Chinese Carrier Sails Through Northeast Taiwan Waters 

The Liaoning seen in Hong Kong waters in 2017. (AFP)
The Liaoning seen in Hong Kong waters in 2017. (AFP)
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Chinese Carrier Sails Through Northeast Taiwan Waters 

The Liaoning seen in Hong Kong waters in 2017. (AFP)
The Liaoning seen in Hong Kong waters in 2017. (AFP)

A Chinese naval formation led by the Liaoning aircraft carrier sailed through waters northeast of Taiwan on Wednesday and continued towards the southeast of Japan's Yonaguni Island, Taipei's government said.

"During this period, the armed forces have monitored the situation and responded accordingly," Taiwan's defense ministry said in a statement.

The voyage came after the Chinese military tailed a US aircraft that flew through the politically sensitive Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, Beijing's army said, vowing to "resolutely defend national sovereignty".

"On September 17, a US P-8A anti-submarine patrol aircraft flew through the Taiwan Strait," Li Xi, a senior captain and spokesperson for the Eastern Theater Command of the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA), said in a statement.

"Theater troops are on constant high alert to resolutely defend national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability."

Beijing views self-ruled Taiwan as its own territory and claims jurisdiction over the waterway that separates the island from the Chinese mainland.

The Chinese aircraft carriers Liaoning and Shandong have sailed through the Taiwan Strait several times in recent years as Beijing intensified military and political pressure on the island.

Taiwan's military has reported near daily sightings of Chinese warplanes, drones and naval vessels around the island.

On Wednesday, the defense ministry said nine Chinese military aircraft, 13 naval vessels and one official ship were detected in a 24-hour window ending at 6:00 am (2200 GMT Tuesday).

It said in a second statement that a further 15 Chinese warplanes were detected on Wednesday, of which 12 crossed the median line of the Taiwan Strait "in conducting air-sea joint training" with Chinese naval vessels.

"The People's Liberation Army also fired multiple launched rockets in the inland Gansu area," it added.



Netherlands Summons Iranian Ambassador over Alleged Assassination Attempts

An anti-Israeli billboard reads 'Once again, a Pharaoh will drown' at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 22 April 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An anti-Israeli billboard reads 'Once again, a Pharaoh will drown' at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 22 April 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
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Netherlands Summons Iranian Ambassador over Alleged Assassination Attempts

An anti-Israeli billboard reads 'Once again, a Pharaoh will drown' at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 22 April 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
An anti-Israeli billboard reads 'Once again, a Pharaoh will drown' at Palestine Square in Tehran, Iran, 22 April 2025. EPA/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH

Iran's ambassador to the Netherlands was summoned on Thursday after the Dutch intelligence agency said it suspected Tehran of being behind two assassination attempts in Europe, a Foreign Ministry spokesperson said.
The Dutch general intelligence agency, known as the AIVD, said in its annual report published on Thursday that two men were arrested in June 2024 in the Dutch town of Haarlem after an assassination attempt there on an Iranian residing in the country.
One of the suspects is also suspected of the failed assassination attempt on Spanish politician and Iran critic Alejo Vidal-Quadras in Madrid in November 2023, Reuters quoted it as saying.
"The two assassination attempts fit into the modus operandi that Iran has been using for years: using criminal networks in Europe to silence purported opponents of the regime. Based on intelligence, it is likely that Iran is responsible for the two liquidation attempts," the AIVD said.
Several months after surviving the shooting attack, Vidal-Quadras, who co-founded the Spanish far-right party Vox, said he believed that Iran's government had hired hitmen to assassinate him over his links to an Iranian dissident group, without providing evidence of the assertion.