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by Bhuvan BAGGA / Jalees ANDRABI Agence France Presse AGRA, India (AFP) — Powerful dust storms tore across northern India killing at least 100 people and injuring more than 140 as they flattened houses in their path and warnings were made Thursday of more chaos to come. Winds of more than 130 kilometers (80 miles) per hour ravaged Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan and Punjab states and the death toll was expected to rise, officials said. The […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing Thursday reasserted its right to build “defense” facilities in the disputed South China Sea but declined to confirm reports it had installed new missiles on artificial islands it has built in the region. The Chinese army-installed anti-ship and air-to-air defenses on outposts also claimed by Vietnam and the Philippines over the last 30 days, US network CNBC reported Wednesday, citing sources close to US intelligence. If the information is verified, […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi met with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un during a rare visit to Pyongyang, China’s foreign ministry said Thursday on its official social media account. The two-day visit by Wang Yi — the highest-ranking Chinese official to travel to North Korea in years — follows a landmark inter-Korean summit and precedes a planned meeting between Kim and US President Donald Trump in the coming weeks. The […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) –At least 97 people were killed in strong dust storms that swept across northern India, officials said Thursday. Winds of more than 130 kilometers (80 miles) per hour ravaged parts of northern Uttar Pradesh and western Rajasthan states late Wednesday. “We can confirm at least 65 deaths from around 40 of the state’s 75 districts,” T.P. Gupta of the Uttar Pradesh relief commissioner’s office told AFP. Rajasthan’s disaster management chief said […]
YEREVAN, Armenia (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Armenians on Wednesday converged on the capital, blocking roads and government buildings, as popular anger exploded over the ruling party’s rejection of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan’s premiership bid. In an unprecedented show of defiance, protesters paralyzed Yerevan, with nearly all streets closed to traffic and many stores shut, AFP correspondents reported. The road linking Yerevan with its airport was also blocked. © Agence France-Presse
PYONGYANG, United States (AFP) — China’s foreign minister arrived in Pyongyang on Wednesday, the highest-ranking Chinese official to visit North Korea in years as Beijing tries to mend fences with its nuclear-armed neighbor. The two-day visit by Wang Yi follows a landmark inter-Korean summit and precedes a meeting between the North’s leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump in coming weeks. Wang, who will meet his North Korean counterpart Ri Yong Ho during […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in on Wednesday dismissed claims that US troops stationed in the country would have to leave if a peace treaty was signed with the North. Seoul and Pyongyang have remained technically at war since the 1950s but Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un agreed at a landmark summit last week to work towards a permanent treaty to replace a 65-year-old armistice agreement. “US Forces […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in has asked the United Nations to verify the planned closure of North Korea’s nuclear test site, a UN spokesman said Tuesday. Moon made the request in a phone call to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Monday, a few days after North Korean leader Kim Jong Un told the South Korean leader he planned to shut down the test site in May. “The president sought […]
SANTO DOMINGO, Dominican Republican (AFP) — The Dominican Republic established diplomatic relations with China and cut off ties with Taiwan, the Caribbean country’s government said late Monday — whittling down Taipei’s list of allies even more in the face of Beijing’s growing influence. “We have taken the decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China, with the conviction that this decision will be extraordinarily positive for the future of our country,” an […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran’s judiciary on Monday banned the hugely popular Telegram messaging app, which the authorities have accused of allowing armed opposition groups to fuel unrest. A judge in Tehran gave “the order to interrupt Telegram”, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news agency said. The move comes on the heels of a recent presidential directive banning all government workers from using foreign messenger apps to communicate. Telegram, built by Russian tech guru Pavel Durov, […]
by W.G. Dunlop Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said Monday he was confident his landmark summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will go ahead, as he talked up the idea of holding it in the Demilitarized Zone between the two Koreas. Trump revealed last week that two or three locations were under consideration for the historic meeting — which would be the first between a […]
by Mike Smith Agence France Presse JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a televised address Monday he had new “proof” of an Iranian nuclear weapons plan that could be activated at any time, as the US considers whether to pull out of the atomic accord with Tehran. But while Netanyahu accused Israel’s main enemy Iran of lying about its nuclear ambitions, he did not provide evidence that it had actively […]
