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SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea’s Kim Jong Un has expressed “great satisfaction” after receiving a letter from US President Donald Trump ahead of a second summit between the two leaders, Pyongyang’s state media reported Thursday. Kim is making “good technical preparations” for the meeting, the official KCNA news agency said, in the isolated nation’s first comments on the talks scheduled for next month. The letter was handed to Kim by one of his […]
by Maria PANINA Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan at a meeting in Moscow on Wednesday vowed to coordinate their actions more closely in Syria. “Cooperation between Russia and Turkey is a touchstone for Syrian peace and stability,” Erdogan said in translated comments at a joint press conference after their talks, which lasted around three hours. “With our Russian friends, we intend to […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A former South Korean chief justice was arrested Thursday on allegations of abuse of power for allegedly meddling in trials to curry favour with now-ousted president Park Geun-hye. Yang Sung-tae was the presiding judge on the Supreme Court for six years until his retirement in 2017. The South’s politicians have long had legal troubles — all the country’s living ex-presidents are either currently in prison or have previously served jail […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Five tourists including a honeymooning couple have drowned in a single week in the Maldives, officials said, prompting a nationwide safety warning to holiday resorts in the pristine islands. Tourism officials said all resort operators in the paradise archipelago were urged Monday to keep a close eye on their clients after the spate of deaths. Strong currents caused by a north-east monsoon were blamed for the slew of drownings in […]
by Maria PANINA Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — The leaders of Russia and Japan fell short of agreement on Tuesday over a disputed island chain that has long prevented the two countries from signing a peace treaty to formally end World War II. Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s visit to Moscow marked the 25th time he and Russian President Vladimir Putin have met since 2013, a reflection of their efforts to build cooperation […]
GHAZNI, Afghanistan (AFP) — Around 65 people were killed in a Taliban-claimed attack on an Afghan intelligence base, a local official said Tuesday, raising the toll substantially from 12 announced previously. “We took about 65 bodies out of the rubble yesterday,” Mohammad Sardar Bakhyari, deputy head of the provincial council in Wardak province, where the attack occurred on Monday in the latest blow to beleaguered security forces. A senior security official who spoke on condition […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A hotel employee arrested after a window she was cleaning fell onto a busy Hong Kong street and killed a tourist was released on bail Tuesday as investigators try to work out what caused the fatal tragedy. Police said a 24-year-old female tourist from the Chinese mainland was struck by the window which fell from the 16th floor of the Mira Hotel in the busy Tsim Sha Tsui shopping district […]
by Richard CARTER Agence Franc Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Carlos Ghosn is likely to remain in Japanese custody for the foreseeable future after a Tokyo court denied him bail Tuesday despite a last-ditch personal appeal by the former Nissan boss. The decision was expected as the court had previously judged him to be a flight risk who could potentially tamper with evidence. Even Ghosn’s own lawyer has said his client will likely remain in […]
by Elizabeth LAW Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — A group of more than 100 former diplomats and academics have signed an open letter to Chinese President Xi Jinping calling for the release of two Canadians who have been detained on allegations of espionage. Former diplomat Michael Kovrig and businessman Michael Spavor were on December 10 arrested for activities that “endanger China’s security” — a phrase often used by Beijing when alleging espionage. Their […]
by Mike Smith Agence France Presse JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel struck what it said were Iranian targets in Syria on Monday in response to missile fire it blamed on Iran, sparking concerns of an escalation after a report that 11 fighters were killed. Israel announced the strikes against facilities it said belonged to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards’ Quds Force as they were occurring, continuing its recent practice of speaking more openly about such raids. […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Israeli strikes that hit several targets in Syria overnight to Monday killed at least 11 pro-regime fighters including two Syrians, a war monitor said. Israel’s military said it had targeted a number of Iranian installations in the country early on Monday, hours after intercepting a rocket fired from Syrian territory. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, a Britain-based monitor, said they were the deadliest Israeli strikes in Syria since May last […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey is ready to take over ensuring the security of Manbij in northern Syria in order “not to lose time,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said in a phone call with US counterpart Donald Trump. Manbij, controlled by Kurdish fighters supported by the US military, had been hit on Wednesday by an attack claimed by the Islamic State group (IS) which killed 19 people, including four Americans. In their second phone conversation […]
