Asia

Massive clean-up in Hong Kong after typhoon brings trail of destruction

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong began a massive clean-up Monday after Typhoon Mangkhut raked the city, shredding trees and bringing damaging floods, in a trail of destruction that has left dozens dead in the Philippines and millions evacuated in southern China. The death toll in the Philippines, where the main island of Luzon was mauled with fierce winds and rain, rose to 65 overnight as rescuers pulled more bodies from a huge landslide […]

Typhoon Mangkhut rips through Hong Kong as Philippines toll rises to 49

  by Elaine Yu in Hong Kong with Purple Romero in Tuguegarao Agence France Presse Typhoon Mangkhut rocked Hong Kong before striking mainland China on Sunday, injuring scores and sending skyscrapers swaying, after killing at least 49 people in the Philippines and ripping a swathe of destruction through its agricultural heartland. The world’s biggest storm this year left large expanses in the north of the main Philippine island of Luzon underwater as fierce winds tore […]

Indonesia’s quake-hit Lombok battles with malaria, 137 infected

  MATARAM, Indonesia (AFP) — A malaria outbreak has infected at least 137 people in Indonesia’s West Lombok after the island was rocked by a series of earthquakes in recent months, an official said Sunday. The quakes and aftershocks since July have killed about 500 people and forced hundreds of thousands into evacuation shelters or tents. As a result the number of malaria cases is twice as high as in the same period last year, […]

Moon seeks to break nuclear deadlock at Pyongyang summit

  by Sunghee Hwang Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in travels to Pyongyang this week for his third summit with Kim Jong Un, looking to break the deadlock in nuclear talks between North Korea and the United States. Moon — whose own parents fled the North during the 1950-53 Korean War — flies north on Tuesday for a three-day trip, following in the footsteps of his predecessors Kim […]

Hong Kong raises highest hurricane signal at no. 10 as typhoon Mangkhut batters territory

  (Eagle News) – Super typhoon Mangkhut lashed Hong Kong which placed the whopper hurricane at signal no. 10, the highest local hurricane signal, which will remain in force until Sunday afternoon, Sept. 16, according to the Hong Kong Observatory. Mangkhut, with maximum gusts recorded at 232 kilometers per hour, continues to move steadily towards the coast of western Guangdong and poses a severe threat to Hong Kong, according to the Observatory’s latest advisory.  Mangkhut […]

Macau braces for Typhoon “Mangkhut”

HONG KONG, China (AFP)–Macau shut down all its casinos in a historic first as Typhoon Mangkhut approached Sunday, with authorities warning the gambling enclave would be hit by severe flooding. The Macau government was heavily criticized by residents last year for failing to prepare the city ahead of Typhoon Hato, which left widespread damage and 12 people dead. A statement from authorities late Saturday said the decision to shut Macau’s 42 casinos was approved by […]

Ex-UN climate chief to face sexual assault trial

  NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Former UN climate panel chief Rajendra Pachauri will stand trial in a sexual assault and harassment case three years after an employee accused him of inappropriate conduct, a lawyer said Friday. Pachauri, 78, has been charged under various counts including sexual assault, harassment and criminal intimidation, according to the complainant’s lawyer. “After examining the charges and hearing arguments from the counsels, the court came to the conclusion that prima […]

S. Korea launches its first missile-capable submarine

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea launched its first-ever missile-capable attack submarine on Friday, despite a recent diplomatic thaw with the nuclear-armed North. The $700 million, 3,000-tonne Dosan Ahn Chang-ho submarine is capable of firing both cruise and ballistic missiles and the first of three planned diesel-electric boats to go into service in the next five years. It represented a “leap forward in the country’s” defense industry, President Moon Jae-in told a launch ceremony […]

Erdogan to meet Putin on Monday for Syria talks: Turkish officials

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will meet with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Monday, officials said, amid rising international concern over a looming Syrian government assault on a rebel-held province bordering Turkey. “President Erdogan will meet with Mr Putin on Monday,” Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu told a televised press conference on Friday. The meeting will take place in the Russian resort city of Sochi, a senior Turkish official told AFP. […]

Two Koreas open joint liaison office in North: pool report

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North and South Korea opened a joint liaison office in the Northern city of Kaesong on Friday as they knit closer ties ahead of President Moon Jae-in’s visit to Pyongyang next week. “A new chapter in history is open here today,” South Korean unification minister Cho Myoung-gyon told a ceremony, according to a pool report. “This liaison office is another symbol of peace jointly created by the South and the […]

Skripal suspects say were in UK as tourists, deny murder attempt

by Anna Smolchenko Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Two men accused by London of poisoning former Moscow spy Sergei Skripal denied involvement in the murder attempt in a bizarre Russian media interview Thursday that Britain dismissed as “an insult to the public’s intelligence”. Speaking with the head of the Kremlin-backed RT news network, the pair confirmed they were the men whose pictures British authorities released this month, but insisted they were visiting the […]