Tag: InternationalNews

{{Several factories have been set on fire amid anti-China protests at an industrial park in southern Vietnam, amid tensions over the South China Sea. }}

The park’s management said three factories were set on fire on Tuesday, but other reports put the figure as high as 15.

No casualties have been reported but officials said many arrests were made.

The protests came after China moved a drilling rig into waters claimed by Vietnam earlier this month.

In a daily press briefing, a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said Vietnam was a “provocateur” and that Beijing had expressed concern to Hanoi.

On Tuesday they moved on to VSIP’s two industrial parks nearby and targeted factories owned or managed by the Chinese and Chinese expatriates.

A spokesman for VSIP told the reporters the three factories were set on fire on Tuesday night after workers had gone home.

Not all of the tenants of the three factories were Chinese companies, she said. Some Taiwanese companies had been affected.

Other reports suggested the violence was more widespread, with more factories targeted.

A local official estimated that around 19,000 workers took part in the protest and that at least 15 factories were set on fire, according to local media.

One photo carried by Vietnamese media showed a factory had draped a South Korean flag at its entrance in a bid to stave off attacks.

{{Russia said on Tuesday new European Union sanctions will hinder efforts to defuse the crisis in Ukraine and urged the West to persuade Kiev to hold discussions on the country’s future structure before a May 25 presidential election.}}

The results of self-rule referendums in the mainly Russian-speaking eastern regions of Donetsk and Luhansk “should be a clear signal to Kiev of the depth of the crisis” in Ukraine, the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Kremlin has stopped short of endorsing independence for the regions or their absorption into Russia but has said the referendums underscore the need for talks between the pro-Western government and separatists from the east.

“Moscow hopes … the EU and United States will use their influence on the current leadership in Kiev so that issues of state structure and respect for the rights of regions are discussed soon – in any case before the election scheduled for May 25,” it said.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has suggested the Ukrainian election, which the government hopes will increase its legitimacy and control, will not be legitimate if people in the east are not confident their rights will be protected.

The EU imposed sanctions on two Crimean companies and 13 people on Monday in response to Moscow’s annexation of the Black Sea peninsula from Ukraine and its support for Russian-speaking separatists.

The EU had already imposed asset freezes and visa bans on 48 Russians and Ukrainians, and the United States has also imposed sanctions during the worst crisis in relations between Moscow and the West since the Cold War.

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{{Syrian rebels have agreed to free 1 500 families in exchange for food and the release of jailed opponents of President Bashar Assad, a newspaper close to his regime said on Monday.}}

The reported agreement involves the release of families held by rebels in Adra, a flashpoint town northeast of Damascus currently under siege by government troops.

Under the deal, food supplies would be allowed into Adra, and an unspecified number of people held in regime jails would be set free, in exchange for the release of the 1 500 families held in the town, said Al-Watan.

In a first phase and as a gesture of goodwill, “a family of eight people would be released in exchange for food for civilians in Adra,” said the newspaper.

Afterwards, “the exchange would involve the release of one family held hostage in Adra per each detainee released” from government jails, it reported.

While the edges of Adra are under government control, the interior of the town, which has Sunni, Alawite and Christian communities, is in rebel hands.

It is strategically located on the northeastern entrance to Damascus, and has in the past been used as a launching pad for attacks on the edges of the capital.

Today it is totally under army siege, while the interior of the town is under rebel control.

When the rebels took Adra in mid-December, they prevented thousands of people – many of them from Syria’s Alawite and Christian minorities – from leaving.

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At least six suspected al-Qaeda militants have been killed in a drone strike in eastern Yemen, reports say.

The drone reportedly destroyed the car in which they were travelling in the Wadi Abida district of Maarib province.

State media and local tribal sources said they were members of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP).

The strike comes as the Yemeni army continues a major offensive against strongholds of AQAP and its allies in two provinces in the south.

It says it has inflicted heavy losses on the militants, killing dozens of leaders – most of them foreigners – and capturing weapons.

The army regained control of several major towns in Shabwa and Abyan provinces during a similar campaign in 2012, but AQAP members were able to retreat to remote rural areas and regroup.

Since the new campaign began on 29 April, following a series of deadly drone strikes on AQAP strongholds, militants have stepped up attacks on government and security personnel.

On Sunday, a suicide bomber blew up his explosives-laden car outside a police station in the southern city of Mukalla, killing 11 police officers and wounding 15 others, the interior ministry said.

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Russia has called for implementation of the result of the controversial referendums organised by pro-Russian groups in eastern Ukraine.

Ukraine says the Sunday votes on self-rule are “a farce” with no legal basis.

Russia has called for dialogue between the militants and Kiev with the participation of the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe.

In Brussels, EU foreign ministers have expanded sanctions imposed as a result of Russia’s actions in Ukraine.

Two Crimean companies and 13 individuals have been added to the sanctions list – the names are likely to be announced officially within the next 24 hours, reports media.

The sanctions impose travel bans and asset freezes. EU ministers are also discussing what might trigger a broader package of sanctions against the Russian economy.

In a brief statement, the Kremlin described the referendums as “the will of the people” and noted the “high turnout”.

The Kremlin denounced what it claimed had been “attempts to disrupt the votes, with the use of force, including the use of heavy weapons, against civilians”, reports