Bangladesh signs U.S. wheat-import deal in bid to curb tariff pressure
Bangladesh has signed a deal to import 700,000 tonnes of wheat annually from the United States over the next five years, aiming to ease trade tensions...
Taiwan's coast guard said it detained a China-linked cargo ship on Tuesday after a nearby undersea cable to the Penghu Islands in the sensitive Taiwan Strait was disconnected.
Taiwan, which China claims as its own territory, has repeatedly complained about "grey zone" Chinese activities around the island, designed to pressure it without direct confrontation, such as balloon overflights and sand dredging.
Taipei was alarmed after a Chinese-linked ship was suspected of damaging another cable earlier this year, prompting the navy and other agencies to step up efforts to protect the undersea communication links, which are vital to the island's connections to the rest of the world.
The coast guard said it dispatched three vessels to detain the Chinese-crewed Hong Tai 58, registered in Togo, which dropped anchor near the sea cable off the southwestern coast of Taiwan around the time it was disconnected.
The vessel is a Chinese-linked ship carrying a flag of convenience, the coast guard said, meaning it is registered to a country other than that of its owner.
"All eight crew members are Chinese nationals and (we) do not rule out the possibility of the Chinese activity of grey-zone harassment," the coast guard said in a statement, adding that further investigation is needed.
China's Taiwan Affairs Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters was not able to locate a contact for the ship's owner.
Communications between Taiwan and other offshore islands, including Penghu, were not affected after services were redirected to other cables, the digital ministry said.
A senior Taiwan security official, speaking anonymously because of the sensitivity of the issue, told Reuters the government is handling the case as a national security matter.
"It's beyond the normal range," the official said, pointing to the course of the boat, which had lingered in the waters just southwest of Taiwan since Saturday and did not respond to repeated calls by the coast guard.
Taiwan has reported five cases of sea cable malfunctions this year, compared with three each in 2024 and 2023, according to the digital ministry.
In 2023, two undersea cables connecting the Matsu islands were cut, disconnecting the internet. Taiwan authorities said that two Chinese vessels caused the disruption, but that there was no evidence Beijing deliberately tampered with the cables.
The world’s biggest dance music festival faces an unexpected setback as a fire destroys its main stage, prompting a last-minute response from organisers determined to keep the party alive in Boom, Belgium.
Israeli researchers have unveiled an artificial intelligence tool that can determine a person’s true biological age from tiny DNA samples with remarkable precision.
Germany's export slump since 2021 is largely driven by deep-rooted competitiveness issues, the Bundesbank warned in its latest report, calling for urgent structural reforms.
Two Harry Potter actresses, Emma Watson and Zoe Wanamaker, have each received a six-month driving ban after separate speeding offences, both sentenced on the same day at a Buckinghamshire court.
The Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s foreign ministers met in Tianjin on 15 July, laying the groundwork for the upcoming SCO summit set for the end of August.
Bangladesh has signed a deal to import 700,000 tonnes of wheat annually from the United States over the next five years, aiming to ease trade tensions and secure tariff relief from the Trump administration, officials confirmed on Sunday.
Iran and the E3, Britain, France, and Germany, may hold nuclear talks next week, Tasnim reported, amid European warnings that failure to resume negotiations could trigger renewed international sanctions.
Iran has replaced air defence systems damaged during last month’s conflict with Israel, according to a report by Iran’s Defah Press news agency on Sunday, citing Mahmoud Mousavi, Deputy for Operations of the regular army.
A tsunami warning was issued on Sunday after a sequence of strong earthquakes, including a powerful 7.4-magnitude tremor, struck off the Pacific coast of Russia, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) confirmed.
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