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BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Syria’s nearly eight-year-old conflict saw its lowest annual death toll in 2018 as the regime reasserted its authority over swathes of territory, a war monitor said on Monday. A total of 19,666 people were killed this year as a result of the conflict, which erupted in 2011, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group reported. “2018 was the lowest annual toll since the start of the conflict,” Observatory chief Rami […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Former Nissan boss Carlos Ghosn will be spending the beginning of 2019 behind bars after a Tokyo court on Monday extended his detention through to January 11, local media reported. The decision, reported by public broadcaster NHK and local news agency Jiji Press, comes after Japanese prosecutors re-arrested Ghosn for fresh allegations on December 21, dashing his hopes of being home for Christmas. There was no immediate confirmation from the court. […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un vowed to meet the South’s President Moon Jae-in “frequently” next year to discuss denuclearisation of the peninsula in a rare letter sent to Seoul, Moon’s office said Sunday. The leader of the isolated North met with Moon three times this year — twice at the border truce village of Panmunjom and once in the North’s capital Pyongyang — as a reconciliatory push gathered pace. […]
A 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck off the southern Philippine island of Mindanao on Saturday, monitors said, adding that a tsunami threat was possible for parts of the Philippines and neighbouring Indonesia. The quake struck southeast of Davao City at a depth of 59 kilometres (35 miles), the US Geological Survey said, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said “hazardous tsunami waves from this earthquake are possible” along the coasts of Indonesia and the Philippines. However tsunami […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Moscow will early next year host the leaders of Russia, Iran and Turkey to discuss the Syrian conflict, Russia’s deputy foreign minister said Friday, after the United States announced it was withdrawing troops from the country. “It’s our turn to host the summit… around the first week of the year. This will depend on the schedules of the presidents,” Mikhail Bogdanov was cited as saying by Interfax news agency. The meeting […]
by Maher al-Mounes with Rouba El Husseini in Beirut Agence France Presse DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — The United Arab Emirates reopened its embassy in Damascus Thursday, the latest sign of efforts to bring the Syrian government back into the Arab fold. The UAE broke ties with Syria in February 2012, as the repression of nationwide protests demanding regime change was escalating into a devastating war. Nearly seven years later, the Emirati flag was raised again […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Top Chinese leaders have been forced to undergo a self-criticism session, state media said Thursday, in a further sign of President Xi Jinping’s efforts to enforce party loyalty amid signs of internal dissent over his handling of a trade war with the United States. A tool highly favored by Mao Zedong and taken to extremes during the Cultural Revolution, self-criticism sessions are back in favor under Xi’s presidency as he seeks […]
by Anuj Chopra Agence France Presse RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia’s King Salman ordered a sweeping government reshuffle Thursday, replacing key security and political figures including the foreign minister, as the kingdom grapples with the international fallout over critic Jamal Khashoggi’s murder. The surprise shake up saw the appointment of a new National Guard chief and the head of a new space agency, but the ministries of energy and finance were unaffected despite […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has acknowledged “drawbacks” in its agricultural sector this year, echoing UN reports of declining crop yields in a country that remains heavily reliant on food imports and aid. Agricultural production is chronically poor in the North, which has periodically been hit by famine, with hundreds of thousands dying — some estimates say millions — in the mid-1990s. Premier of the government cabinet, Pak Pong Ju, referred to “drawbacks […]
CARITA, Indonesia (AFP) — Flooding is endangering survivors of the volcano-triggered tsunami that killed over 430 people in Indonesia, as police warn residents and urge them to evacuate. https://youtu.be/LSPgKEzlYgk
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan hanged two men convicted of murder on Thursday, the justice minister said, bringing the number of executions this year to 15 — tied for the highest amount on record. With more than 100 inmates on death row, Japan is one of the few developed nations to retain the death penalty, and public support for it remains high despite international criticism, including from rights groups. The minister named the two men […]
by Saul LOEB with Sebastian SMITH in Washington Agence France Presse AL-ASAD AIR BASE, Iraq (AFP) — President Donald Trump used a lightning visit to Iraq — his first with US troops in a conflict zone since being elected — to defend withdrawing from Syria and to declare an end to America’s role as the global “policeman.” Trump landed at 7:16 pm local time at Al-Asad Air Base in western Iraq, accompanied by his wife […]
