France urges Beijing to help avert 'crisis' in South China Sea - CNA

"Calm and stability must prevail in the Taiwan Strait, and certainly the world doesn't need a new crisis," she added.

Colonna stressed China should be free to pursue its "economic rise", but that in exchange it needed to meet international expectations on issues such as human rights.

"For all these reasons we will keep engaging China constructively, and there are actually encouraging signs," she said.

"Our efforts are paying off somehow and creating positive trends of cooperation."

Beijing claims most of the South China Sea, including waters and islands close to the shores of its neighbours.

The Philippines, Brunei, Malaysia, Taiwan and Vietnam have also staked claims to various islands and reefs in the sea, which is believed to contain rich petroleum reserves.

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2023-12-04 06:51:14Z
CBMiX2h0dHBzOi8vd3d3LmNoYW5uZWxuZXdzYXNpYS5jb20vd29ybGQvZnJhbmNlLXVyZ2VzLWJlaWppbmctc291dGgtY2hpbmEtc2VhLWF2ZXJ0LWNyaXNpcy0zOTYzOTk20gEA

11 hikers dead after Indonesia volcano erupts, dozen still missing - CNA

A clip shared with AFP showed a rescue worker with a flashlight strapped to his head piggybacking a hiker, who moans in pain and says "God is greatest" as she is led to safety in the darkness of night.

Zhafirah Zahrim Febrina, one of the rescued hikers, is shown in a video message from the volcano desperately appealing to her mother for help.

The 19-year-old student appeared shocked, her face burnt and her hair matted with thick grey ash.

"Mom, help Ife. This is Ife's situation right now," she said, referring to her nickname.

She is now in a nearby hospital with her father and uncle after being trapped on the mountain on a hiking trip with 18 school friends.

"She is going through a tremendous trauma," said her mother Rani Radelani, 39.

"She is affected psychologically because she saw her burns, and she also had to endure the pain all night."

"TREMENDOUS TRAUMA"

Local rescue agency spokesperson Jodi Haryawan said the rescue efforts had been broken up by sporadic eruptions but the search was still going despite the risks.

"Once it was safer they continued the search. So the search was not halted," he told AFP.

Rudy Rinaldi, head of the West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency, told AFP some of the rescued hikers had suffered burns.

"Those who are injured were the ones who got closer to the crater," he said.

At least eight people suffered burns, one had burns and a fracture and another had a head wound, according to a list of those found from Basarnas, a national search and rescue agency, seen by AFP.

Ahmad Rifandi, an official at the Mount Marapi monitoring station, told AFP that ash rain was observed after the eruption and had reached Bukittinggi, the third-largest city in West Sumatra that has a population of more than 100,000.

The plume of smoke and ash blocked out the sun after the eruption and coated nearby cars, scooters and ambulances.

Marapi is on the second alert level of Indonesia's four-step system and authorities have imposed a three-kilometre exclusion zone around its crater.

The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

As the search goes on for the missing 12 hikers, Febrina's family was relieved she was one of the lucky ones.

Good news arrived in the form of a livestream on video app TikTok by a member of the rescue services, in which Radelani saw her visibly shaken daughter.

"It felt incredible, praise God she has been found," Radelani said.

"If she asks me to allow her to climb a mountain, I'll say no."

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2023-12-04 06:32:24Z
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11 hikers found dead after Indonesia volcano eruption: Official - CNA

A clip shared with AFP by rescue teams at the scene showed an ambulance blaring its sirens, rushing an evacuated climber from the scene with burns.

In another clip, a rescue worker with a flashlight strapped to his head piggybacks a hiker who moans in pain and says "God is great" as she is led to safety in the darkness of night.

The eruption was ongoing, which was preventing air evacuations by helicopter, Malik said.

"Visually, until this morning, smokes are still billowing from the top. Visually, everything still looks grey," he said.

RAINING ASH

Rudy Rinaldi, head of the West Sumatra Disaster Mitigation Agency told AFP some of the rescued hikers needed medical treatment because of their proximity to the eruption.

"Some suffered from burns because it was very hot, and they have been taken to the hospital," he said.

"Those who are injured were the ones who got closer to the crater."

According to a national search and rescue agency, or Basarnas, list seen by AFP of those found, at least eight people suffered burns, one had burns and a fracture and another had a head wound.

Ahmad Rifandi, an official at the Mount Marapi monitoring station, told AFP that ash rain was observed after the eruption.

"It has reached to Bukittinggi city," he said Sunday, referring to the third-largest city in West Sumatra that has a population of more than 100,000.

Local disaster agency official Ade Setiawan said in a statement residents in local villages were "given masks and reminded to stay inside their houses".

Marapi is on the second alert level of Indonesia's four-step system and authorities have imposed a three-kilometre exclusion zone around its crater.

The Indonesian archipelago sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, where the meeting of continental plates causes high volcanic and seismic activity.

The Southeast Asian country has nearly 130 active volcanoes.

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2023-12-04 02:45:00Z
2638427211

Association lauds use of digital arrival card - New Straits Times

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1. Association lauds use of digital arrival card  New Straits Times
2. Foreigners entering Malaysia required to submit digital arrival cards from December  CNA
3. No problems using Malaysia Digital Arrival Card  The Star Online
4. Foreign tourists entering Malaysia now required to fill up digital arrival card  NST Online
5. Foreigners entering Malaysia from Dec 1 must submit digital arrival card  The Straits Times
6. View Full coverage on Google News

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2023-12-03 23:02:07Z
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Islamic State claims responsibility for deadly Philippine bombing - CNA

MANILA: Islamic State militants claimed responsibility for a deadly bombing at a Catholic Mass in the Philippines on Sunday (Dec 3) that killed at least four people and injured 50 others.

The attack was carried out in a university gymnasium in Marawi, a city in the south of the country besieged by muslim militants for five months in 2017.

The Islamic State group, which wields influence in the country's south, said on Telegram its members had detonated the bomb.

Earlier on Sunday, before Islamic State's claim, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr condemned "the senseless and most heinous acts perpetrated by foreign terrorists". Police and the military strengthened security in the country's south and around the capital Manila.

In Rome, Pope Francis offered prayers for the victims during his Sunday address, and, in a separate written message, appealed to "Christ the prince of peace (to) grant to all the strength to turn from violence and overcome every evil with good".

Law enforcement operations to bring to justice the perpetrators of the "terrorist activity" will "continue unabated", Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro told a press conference.

There were "strong indications of a foreign element" in the bombing, Teodoro said, refusing to elaborate so as not to compromise ongoing investigation.

Fragments of a 16mm mortar were recovered at the scene, senior police official Emmanuel Peralta told the press conference.

HIGH ALERT

The blast in Marawi, capital of Lanao del Sur province, followed a series of military operations against local pro-Islamic State groups in the southern Philippines, the military chief said.

One on Sunday in Lanao del Sur led to the killing of a leader of the Dawlah Islamiya-Maute group.

"It is possible that what happened this morning was a retaliatory attack," Armed Forces Chief Romeo Brawner told the press conference.

The Islamic State-linked Maute seized Marawi on May 2017, seeking to make it a Southeast Asian "wilayat", or governorate, for Islamic State.

In the ensuing five-month battle, militant fighters and Philippine forces killed more than a thousand people, including civilians.

Images shared by the Lanao del Sur government on Facebook showed military officials surveying the gym at the Mindanao State University where the blast occurred, which appeared intact except for burn marks in the centre.

Videos posted by DZBB radio on social media platform X, formerly Twitter, showed rescuers carrying injured people out of the gym on plastic chairs.

Police offices in Mindanao and the capital region were placed on high alert and police checkpoints tightened "to prevent possible follow-up incidents", police official Peralta said.

The coast guard directed its districts to intensify pre-departure inspections at ports.

Mindanao State University said in a Facebook post it was "deeply saddened and appalled by the act of violence that occurred during a religious gathering". "We unequivocally condemn in the strongest possible terms this senseless and horrific act."

The university said it was suspending classes until further notice.

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2023-12-03 18:13:44Z
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Magnitude 6.6 aftershock causes panic in southern Philippines - CNA

MANILA: A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit the southern Philippines on Sunday (Dec 3), the US Geological Survey said, a day after an even more powerful quake in the same region killed two people and triggered a tsunami alert.

The latest earthquake - one of several strong aftershocks felt in the region since late Saturday - hit at around 6.40pm local time pat a depth of 56km northeast of Hinatuan municipality on Mindanao island.

It was the same area where residents had fled to higher ground the night before following a magnitude 7.6 quake.

At least two people were killed and several were injured after that quake, authorities said. It was followed by five major aftershocks of magnitudes exceeding 6.0 through Sunday, according to the USGS.

Hinatuan police Staff Sergeant Joseph Lambo said Sunday evening's quake sent people rushing out of their homes again.

"They were panicking due to the memory of the previous night's quake," Lambo told AFP.

He said police were checking for any further damage or casualties.

Saturday's quake triggered tsunami warnings across the Pacific region and sent residents along the east coast of Mindanao fleeing buildings, evacuating a hospital and seeking higher ground.

COLLAPSED WALL

There have been no reports of major damage to buildings or infrastructure so far, disaster officials told AFP earlier on Sunday.

A 30-year-old man died in Bislig City, in Surigao del Sur province, when a wall inside his house collapsed on top of him, said local disaster official Pacifica Pedraverde.

Some roads in the city were cracked during the earthquake and aftershocks but vehicles could still drive on them, she said.

A pregnant woman was killed in Tagum city in Davao del Norte province, the national disaster agency said, without providing details.

Two people suffered minor injuries from falling debris in Tandag City, about 100km north of Bislig, an official said.

The national disaster agency recorded a total of four people injured, but it was not clear if that tally included the two in Tandag.

The Philippine seismology institute initially warned of a "destructive tsunami" after the first quake that was expected to cause "life threatening" waves.

It issued a bulletin at about 3.25am local time that the highest waves generated were 64cm tall on Mawes Island but also said the tsunami warning had ended.

Small swells were reported as far away as Japan's eastern Pacific coast, where a tsunami warning was also briefly in effect. Palau, a western Pacific archipelago located about 900km off Mindanao, reported no impact.

The earthquake came nearly two weeks after a 6.7 magnitude quake hit Mindanao, killing at least nine people, shaking buildings and causing part of a shopping mall ceiling to collapse.

Quakes are a daily occurrence in the Philippines, which sits along the Pacific "Ring of Fire", an arc of intense seismic and volcanic activity that stretches from Japan through Southeast Asia and across the Pacific basin.

Most are too weak to be felt by humans.

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2023-12-03 12:38:43Z
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Think of what happened to Hong Kong when you vote, Taiwan president says - CNA

TAIPEI: Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen appealed to voters on Sunday (Dec 3) to think of what had happened to Chinese-controlled Hong Kong when they cast their ballots next month, saying peace must be backed up with a commitment to boost defences.

Taiwan prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan 13 as China, which claims the island as its own territory, ramps up military pressure to assert its claims, including two major war games around the island in the past year and a half.

China and Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), have cast the election as a choice between war and peace. China detests Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its presidential candidate, Vice President Lai Ching-te, calling them dangerous separatists.

Addressing supporters at a campaign rally for Lai in the capital Taipei, Tsai said the opposition was using "alarmist talk" of war and peace.

"I want to ask you all here, does anyone want war? Nobody does," she said. "Look at Hong Kong and think of Taiwan. We don't want Hong Kong-style peace. We want dignified peace."

Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of wide autonomy under a "one country, two systems" framework, which China has also offered to Taiwan - with little support on the island.

Beijing in 2020 imposed a tough national security law on Hong Kong, which it said was vital to restore stability after the city, a global financial hub, was rocked for months by sometimes violent anti-government and anti-China protests in 2019.

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2023-12-03 11:37:54Z
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