AP, Beijing
Taiwan’s government said Thursday that recent Chinese military drills aim to intimidate the island and are a threat to regional peace and stability.
China’s attempts to “pressure and harass Taiwan and seek to raise tensions between the sides and in the region,” the Cabinet-level Mainland Affairs Council said on its website.
Indonesia quake kills 3
AP, Jakarta
A shallow earthquake in central Indonesia has killed three people and damaged more than 300 homes, disaster officials said Thursday as they declared a two-week emergency for the affected areas.
Indonesia’s Meteorology and Geophysics Agency said the magnitude-4.4 quake that occurred Wednesday at a depth of 4 kilometers (2.4 miles) was centered about 52 kilometers (32 miles) north of Kebumen, a densely populated district of Central Java province.
NY AG wants power to bypass Trump pardons
Reuters, New York
New York’s attorney general on Wednesday asked Governor Andrew Cuomo and state legislators to give him and other local prosecutors power to bring criminal charges against people pardoned by U.S. President Donald Trump.In a letter, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman urged Cuomo and legislative leaders to close a loophole in New York’s double jeopardy law shielding recipients of presidential pardons from state prosecution.
Kyrgyz PM dismissed
AFP, Kyrgyzstan
Kyrgyzstan on Thursday jettisoned its 29th prime minister in less than three decades of independence as new President Sooronbai Jeenbekov looks to cement control over the Central Asian country.
Lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to dismiss the government of Prime Minister Sapar Isakov, a 40-year-old technocrat viewed as a loyalist of the country’s former leader Almazbek Atambayev.
Quake hits Iran
AFP, Tehran
A moderately strong 5.9-magnitude earthquake Thursday hit Iran’s southern region of Bushehr, home to the country’s only nuclear power plant, without causing casualties or damage, media reported.
