Exercises raise regional tension warns Taipei; US slams war games as it launches drills with Philippines. Taiwan detected 153 aircraft surrounding its territory as China carried out massive military exercises, according to the self-ruled island’s defence ministry. The “surge in warplane activity” saw a record number of aircraft spotted in the 25 hours to 6am on Tuesday (22:00 GMT, Monday), the Ministry of National Defense said in a...

Omar Hassan Warsame was a larger-than-life figure in the Somali town of Golweyn, where his sizeable farm provided maize, bananas and jobs that helped sustain the community. The 65-year-old and a contingent of up to a dozen of his employees would tend to crops on the plot in the Lower Shebelle region, some 110km (68 miles) southwest of the capital Mogadishu – which helped spare locals from the...