YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — At least 19 people have been killed in fresh clashes between Myanmar’s military and an ethnic armed group on Saturday in remote northern Shan State, Myanmar army and local sources told AFP, as fighting in the country’s borderlands intensifies. “Nineteen [people] were killed in fighting,” the military source said, adding that two-dozen had been injured. Rights defenders say clashes in northern Myanmar near the China border have ramped up in recent […]
Asia
Hundreds evacuated in Hong Kong after third WWII bomb found this year
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hundreds of people were evacuated Friday after a World War II bomb was found at a Hong Kong construction site, police said, the third such discovery in the territory this year. Police cordoned off roads and evacuated some 1,200 people from shops, restaurants, and offices in the bustling Wanchai business district as experts sought to unearth and defuse the 450-kilogram (1,000-pound) US-made bomb. The ordinance, which had laid dormant for […]
Worked to the bone: South Korea’s elderly
by Jung Hawon Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — In theory Park Jae-yeol should have retired 11 years ago. But despite its advanced economy South Korean state pensions are meagre, and the 71-year-old is obliged to continue working, delivering packages to high-rise apartments. He pushes a cartload of brown boxes into a lift at a block of flats in Seoul, his aging eyes strained by constant squinting at tiny address labels. “Money is […]
India’s Modi visits Nepal to restore neighborly ties
KATHMANDU Nepal (AFP) — Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived in Nepal Friday for a two-day visit aiming to reset strained relations between India and its small northern neighbor. Modi landed in the southern city of Janakpur where he will offer prayers at a famed Hindu temple. He will later travel to Kathmandu to inaugurate the construction of an India-funded hydropower plant with his Nepali counterpart K.P. Sharma Oli. The visit is the latest in […]
Do-or-die for Gandhi’s Congress in key state battle
by Bhuvan Bagga Agence France-Presse BANGALORE, India (AFP) — The Congress party, which has dominated Indian politics in the seven decades since independence, will stage a last stand against Prime Minister Narendra Modi when a key southern state goes to the polls Saturday. Karnataka, home to 60 million people and the wealthy global IT hub of Bangalore, is the last major bastion held by Congress under leader Rahul Gandhi. Saturday’s high-stakes vote comes after one of the […]
Historic Trump-Kim summit set for June 12 in Singapore
by Andrew Beatty Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump on Thursday revealed his historic summit with Kim Jong Un — the first-ever between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader — will take place in Singapore on June 12. The location and date of the landmark meeting were announced in a presidential tweet just hours after Trump welcomed to the United States three American prisoners released by Pyongyang. “We will both […]
Amid rains, more than 800 join INC Worldwide Walk in Seoul, South Korea
(Eagle News) — Amid strong rains, more than 800 Iglesia Ni Cristo members in South Korea joined the May 6 Worldwide Walk to Fight Poverty in a park in Seoul, South Korea. Krishna Patnala, the independent witness assigned to monitor the walk site in Seoul, said he was surprised to find so many people participating in the vent. “To my surprise, I saw so many people here,” he said. More than 800 participants came, […]
Various nationalities join INC Worldwide Walk in Thailand, say they’re “proud to be part” of event
(Eagle News) — Citizens of various countries participated in the Bangkok, Thailand venue of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) Worldwide Walk to Fight Poverty on Sunday, May 6. Even guests from African countries joined the walk and expressed appreciation that the Church is doing this for their continent. “Being an African, and the walk is all about (helping to) eliminate poverty in Africa, it’s going to be amazing […]
Kim says Trump summit ‘historic’ chance to build ‘good future’: KCNA
SEOUL, North Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un hailed a planned meeting with US President Donald Trump as a “historic” opportunity during talks with America’s top diplomat Mike Pompeo in Pyongyang, according to state media Thursday. Kim, who is at the center of a whirlwind of diplomacy as the international community looks to curtail the North’s nuclear program, said his summit with Trump “would be a historic meeting” and an “excellent first […]
Oil-rich Iraq, ravaged by war
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq, which on May 12 holds its first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State group, is oil-rich but has been ravaged by a series of wars since the 1980s. Cradle of civilization During ancient times the lands now comprising Iraq were known as Mesopotamia (“Land Between the Rivers”), a region located between the Tigris and the Euphrates. Its extensive alluvial plains gave rise to some of the world’s […]
Malaysia’s Mahathir wins elections, toppling long-ruling regime
by Sam Reeves and Martin Abbugao Agence France Presse Malaysia’s veteran ex-leader Mahathir Mohamad, 92, won a historic election victory Thursday, in a political earthquake that toppled the country’s scandal-plagued premier and ousted a regime that had ruled for over six decades. In a stunning political upset that took pundits by surprise, Mahathir’s opposition alliance ended the long hold on power of the Barisan Nasional coalition, which has been in power in Malaysia since […]
East Asian powers back N. Korea denuclearization
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — East Asian powers on Wednesday threw their weight behind breakneck diplomacy to rid North Korea of nuclear weapons, setting aside their differences on the process to endorse an intra-Korean deal. Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is hosting his Chinese counterpart Li Keqiang and South Korean President Moon Jae-in as preparations for a summit between Washington and Pyongyang heat up. On Wednesday, top US diplomat Mike Pompeo was in Pyongyang to prepare […]





