US Marines swooped into the Taliban's backyard, setting up a southern Afghan bridgehead yesterday to take the war on Osama bin Laden and his protectors to a crucial new phase.
Unopposed, hundreds of the crack troops ferried in by helicopter overnight took an airstrip near Kandahar, within striking distance of the Taliban's spiritual home and final redoubt.
PHOTO: AP
"We are going to support the Afghan people's effort to free themselves of the terrorists and the people who support terrorists," said General James Mattis on the USS Peleliu, the Marines' assault ship in the Arabian Sea.
Up to 1,000 Marines, with armour and supplies, were to be flown in rapidly as Washington showed its resolve to catch bin Laden. It blames the Saudi-born militant for the Sept. 11 suicide airliner attacks in the US that killed about 4,000 people.
Washington, and the Northern Alliance it supports, suspect bin Laden is still in the shrinking Kandahar area, the only region the Taliban still controls after the loss of Kunduz in the north.
But mystery shrouded the exact whereabouts of the man with a US$25 million bounty on his head -- and of his host, Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar.
Heavily armed US AC-130 gunships and attack jets also pummelled targets in Kandahar overnight and in the morning, but witnesses said the Taliban remained in control. "There is no apparent sign they are retreating, but the Taliban is in very sparse numbers," one witness said.
US forces were also moving into Kandahar's main airport closer to the city, tribal forces said.
ROLLER-COASTER RIDE: More than five earthquakes ranging from magnitude 4.4 to 5.5 on the Richter scale shook eastern Taiwan in rapid succession yesterday afternoon Back-to-back weather fronts are forecast to hit Taiwan this week, resulting in rain across the nation in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration said yesterday, as it also warned residents in mountainous regions to be wary of landslides and rockfalls. As the first front approached, sporadic rainfall began in central and northern parts of Taiwan yesterday, the agency said, adding that rain is forecast to intensify in those regions today, while brief showers would also affect other parts of the nation. A second weather system is forecast to arrive on Thursday, bringing additional rain to the whole nation until Sunday, it
LANDSLIDES POSSIBLE: The agency advised the public to avoid visiting mountainous regions due to more expected aftershocks and rainfall from a series of weather fronts A series of earthquakes over the past few days were likely aftershocks of the April 3 earthquake in Hualien County, with further aftershocks to be expected for up to a year, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Based on the nation’s experience after the quake on Sept. 21, 1999, more aftershocks are possible over the next six months to a year, the agency said. A total of 103 earthquakes of magnitude 4 on the local magnitude scale or higher hit Hualien County from 5:08pm on Monday to 10:27am yesterday, with 27 of them exceeding magnitude 5. They included two, of magnitude
CONDITIONAL: The PRC imposes secret requirements that the funding it provides cannot be spent in states with diplomatic relations with Taiwan, Emma Reilly said China has been bribing UN officials to obtain “special benefits” and to block funding from countries that have diplomatic ties with Taiwan, a former UN employee told the British House of Commons on Tuesday. At a House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee hearing into “international relations within the multilateral system,” former Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) employee Emma Reilly said in a written statement that “Beijing paid bribes to the two successive Presidents of the [UN] General Assembly” during the two-year negotiation of the Sustainable Development Goals. Another way China exercises influence within the UN Secretariat is
Taiwan’s first drag queen to compete on the internationally acclaimed RuPaul’s Drag Race, Nymphia Wind (妮妃雅), was on Friday crowned the “Next Drag Superstar.” Dressed in a sparkling banana dress, Nymphia Wind swept onto the stage for the final, and stole the show. “Taiwan this is for you,” she said right after show host RuPaul announced her as the winner. “To those who feel like they don’t belong, just remember to live fearlessly and to live their truth,” she said on stage. One of the frontrunners for the past 15 episodes, the 28-year-old breezed through to the final after weeks of showcasing her unique