot, Gérald Darmanin, Sébastien Lecornu, Marie Guévenoux, Darmanin, Paris –, Macron’s, Thevenot, Gabriel Attal Organizations: CNN, Paris, Interior, Defense, Overseas, National Assembly, France’s National Assembly, ”, New Locations: New Caledonia, Caledonia, Australia, New Zealand, France, South Pacific, Fiji, Vanuatu, , New Caledonia, Pacific, Caribbean, Indian, Colonial France, White

☆ Tick season: How to remove ticks and what to know about these bloodsuckers
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-20 | by ( Kate Golembiewski | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

There are more than 800 species of ticks found around the world, and 84 that have been documented in the United States. The most common ones are blacklegged ticks (also known as deer ticks, but they feed on lots of animals besides deer), lone star ticks, American dog ticks and brown dog ticks. However, only female ticks drink to the point that they become engorged. Preventing tick bitesThe diseases carried by ticks can be debilitating or even life-threatening, and the risk of infection increases the longer a tick has been on you. Yes, they can be a public health concern, but we don’t want you to let ticks keep you indoors,” she said.

Persons: ”, Kait Chapman, Thomas Mather, ” Chapman, Lyme, they’ll, “, Mather, Chapman, permethrin, Kate Golembiewski Organizations: CNN, University of Nebraska, University of Rhode, Vector, Environmental Protection Agency Locations: United States, Lincoln, University of Rhode Island, Lyme, Cedars, Chicago

CNN —Dominican Republic President Luis Abinader declared himself the winner of the weekend’s presidential election in a race where crime and safety were among voters’ biggest concerns. Official results are still pending, but the election website shows the former businessman leading by a wide margin as two of his top challengers conceded. “Tonight I called President Luis Abinader by phone to recognize his electoral victory and wish him success in his administration,” candidate Leonel Fernandez wrote on X. “I’d like to wish luck to Luis Abinader, our country has plenty of challenges, I ask God that we overcome them as a nation,” Dominican politician Abel Martínez said in a statement. Federico Parra/AFP/Getty ImagesThe vote comes amid the spiraling political and social crisis in neighboring Haiti, which shares the island of Hispaniola with the Dominican Republic.

Persons: Luis Abinader, Abinader, Leonel Fernandez, Abel Martínez, Federico Parra, Black Organizations: CNN — Dominican, Getty, United Locations: Dominican, Santo Domingo, AFP, Haiti, Hispaniola, Dominican Republic

Lai, 64, a former doctor, was inaugurated alongside new Vice President Hsiao Bi-khim, who recently served as Taiwan’s top envoy to the United States. Both leaders and their party are openly loathed by Beijing for championing Taiwan’s sovereignty. Lai takes up the mantle from DPP predecessor Tsai Ing-wen, who bolstered the island’s international standing and recognition during her eight years in office. He is also expected to project goodwill to China with a message of pursuing peace and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait. That deliberately nuanced stance mimics his outgoing predecessor Tsai, Taiwan’s first female president, who was unable to stand again because of term limits.

Persons: Taipei CNN — Lai Ching, te, Lai, Hsiao Bi, China’s, Tsai Ing, Tsai –, –, Xi Jinping, Tsai, Taiwan’s, rebuking Organizations: Taipei CNN, Democratic Progressive Party, Communist Party, CNN, Kuomintang, KMT, Taiwan People’s Party, DPP, ” Locations: Taipei, China, United States, Beijing, Taiwan

☆ Tsai Ing-wen: the leader who put Taiwan on the map and stood up to China
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-18 | by ( Wayne Chang | Nectar Gan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +16 min

While supporters applaud Tsai for standing up to China, defending Taiwan’s sovereignty, freedom and democracy, critics blame her for straining ties with Beijing, stoking cross-strait tensions. Beijing, which deems the tacit agreement a precondition for dialogue, has cut official contact with Taipei since Tsai took office. Taiwan President Tsai inspects reservists at a training session at a military base in Taoyuan on May 11, 2023. But under Tsai, Taiwan has sought to enhance its asymmetric defense capabilities, developing and procuring cheaper and more mobile weapon systems that could be instrumental in halting a potential Chinese invasion. Taiwanese military experts have increasingly advocated for such an approach, noting that Taiwan can never match China in military might and assets.

Persons: Taipei CNN — Tsai Ing, introvert, ” Tsai, Xi Jinping, Xi, Tsai, stoking, Taiwan’s, Lai Ching, ”, Alex Chan Tsz Yuk, Wellington Koo, “, Vanessa Hope, Ma Ying, Taiwan's, Jose Lopes Amaral, Wen, Amanda Hsiao, Nancy Pelosi, Chien Chih, Nancy Pelosi’s, Huang, Jameson Wu, ” Sung, ” Hsiao, “ Tsai, Sawayasu Tsuji, Sung, ” Tsai’s, –, Lai Organizations: Taipei CNN, Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, Kuomintang, KMT, World Health Organization, WHO, Atlantic, Trump, Biden, International Crisis, US, Getty, World Health Assembly, National Chengchi University, Getty Images, Taiwan’s Military Academy, ” Tsai’s DPP Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, China, United States, Beijing, Tsai, Asia, Wellington, Ukraine, Gaza, Japan, Czech Republic, Republic of China, Taoyuan, AFP, Washington, Hong Kong

☆ Taiwan, on China’s Doorstep, Is Dealing With TikTok Its Own Way
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-16 | by ( Meaghan Tobin | Amy Chang Chien | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

As it is in the United States, TikTok is popular in Taiwan, used by a quarter of the island’s 23 million residents. People post videos of themselves shopping for trendy clothes, dressing up as video game characters and playing pranks on their roommates. Influencers share their choreographed dances and debate whether the sticky rice dumplings are better in Taiwan’s north or south. Taiwanese users of TikTok, which is owned by the Chinese internet giant ByteDance, are also served the kind of pro-China content that the U.S. Congress cited as a reason it passed a law that could result in a ban of TikTok in America. The video was flagged as fake by a fact-checking organization, and TikTok took it down.

Persons: Influencers, Rob Wittman, stoking, TikTok Organizations: U.S, Republican Locations: United States, Taiwan, China, America, Virginia, Taiwan’s

☆ New Caledonia: Why this French island in the Pacific is roiled by violence over a vote held 10,000 miles away
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-15 | by ( Angus Watson | Helen Regan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +6 min

France’s military has mobilized and flown in “four additional squadrons to restore order,” according to French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin. Macron will chair a defense and national security council on Wednesday, focusing on the violence, the presidential palace said. Others were equipped with larger rifles, firing bullets,” the French High commissioner to New Caledonia Louis Le Franc said. Theo Rouby/AFP/Getty ImagesFrench gendarme officers guard the entrance of the Vallee-du-Tir district, in Noumea, New Caledonia on May 14, 2024. FLNKS issued its own statement Wednesday both condemning the vote at the National Assembly and calling for an end to the violence.

Persons: Paris –, Gerald Darmanin, Emmanuel Macron, Macron, Charles Wea, Louis Mapou, New Caledonia Louis Le Franc, Franc, RNZ, Theo Rouby, unfreeze, Gabriel Attal, “, ” Attal, FLNKS, “ FLNKS Organizations: CNN, New, New Caledonian, New Caledonia Louis, Radio New, Getty, Colonial, Noumea Accord, National Assembly, French, Kanak and Socialist National Liberation Locations: New Caledonia, Noumea, South Pacific, Australia, Fiji, Vanuatu, , New Caledonia, Pacific, Caribbean, Indian, France, Paris, China, United States, Radio New Zealand, Noumea , New Caledonia, AFP, Tir, White, Covid, Kanak

☆ Venezuela expands military buildup at Guyana border in ‘dangerous game,’ says report
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-14 | by ( Tara John | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —Venezuela continues to build up military infrastructure and hardware close to the border with Guyana as President Nicolas Maduro and his supporters scale up their threats to annex an oil-rich piece of Guyanese land. Guyana had called the move a step towards annexation and an “existential” threat as the specter of armed conflict loomed over the region. Using satellite imagery and social media, CSIS found that the expansion of Anacoco Island’s military base has continued. Maduro could ‘fall victim to own rhetoric’The threats to Guyana have concerned its partners. “Thus, one of the most concerning possibilities is that Maduro will fall victim to his own rhetoric.

Persons: Nicolas Maduro, “, ” Ryan Berg Organizations: CNN, Strategic, International Studies, Venezuelan, US Navy, Americas, CSIS Locations: Venezuela, Guyana, Washington, Venezuelan, Essequibo, Punta Barima, arm’s, Essequibo ”, Guyanese, Georgetown, Idaho

Members of gang Kraze Baryé in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in April 2024. Stopping the flow of guns to Haiti would likely have an immediate impact on the bloodshed, according to police and human rights experts. “We have to cut the gangs’ weapons supply lines. Vitel'homme Innocent walks with armed members of Kraze Baryé in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, in April 2024. CNNAn ‘iron river’ from the United StatesThe guns Haiti’s gangs wield are a mix of stolen and smuggled, and the United States is by far the main source of the latter, according to UN experts.

Persons: Prince, Prince CNN —, they’ve, don’t, ”, Pierre Esperance, William O’Neill, Ariel Henry, ” Sylvie Bertrand, Innocent, Vitel'homme Innocent, Kraze, UNODC, Joly Germine –, Mawozo –, Mariani, Izo, Andre Johnson, ” Esperance, Bertrand Organizations: Prince CNN, ”, CNN, Human Rights Defense Network, Kenyan, UN, Rights, Drugs, United, US, of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives, Miami, ATF, Haitian National Police, Customs, Cap Haitien . Drugs, Episcopal, ” CNN, Homeland Security Investigations, US Department of Homeland Security, US Department of Commerce’s, Export Enforcement, National Police, Haiti’s, Customs Administration Locations: Port, Dominican Republic, Bahamas, Caicos, British, Florida, Haiti, Prince, Caribbean, ”, Israel, Turkey, Czech Republic, Brazil, United States, Latin America, Texas , Louisiana, Georgia, Gonave ., South America, Jamaica, Haiti’s, Cap Haitien, Haitian, Esperance

☆ Developing Taiwan’s own ‘Starlink’ crucial for island-wide emergency, space agency says
▼ + stars: | 2024-05-04 | by ( Eric Cheung | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

“The communication satellite is very important for our communication resilience during urgent periods,” Wu said, calling it his agency’s most sensitive project. Taiwanese authorities previously announced the space agency would develop two communication satellites, the first of which could be launched by 2026. Wu Jong-shinn, director general of the Taiwan Space Agency, speaks to CNN on March 5, 2024 in Hsinchu, Taiwan. In the future, Taiwan’s satellite system could replace third-party deals, but Wu, the space agency director, declined to provide more specific details about the project’s timeline. A rocket model in development at the Taiwan Space Agency on March 5, 2024 in Hsinchu, Taiwan.

Persons: Taiwan CNN —, Wu Jong, shinn, Elon, Wu, ” Wu, ” Starlink, Heidi Levine, John Mees, CNN Brad Tucker, you’re, ”, Su, yun, OneWeb, Sam Yeh, Lai Ching, Tsai Ing, Taiwan’s, “, CNN’s Will Ripley Organizations: Taiwan CNN, Taiwan Space Agency, CNN, Musk’s SpaceX, SpaceX, Ukrainian, The Washington Post, Communist Party, Institute for National Defense and Security Research, Australian National University, Taiwan’s Institute for National Defense and Security Research, Getty, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, Apple, Nvidia, Triton Locations: Hsinchu, Taiwan, China, Gaza, Beijing, London, Xiamen, Taiwan's, AFP, Guiana, South America

Great Barrier Reef, Australia CNN —As the early-morning sun rises over the Great Barrier Reef, its light pierces the turquoise waters of a shallow lagoon, bringing more than a dozen turtles to life. CNN witnessed bleaching on the Great Barrier Reef in mid-February, on five different reefs spanning the northern and southern parts of the 2,300-kilometer (1,400-mile) ecosystem. “It’s a die-off,” said Professor Ove Hoegh-Guldberg, a climate scientist at the University of Queensland in Australia and chief scientist at The Great Barrier Reef Foundation. Our destination is Lady Elliot Island, a remote coral cay perched on top of the southern end of the Great Barrier Reef. — Lady Elliot Island Eco Resort Guano miners once stripped Lady Elliot Island of its topsoil.

Persons: Elliot Island, ”, Kate Quigley, “ We’re, Ove Hoegh, I’m, Guldberg, ‘, Elliot, Peter Gash, “, ” Gash, Lady Elliot, ” Peter Gash, CNN Gash, Derek Manzello, Peter Harrison, “ We’ve, ” Harrison, ” David Ritter, ” Ritter, David Wachenfeld Organizations: Australia CNN —, Atmospheric Administration, NOAA, CNN, Minderoo, University of Queensland, Eco, Reef Watch, Southern Cross University, Australian Institute of Marine Science, Greenpeace, Australia CNN Scientists, AIMS Locations: Australia, El, Brisbane, Queensland, Red Sea, Indonesia, Seychelles, Caribbean, Florida, “, New South Wales, Greenpeace Australia, Briggs, Elliot Island

☆ Nine Rescued in Atlantic After Days on Wreckage of Migrant Boat
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-30 | by ( Emma Bubola | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

After a migrant boat sank and about 50 of its passengers went missing in the Atlantic Ocean off northwestern Africa, nine survivors endured two days on the semi-submerged wreck before they were found, according to Spanish rescuers. The rescue happened on Monday near the coast of the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago and a destination along a migration route on which, experts say, many other shipwrecks are likely to have gone unreported. The rescue occurred after a merchant ship reported a sinking vessel 60 nautical miles south of El Hierro, an island in the far west Canaries, said Carmen Lorente Sánchez, a spokeswoman for the Spanish maritime safety and rescue organization. She said rescuers found nine people on board and took them to the island’s airport. The survivors later told the authorities that the shipwreck had occurred two days earlier and that around 60 people were on board when they departed from Senegal, Ms. Sanchez added.

Persons: Carmen Lorente Sánchez, Sanchez Locations: Africa, Spanish, El Hierro, Senegal

☆ Photos shine a light on Taiwan’s ‘betel nut beauties’
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-24 | by ( Emma Russell | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

To meet her sales targets, the betel nut “must be delicious.” she told CNN in an email. A betel nut stall in Taipei. “I loved driving there because there were the betel nut girls,” she recalled in a phone interview. One of Han's subjects, Ju Ju, is pictured at a booth in the city of Taoyuan. But Ju Ju has since grown to value the stability of the job.

Persons: Mong Shuan, Mong, Constanze Han, “, ”, we’d, Han, Han “, ’ ”, Susan Meiselas, Xiao Hong, Ju, Ju Ju, —, Constanze Organizations: CNN, Mong, ”, island’s Ministry of Health, Welfare Locations: Taiwan, Asia, Taipei, Kaohsiung, Amsterdam, Hong Kong and New York, America, New England, New Taipei City, Taoyuan, Constanze

The top US diplomat landed in Shanghai where he is expected to meet local officials and business leaders, and he will then travel to Beijing for meetings with senior Chinese officials. “We are in a different place than we were a year ago when the bilateral relationship was at an historic low point,” a senior State Department official said. “Russia is no longer kind of on its back foot,” a second senior State Department official said. Blinken will make the case that China should weigh in “more directly” with Iran to be less provocative in the region, the second senior State Department official said. “In both cases the Chinese have taken some early steps,” said the second senior State Department official, adding that there is still “much more” that needs to be done on both fronts.

Persons: Antony Blinken, Joe Biden, Xi Jinping, Janet Yellen, Biden, Xi, ”, “, ” Blinken, Matthew Miller, Leah Millis, China’s, ” Xi, Blinken, ” Miller, it’s, Mark Swidan, Kai Li, David Lin Organizations: CNN, State Department, Ukraine, US, Foreign Ministry, of, People, Biden, Chinese Foreign Ministry, ASEAN, Association of Southeast Asian Nations, Beijing, Party, Taiwan, Communist, Taiwan Relations, White Locations: China, Ukraine, Shanghai, Beijing, California, Russia, Moscow, Italy, “ Russia, ”, Europe, United States, South China, Philippine, Washington, Philippines, South, Taiwan, Taiwan Strait, East, Iran

☆ Hawaii wildfires 2023: New report details problems and heroism from Maui’s disastrous infernos
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-17 | by ( Holly Yan | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

Among them: Chief officers and some Maui Fire Department staff used “WhatsApp” for situational awareness updates, but not everyone in the department used the app. Despite this, the collective actions by MFD and law enforcement saved many lives and property across the island,” the report says. “Battalion Chiefs initiated upstaffing for some resources on the morning of August 8” – the day the four major wildfires ignited. “MFD requested law enforcement to facilitate evacuations over the radio. “That is still under investigation with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives,” Maui Fire Department Chief Brad Ventura said Tuesday.

Persons: ” “, “, ”, Anne Lopez, –, upstaffing, Brad Ventura, ” Ventura, Ventura Organizations: CNN, Maui Fire Department, National Weather Service, Western Fire Chiefs Association, Staff, Hawaii’s, Fire Safety Research Institute, BCs, State, “ Battalion Chiefs, ICS, Incident Command, Hawaiian Electric Company, Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, Explosives Locations: Maui, “, Lahaina

☆ The beautiful African paradise islands that most tourists don’t know about
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Joe Yogerst | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

CNN —A couple of African paradise islands have been on the radar of avid world travelers for some time. Shellfish Bay on the island’s windward side shelters one of East Africa’s most spectacular beaches, a crescent of white sand framed by 100-meter dunes. Bazaruto Island Resort, the island’s top digs, can arrange scuba diving and snorkeling, sailing on traditional dhow boats, guided 4x4 wildlife safaris, sandboarding on the dunes and other outdoor activities. Lamu’s best beaches are on the island’s windward side, around a 30–40-minute walk via Shela village. — and an ancient stone nilometer for measuring the river’s water level — reflect the island’s importance during pharaonic times.

Persons: São Filipe, Denis, Ponta, Ariadne Van Zandbergen, Dar es Organizations: CNN, Ethiopian Airways, oneworld, Getty, UNESCO, Heritage, Cabo Verde Airlines, Overseas, Paris Orly, Animalia Museum, Egypt, Vogue, Reserve, Dar es Salam Locations: Mauritius, Seychelles, Canary, Africa, Madagascar, Addis Ababa, Bazaruto, Mozambique, East, sandboarding, Johannesburg, Vilanculos, Lamu, Kenya, Manda, Malindi, Nairobi, JamboJet, Fogo, Cape Verde, Cabo Verde, West Africa, Pico, Verde’s, Praia, Overseas Territory, Réunion, French Caribbean, L’Hermitage, Saint, Paris, Antananarivo, Elephantine, Egypt, Aswan, Bissagos, Guinea, Bissau, Bubaque, Pemba, Tanzania, Zanzibar, Tanga, Dar, FlightLink

☆ China’s Xi to host former Taiwan president in Beijing, in rare meeting echoing bygone era of warmer ties
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-10 | by ( Nectar Gan | Wayne Chang | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

Joint concerns over China’s increasing assertiveness under Xi, including toward Taiwan, are a key driver of that summit. Chinese leader Xi Jinping shakes hands with then Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou before their meeting in Singapore on November 7, 2015. Taiwan's former President Ma Ying-jeou speaks to reporters ahead of his visit to China at the Taoyuan International Airport on April 1, 2024. Ma Ying-jeou” or former chairman of the KMT, with no mention of his former role as the president of Taiwan. Reaction in TaiwanMa’s itinerary – and his meeting with Xi – has been closely watched in Taiwan.

Persons: Xi Jinping, Ma Ying, Xi, Chiang Kai, Eric Chu, Ma, ” Chu, Lai Ching, Joe Biden, Biden, Fumio Kishida, Roslan Rahman, Amanda Hsiao, “, underscoring, ’ ”, Tsai Ing, –, Lai, Lai’s, fixating, ”, ” Sung, China –, Ma’s, Hsiao, Yan Zhao, Mr, Sun, Xi –, Sung, ” Ma, James Chen Organizations: Hong Kong CNN, Beijing, Kuomintang, KMT, China’s, shek’s Nationalists, –, Democratic Progressive Party, CNN Beijing, Japanese, Getty, International Crisis, Atlantic, “, Taoyuan International Airport, Communists, Nationalists, Atlantic Council, Taiwan’s Tamkang University, DPP Locations: China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Beijing, Taipei, Singapore, Washington, Japan, Philippines, AFP, Taoyuan, Guangzhou, Republic of China, Shaanxi, United States, China . Washington

☆ Taiwan earthquake: ‘Roger,’ overly playful dog who failed police academy, becomes star of quake response
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-09 | by ( Chris Lau | Wayne Chang | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

While other dogs also played similar roles and were paraded for the media, Roger captured the island’s imagination — partly because of his backstory of an initial career failure. But his ebullient personality and intelligence made him a much better candidate to be a rescue dog, which was the career that was then chosen for him. Kaohsiung Fire DepartmentChen Chih-san, captain of the rescue dog unit of the Kaohsiung Fire Department, told reporters that Roger was transferred to the rescue training school when he was 1 year old. According to the Kaohsiung City Government, Roger was certified by the International Rescue Dog Organization in 2022, an accolade last achieved by a Taiwanese rescue dog in 2019. But retirement is looming for Roger, with the Kaohsiung Fire Department sending rescue dogs to a suitable home once they reach age 9, CNA said, citing Chen.

Persons: Roger, Kaohsiung Fire Department Roger, Chen Chih, “ I’m, ” Chen, ” Roger, Chen Organizations: Taiwan CNN, Central News Agency, CNA, Kaohsiung Fire Department, Kaohsiung Fire, Kaohsiung City Government, Dog Organization Locations: Taipei, Taiwan, lunged, Kaohsiung

☆ China concerns bring new unity to once-turbulent US-Japan-Philippines relationship ahead of major White House summit
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-08 | by ( Brad Lendon | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +11 min

Both the Philippines and Japan are US defense treaty allies, and the US military retains permanent bases in Japan and has base rights in the Philippines. That threat is manifested in three key areas – Taiwan, the South China Sea and the Japanese-controlled Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea, analysts say. Here's why 03:27 - Source: CNNJapan and Philippines both have separate territorial disputes with China, in the former’s case the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea and in the latter’s areas of the South China Sea. Meanwhile, China claims the shoal, which is in the Philippines’ exclusive economic zone, as its sovereign territory, as it does much of the South China Sea, in defiance of an international arbitration ruling. “Alliance building is the most practical way to deal with China’s moves” in the South China Sea, he said.

Persons: ”, James D.J, Brown, Joe Biden, Fumio Kishida, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, Xi Jinping, Biden, Micah Jeiel Perez, Marcos, Kishida, ” Marcos, Shinzo Abe, Ricardo Jose, ” Jose, Thomas, CNN Marcos, Shoal, China –, Masaharu Homma, –, Perez, Rodrigo Duterte, Marcos Jr’s, Duterte, Thomas Shoal, Veejay Villafranca, Robert Ward, BRP Antonio Luna, you’ve, Donald, Trump, ” Brown, “, Ward Organizations: South Korea CNN, White, Temple University, Japanese, Taiwan –, Communist Party, Taiwan Relations, University of, Nikkei Asia, University of the, “, CNN, East China, Philippine, China Coast Guard, US, US State Department, Gen, “ Alliance, Clark Air Base, Naval, Bloomberg, Getty, International Institute for Strategic Studies, Cooperative, Philippine Navy, BRP, Royal Australian Navy, Self, Defense Forces, JS Akebono, US Navy, USS, Multilateral Maritime Cooperative, Armed Forces, AP Analysts Locations: Seoul, South Korea, United States, Japan, Philippines, China, Tokyo, Philippine, Taiwan, Washington, South, Senkaku, East China, University of the Philippines, CNN Japan, East, South China, Palawan, China – Washington, Beijing, Spain, Spanish, Imperial Japan, New Orleans, Bataan, Subic, Manila, US, Australia, India, Vietnam, Warramunga, IISS

Hualien, Taiwan CNN —Wu was preparing breakfast for guests at the small hotel he runs in Taiwan’s Hualien County when the shelves around him shook violently and the mountain behind his house roared. “It’s not too bad.”Video Ad Feedback Rescue efforts underway in Taiwan after deadly earthquake 02:54 - Source: CNNA checkpoint is set up outside Taroko Gorge just north of Hualien city in Taiwan. Yan Zhao/AFP/Getty ImagesWorkers demolish a damaged building following the earthquake in Hualien County, Taiwan on April 4, 2024. Annabelle Chih/Getty ImagesTaiwan’s recent push for preparedness comes from the hard lessons learned from the devastating quake 25 years ago, experts say. That quake left more than 100,000 buildings across Taiwan completely or partially collapsed, including nearly 300 schools.

Persons: Taiwan CNN — Wu, Wu, “, ”, It’s, Annabelle Chih, Chong, “ I’ve, Hualien . Yan Zhao, Tyrone Siu, Daniel Aldrich, Sam Yeh, Aldrich, ” Aldrich, “ They’ve, –, Wei Chia, Wei Organizations: Taiwan CNN, CNN, ”, Getty, Workers, Reuters, Northeastern University Locations: Hualien, Taiwan, Taiwan’s Hualien County, Taroko, Hiroshima, Hong Kong, Shanghai, “, Hualien . Yan, AFP, Hualien County, Haiti, India, China, Taipei

☆ Live updates: 7.4 magnitude quake hits Taiwan
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-04 | by ( Chris Lau | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +1 min

The world’s biggest chipmaker is working to resume operations following the massive earthquake that struck Taiwan Wednesday — a welcome sign for makers of products ranging from iPhones and computers to cars and washing machines that rely on advanced semiconductors. A 7.4 magnitude earthquake struck the island’s east coast Wednesday morning, the strongest in 25 years, killing nine and causing landslides and collapsed structures. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company, the leading chipmaker also known as TSMC, operates largely on the opposite side of the island, although the company said its facilities did experience some shaking. TSMC temporarily evacuated some manufacturing plants following the quake but said later Wednesday that staff were safe and had returned to their workplaces. However, there is no damage to our critical tools,” TSMC said in a statement late Wednesday.

Persons: chipmaker, TSMC, ” TSMC Organizations: Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Locations: Taiwan

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