Asia

N. Korea food production down in 2018: UN body

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Food production has fallen this year in isolated, nuclear-armed North Korea, according to the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization. Rice and maize are the North’s main staples, but rice output was expected to be below average because of erratic rains and low irrigation supplies, the FAO said in its quarterly Crop Prospects and Food Situation report. Unfavorable weather conditions also diminished maize yields, it added. As a result, the country […]

Huawei executive gets bail in case rattling China ties

by Deborah JONES / with Michel Comte in Ottawa and Laurent Thomet in Beijing Agence France-Presse VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — A Canadian court has granted bail to a top Chinese telecom company executive wanted in the United States, as diplomatic tensions turned to the detention of a former Canadian diplomat in Beijing. Meng Wanzhou, the chief financial officer of Huawei, was released on Can$10 million (US$7.5 million) bail on Tuesday in a case that has […]

Koreas verify removal of frontline bunkers

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Soldiers from North and South Korea are set to verify the dismantlement of guard posts in the demilitarized zone Wednesday, Seoul said, after crossing into each other’s territory peacefully for the first time. The removal of 20 posts along the heavily-fortified frontier was one of the steps agreed at a September summit between the South’s President Moon Jae-in and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un in Pyongyang, part of a […]

Thousands flee bombs and hunger in eastern Syria

by Delil Souleiman Agence France Presse AL-HOL, Syria (AFP) — Faraj was born in the pouring rain on a nondescript stretch of desert road in eastern Syria as his family fled escalating fighting over the Islamic State group’s last bastion. His family was part of a group of around 200 civilians who managed to escape from a pocket of territory in Deir Ezzor province that is still held by the jihadists. “I had to resist […]

US energy secretary meets Saudi counterpart after OPEC cuts

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia’s energy minister held talks Monday with US Energy Secretary Rick Perry, after the kingdom and its allies defied US pressure to cut oil production in a bid to prop up prices. They discussed the “state of the oil market” and energy cooperation between the two countries during a meeting in eastern Dhahran city, the minister, Khalid al-Falih, said on Twitter. Perry tweeted that he discussed the need for […]

China court bans iPhone sales in patent dispute: Qualcomm

(AFP) — A Chinese court ordered a ban in the country on iPhone sales in a patent dispute between US chipmaker Qualcomm and Apple, according to a Qualcomm statement Monday. The statement said the Fuzhou Intermediate People’s Court had granted Qualcomm’s request for two preliminary injunctions against four subsidiaries of Apple, ordering them to immediately to stop selling the iPhone 6S, iPhone 6S Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus and iPhone […]

Ex-Nissan chief Ghosn charged, served with fresh arrest warrant

by Shingo ITO Agence France-Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese prosecutors formally charged Carlos Ghosn with financial misconduct for under-reporting his salary and also served a fresh warrant on separate allegations, local media reported Monday, meaning the tycoon will likely spend Christmas in a cell. Former Nissan chairman Ghosn, 64, has been in detention since his November 19 arrest on suspicion of under-declaring his income by some five billion yen ($44 million) between 2010 and […]

Japan’s empress-in-waiting ‘insecure’ but vows to serve

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Crown Princess Masako on Sunday pledged to do her best despite feeling ‘insecure’ about becoming empress in mere months, in a candid statement released on her 55th birthday. Emperor Akihito will step down on April 30, 2019 — the first abdication in the Japanese imperial family in more than two centuries. His eldest son and Masako’s husband Naruhito will ascend to the throne the next day. “Even though I feel […]

Qatar emir skips Saudi-hosted summit with Gulf rivals

by Abdul Hadi Habtor Agence France Presse RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Qatar’s emir skipped a summit in Saudi Arabia on Sunday with fellow Arab Gulf leaders whose boycott of the small but energy-flush neighbour has sparked a major regional diplomatic row. Riyadh is hosting the annual gathering as crises rumble on over the 18-month-old dispute with Doha, the war in Yemen and the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul. […]

Armenia PM’s bloc takes lead in snap parliamentary polls: early resul

YEREVAN, Armenia (AFP) — The electoral bloc of Armenia’s acting premier Nikol Pashinyan was in the lead according to early results in Sunday’s snap parliamentary elections triggered by the reformist leader, who is aiming to cement his political authority in the post-Soviet country. The bloc led by Pashiniayn’s Civil Contract party had 70.25 percent of the votes,  and in second place with 9.15 percent was the Prosperous Armenia party, according to results from 25 percent […]

DFA: Body of Filipina found floating in river in Sabah

(Eagle News)–The body of a Filipina was found floating in a river in Sabah  recently, the Department of Foreign Affairs said on Saturday, Dec. 8. In a statement, the DFA said authorities were looking at the possibility the case of Madelyn Bernardo Asuncion, who was discovered by a plantation worker in Pengalan River in Melalap on Nov. 28, was a homicide. The DFA said the embassy in Malaysia is waiting for the official report of the incident […]

Cash for kids: South Korea seeks to raise falling birthrate

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea issued a raft of measures Friday to try to reverse one of the world’s lowest birth rates, offering potential parents increased benefits as it faces a looming population decline. The country’s fertility rate — the number of children a woman is expected to have in her lifetime — fell to 0.95 in the third quarter, the first time it has dropped below 1 and far short of […]