Asia

Trump, Kim exchanged 12 letters: S. Korea minister

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un have exchanged a total of 12 letters since the beginning of last year, South Korea’s Unification Minster said, with the North Korean leader the more assiduous suitor in their nuclear bromance, penning eight. “Since 2018, chairman Kim has written eight letters to President Trump, and President Trump has written four letters to chairman Kim,” Kim Yeon-chul, the South’s […]

Iran vows to ditch more nuclear curbs in war of words with US

by Amir HAVASI TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran said Tuesday it will further free itself from the 2015 nuclear deal in defiance of new American sanctions as US President Donald Trump warned the Islamic Republic of “overwhelming” retaliation for any attacks. Tensions between Iran and the US have spiraled since last year when Trump withdrew the United States from the deal under which Tehran was to curb its nuclear program in exchange for relief from […]

Seoul: US, N Korea in talks to set up 3rd Trump-Kim summit

  By ADAM SCHRECK, HYUNG-JIN KIM and KIM TONG-HYUNG Associated Press SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — North Korean and U.S. officials are holding “behind-the-scenes talks” to arrange a third summit between President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on the fate of the North’s expanding nuclear arsenal, South Korea’s president said, four months after a second meeting between the leaders in Hanoi collapsed without any agreement. There have been no public meetings […]

“Collateral damage” from US-China trade spats hurting smaller countries, says Australian PM

  SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday warned that “collateral damage” from trade spats between China and the United States were hurting smaller countries and threatening the global economy. In an unusually public warning to allies in Washington, Morrison said the “world’s most important bilateral relationship –- the US-China relationship” had become “strained”. “Trade tensions have escalated. The collateral damage is spreading. The global trading system is under real pressure. […]

Seven people, including Chinese, charged over Cambodia building collapse

  SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (AFP) — Seven people, including five Chinese nationals, have been charged with manslaughter or as accomplices to manslaughter in connection with a building collapse in Cambodia that killed 28 people and sparked anger over shoddy construction regulations. The collapse of a seven-storey, under-construction Chinese building in the resort town of Sihanoukville on Saturday is the deadliest industrial accident in recent memory in Cambodia. A close Beijing ally, Cambodia has seen an influx […]

Scores ill, hundreds of schools closed in Malaysia due to toxic fumes

  KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Scores of people have fallen ill and hundreds of schools have been closed in Malaysia due to toxic fumes believed to have come from a chemical factory, authorities said Tuesday. It was the second serious incident involving poisonous gas in Pasir Gudang district, in southern Johor state, in three months after thousands of people became sick in March when waste was dumped in a river and emitted noxious fumes. […]

US President Trump to visit Seoul after letters with Kim

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — US President Donald Trump will visit South Korea at the weekend after the G20 summit to discuss deadlocked nuclear talks with the North with President Moon Jae-in, Seoul’s presidential office said Monday. Trump will fly to the South Korean capital on Saturday after attending the G20 summit in Japan, officials said, prompting speculation he could try to visit the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula. The visit comes after Trump […]

Powerful 7.3 magnitude Indonesian quake felt in Australia

  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck remote eastern Indonesia on Monday, forcing people to flee office buildings as far away as the northern Australian city of Darwin, officials and reports said. The deep and powerful earthquake sent shockwaves around the region, with people on the tourist island of Bali as well as in East Timor reporting feeling the tremor. Indonesia was the epicentre of the Asian tsunami in 2004 that killed more […]

Iran denies being hit by US cyber attack

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran said Monday that no cyber attack against the Islamic republic has ever succeeded, after American media reported the US launched one last week amid a standoff between the two countries. “The media are asking about the veracity of the alleged cyber attack against Iran. No successful attack has been carried out by them, although they are making a lot of effort,” telecommunications minister Mohammad Javad Azarari Jahromi said on Twitter […]

Bridge collapse sends Bangladesh train plunging

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — A train plunged into a canal when the bridge it was travelling across gave way, killing four people and injuring 100 more in Bangladesh on Monday. Officials said part of the bridge collapsed as the express train went over, sending five cars crashing to the ground, with one of them landing in the water. Scores of people were trapped in the accident at Kalaura, 300 kilometres (185 miles) from Dhaka. Local […]

‘No more survivors’ in Cambodia building collapse as toll hits 24

by Suy SE SIHANOUKVILLE, Cambodia (AFP) — The retrieval of bodies from a building collapse in Cambodia continued Monday, as the death toll rose to 24 with no further survivors expected to be found under the debris of the seven-storey Chinese-owned construction site. Workers clawed back the rubble overnight as a grim-faced Cambodian premier Hun Sen visited the scene of the collapse in Sihanoukville, a beach town undergoing a Chinese investment bonanza. The night was […]

North Korean leader receives ‘excellent’ letter from Trump: KCNA

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un received a personal letter of “excellent content” from US President Donald Trump, the country’s state media said Sunday, amid a nuclear deadlock between Pyongyang and Washington. Talks have been stalled since the collapse of a second summit between the two leaders in February after they failed to agree on what the North would be willing to give up in exchange for sanctions relief. The […]