SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — South Korean president Moon Jae-in said Friday he is confident a diplomatic thaw between Washington and Pyongyang will continue, despite “bumps and bruises” on the path to denuclearising the Korean peninsula. Moon was speaking during a state visit in Singapore, where last month US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met during an unprecedented leaders’ summit. Kim committed to a nuclear-free North Korea at the end of […]
Asia
Blast at Chinese chemical plant kills 19
BEIJING, China (AFP) — An explosion at a chemical plant in southwest China left 19 dead and injured another 12, authorities said Friday, the latest industrial accident in a country where lax regulations often lead to tragedy. The blast occurred at 6:30 pm Thursday night at an industrial park in Sichuan province’s Yibin city, according to a statement on the website of the local work safety administration. The injured had been taken to hospital and […]
Beware of fraudsters, Chilean miners tell rescued Thai boys
by Ana FERNANDEZ Agence France-Presse SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — Guard against exploitation: that’s the message Chilean miners have offered the 12 Thai boys and their football coach following the harrowing ordeal of spending 18 days trapped in a cave. Before even the clothes of the Wild Boar football team players had dried following the last dramatic escape mission on Tuesday from the flooded cave, already plans were being made to turn their heroic tale into […]
Japan rains disaster toll rises to 199: government
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The toll in record rains that have devastated parts of Japan rose Thursday to 199, with dozens still missing, a top government spokesman said. Yoshihide Suga said search operations were continuing after the worst weather-related disaster in Japan in over three decades. Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who visited one of the worst-affected regions on Wednesday, plans to travel Friday to another area hit by deadly flooding and landslides after the rains, Suga […]
Thai boys were passed “sleeping” through cave, says rescue diver
CHIANG RAI, Thailand (AFP) — The boys rescued from a Thai cave were passed “sleeping” on stretchers through the treacherous pathways, a former Thai Navy SEAL who was the last diver to leave the Tham Luang complex told AFP Wednesday. The details of the complex operation are among the first to emerge from a rescue effort to save 12 boys and their football coach that has been shrouded in secrecy since it began on […]
Sri Lanka to hang drug criminals, plans to replicate Philippines ‘success’ in its drug war
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka announced Wednesday it would start hanging drug dealers, ending a near-half century moratorium on capital punishment as officials promised to “replicate the success” of the Philippines drug war. President Maithripala Sirisena had told the cabinet he “was ready to sign the death warrants” of repeat drug offenders, government spokesman Rajitha Senaratne said Wednesday. “From now on, we will hang drug offenders without commuting their death sentences,” he said. […]
Taiwan community recognizes Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) with certificates of gratitude for public service
ZHUBEI, TAIWAN – Young and old alike were gifted with visits of love from volunteers of the INC Giving Project (I-N-C Giving) over the last few weeks in Taiwan. The Project is an extension of the global commitment to community partnership by the international religious organization Iglesia Ni Cristo (INC or Church Of Christ). In June, senior citizens and staff at the Tian Zhu Zhiao Ren Ci Home Care Center in Zhubei, Taiwan, were […]
China says tit-for-tat tariffs will ‘destroy’ US-China trade
BEIJING, China (AFP) – China on Wednesday said tit-for-tat tariffs will “destroy” trade between the world’s top two economies, after Washington fired the next shot in a ballooning trade war, readying fresh levies on $200 billion in Chinese goods. “The outburst of large-scale mutual levying of tariffs between China and the United States will inevitably destroy Sino-US trade,” assistant minister of commerce Li Chenggang told a forum in Beijing. US policy “actually interferes with the […]
Yemeni asylum-seekers spark backlash in South Korea
JEJU, South Korea (AFP) – A few hundred asylum-seekers from Yemen have sparked an unprecedented wave of xenophobia in ethnically homogenous South Korea, echoing the anti-immigrant sentiment that has swept Europe and helped propel Donald Trump to the White House. More than a million migrants arrived in Germany after its borders were opened in 2015 to asylum-seekers — many fleeing war — which deeply divided the country and its neighbours. And the United States, by […]
Thais rejoice at success of dramatic cave rescue
CHIANG RAI, Thailand (AFP) — Thailand celebrated the successful mission to free 12 boys and their football coach from a cave Wednesday, with the nation heaping praise on the rescue team as the triumphant tagline “Hooyah” pinballed across social media. The nerve-shredding three-day mission ended on Tuesday with the final group of four boys and the coach emerging from the cave which had held them captive for 18 days. The rescue received blanket coverage […]
Taiwan spared as Typhoon Maria weakens
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Schools and offices were closed in parts of Taiwan Wednesday as Typhoon Maria skirted the island bringing torrential rain and powerful winds. Officials had warned of floods and landslides, evacuating thousands of people, but the storm weakened as it approached Taiwan and moved past it to the north. Downpours of up to 100 millimetres (four inches) hit some areas overnight, according to the weather bureau, and strong winds were still […]
Japan PM to meet stranded evacuees in flood disaster zone; death toll rises to 179
by Hiroshi Hiyama Agence France-Presse KURASHIKI, Japan (AFP) – Japan’s prime minister Shinzo Abe headed Wednesday to one of the areas worst-hit by record rains as the death toll rose to 179 and thousands of evacuees remained stranded in shelters. Abe, who cancelled a four-stop foreign trip planned for this week as the disaster worsened, was due to visit the flood-ravaged Okayama area to see the scale of the damage first-hand. With dozens reportedly still […]





