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by Andrew BEATTY Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE, Singapore – Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un will make history on Tuesday, becoming the first sitting US and North Korean leaders to meet, shake hands and negotiate to end a decades-old nuclear stand-off. The extraordinary summit — unthinkable only months ago — comes after the two nuclear-armed foes appeared on the verge of conflict late last year as they slung personal insults and Kim conducted nuclear and missile […]
by Andrew Beatty / Sebastien Berger © Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un were making last-minute preparations Monday on the eve of their historic summit, as officials scrambled to narrow yawning differences over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. Tuesday’s meeting will be the first time a serving US president has sat down with the leader of North Korea, and comes just months after fears of conflict soared as the two traded […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese officials criticized Russia on Monday for its plans to lay fibre-optic cables to islands disputed by Tokyo and Moscow, calling the construction work “deplorable” and “without legal basis.” Ties between Japan and Russia have been strained for decades over the four islands, which were occupied by the Soviet Union in the closing days of World War II but are claimed by Tokyo. They are known in Japan as the Northern […]
by Sebastien Berger © Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — North Korean and US negotiators met in Singapore Monday for final preparations on the eve of an unprecedented summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump, seeking to bridge the gaps over Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal. Tuesday’s meeting will be the first between a sitting US president and a leader of North Korea, whose nuclear and ballistic missile ambitions have raised global concerns and seen tensions […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Asian markets fluctuated Monday after the Group of Seven meeting ended with deep divisions between the US and its allies, while investors are looking ahead to Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. While the historic gathering in Singapore is the big story of the week, key central bank decisions in the US and Europe will also be closely followed. Trump pulled out of endorsing a joint communique […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A US F15 fighter jet crashed off the southern coast of Japan on Monday but the pilot ejected and was rescued by Japanese forces, Tokyo’s defense minister said. The Japanese military “received information that a crew member of the F15 jet, which belongs to the Kadena Air Base, ejected above the sea some 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of” Naha, the regional capital of Japan’s southern Okinawa island, Itsunori Onodera told […]
Singapore (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un arrived in Singapore Sunday for an unprecedented summit with Donald Trump, an attempt to address the last festering legacy of the Cold War, with the US president calling it a “one time shot” at peace. Pyongyang’s nuclear arsenal — which has seen it subjected to several sets of UN Security Council sanctions and threatened with military action by the Trump administration — will top the […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s economy slid into negative territory for the first time in two years at the beginning of the year, official data showed Friday, confirming preliminary figures issued last month. The world’s third-largest economy contracted by 0.2 percent quarter-on-quarter in the January-March period, unchanged from the preliminary figure, the Cabinet Office said. The new data also revises upwards the figure for the last quarter of 2017, to 0.3 percent from 0.1. The contraction […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Seoul is in three-way talks with Pyongyang and Washington for an early agreement on formally ending the decades-old Korean War, it said Thursday ahead of a summit between Kim Jong Un and Donald Trump in Singapore next week. The 1950-53 conflict ceased with an armistice rather than a peace treaty, leaving the two sides technically at war, and US President Donald Trump said last week that it would be […]
by Jerome Cartillier © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — With less than a week to go before meeting North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, US President Donald Trump plays host Thursday to Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who wants his voice heard ahead of the unprecedented talks. Trump and Abe will hold a joint press conference at the White House in the early afternoon, before heading to Canada for what promises to be […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP)- Japan is drawing up plans requiring all senior government bureaucrats to undergo anti-sexual harassment training, an official said Thursday, after a scandal involving a top finance ministry employee. “We are now preparing such a plan,” a cabinet office official told AFP, adding that a final version will be presented at a meeting headed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe later this month. The move comes after the top bureaucrat at the Finance Ministry quit […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — French urban freeclimber Alain Robert attempted to scale the world’s fifth-tallest building Wednesday, getting more than half way up the 123-storey Lotte World Tower in Seoul before security forced him to abandon the ascent. The 55-year-old, dubbed the ‘French Spiderman’, made his way up the building bare-handed and without ropes as staff pursued him from inside. “I climbed about 75 stories and then after that, it was a bit like cat […]
