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SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s Unification Minister, its point man for relations with the North, resigned on Friday over heightened tensions on the peninsula, days after Pyongyang blew up its liaison office with the South. President Moon Jae-in “accepted Unification Minister Kim Yeon-chul’s offer to resign”, the presidential Blue House said in a statement, without giving further details. Kim had offered to step down on Wednesday, a day after the North demolished the […]
WASHINGON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Thursday questioned China’s credibility on reporting fresh coronavirus cases in Beijing and called for neutral observers to assess the extent of the outbreak. China has locked down the capital as it seeks to prevent a second wave of COVID-19, reporting 158 cases since a fresh cluster was detected last week. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, an outspoken critic of China, urged greater transparency during talks […]
by Jing Xuan Teng with AFP bureaux BEIJING, China (AFP) — China imposed travel restrictions on nearly half a million people near its capital on Thursday to contain a fresh coronavirus outbreak as deaths surged in other parts of the world. The threat of a second wave hitting China, which had largely brought the virus under control, and rising tolls in Latin America and South Asia underscore the global challenge in slowing down the pandemic […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — China has freed 10 Indian soldiers seized in a high-altitude border clash in the Himalayas which left at least 20 Indian soldiers dead, media reports said Friday. The release follows several rounds of talks between the two sides in a bid to ease tensions after the battle on Monday, in which scores of troops from the two sides fought with nail-studded batons and hurled rocks at each other. The 10 […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran test-fired a “new generation” of cruise missiles Thursday, the navy said, in the first such military exercises since 19 sailors were killed last month in a friendly fire incident. The armed forces’ website published pictures of the drill in the Gulf of Oman showing missiles being fired from a warship and the back of a truck, and a vessel exploding out at sea. A statement said both short- and long-range […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese prosecutors on Thursday arrested the country’s former justice minister — a close ally of Prime Minister Shinzo Abe — and his lawmaker wife over allegations of vote-buying during her electoral campaign last year. The scandal is the latest headache for Abe, who has seen his approval ratings sink over his handling of the coronavirus crisis and faced criticism over alleged attempts to name a favoured candidate to the role of […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s government on Thursday urged citizens to install the country’s first coronavirus-tracing app when it launches this week, pledging that the system would not invade users’ privacy. The smartphone app, which like those in many countries relies on Bluetooth tracking and the permission of users, will launch on Friday. “This is an important tool to protect your lives, so please install it,” Yasutoshi Nishimura, the minister in charge of the government’s […]
by Jing Xuan Teng and Laurie Chen BEIJING, China (AFP) — Travel restrictions were placed on nearly half a million people near Beijing on Thursday as authorities rush to contain a fresh outbreak of the coronavirus with a mass test-and-trace effort and lockdowns in parts of the Chinese capital. Another 21 cases of the virus were reported in the past 24 hours in Beijing, the National Health Commission said, taking the total number to 158 […]
NUR-SULTAN, Kazakhstan (AFP) — Kazakhstan’s 79-year-old former president and official ‘Leader of the Nation’ Nursultan Nazarbayev has tested positive for the coronavirus, a statement on his official website said Thursday. “Currently, the First President of Kazakhstan is in self-isolation. Unfortunately, the last test… for the coronavirus infection showed a positive result. There is no cause for concern,” the statement said. The statement said that Nazarbayev is “continuing to work remotely.” Strongman Nazarbayev, who turns 80 […]
by Patrick GALEY PARIS, France (AFP) — The novel coronavirus is twice as infectious within households than similar diseases such as SARS, with a substantial number of additional infections spreading before a COVID-19 sufferer shows any symptoms, according to modelling released Thursday. Researchers based in China and the United States said their findings could have profound impacts on reducing the number of new infections as the pandemic progresses. Using data on 350 COVID-19 patients and […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan “can’t move ahead” with a costly US missile defense system, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Tuesday, throwing his support behind a decision to suspend deployment of the controversial program. In a surprise announcement a day earlier, Japan’s Defence Minister Taro Kono said the deployment of the Aegis Ashore system would be suspended, citing cost and time constraints. Abe’s comments appear to suggest the system, which was originally estimated to cost […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea threatened Wednesday to bolster its military presence at now-shuttered inter-Korean project sites and rebuild guard posts in the Demilitarized Zone, a day after it blew up its liaison office with Seoul, sharply raising tensions on the peninsula. In a series of denunciations of Seoul, it rejected an offer it said had come from the South’s President Moon Jae-in to send an envoy for talks. North Korean leader Kim […]
