Asia

Ten journalists including Agence France Presse photographer among dozens killed in Afghan attacks

  by Mushtaq Mojaddidi Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Ten journalists including Agence France-Presse’s chief photographer in Kabul, Shah Marai, were among dozens killed in attacks across Afghanistan Monday, the deadliest day for the country’s media since 2001. The attacks highlight the dangers journalists face in the war-torn country, where violence is increasing as the resurgent Taliban step up their campaign while the Islamic State group makes inroads. A double suicide blast in […]

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Landslide in northern China kills 9

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A landslide killed nine people in a village in northern China on Monday, authorities said. The disaster occurred in the village of Caijiazhuang shortly before 5:00 am (2100 GMT Sunday), Luliang municipal government in Shanxi province said on its official social media account. More than a hundred firefighters, medical workers, and rescuers — some using earth-moving machinery — were sent to the site to search for survivors trapped under the fallen […]

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North-linked firms soar on Seoul market after summit

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Shares in South Korean builders, railway component makers and other firms with links to the North rocketed on Monday as Friday’s inter-Korea summit fuelled optimism for new cross-border projects. The historic meeting saw the North’s leader Kim Jong Un and South Korean President Moon Jae-in vowing to “encourage more active cooperation, exchanges” and promote “co-prosperity.” The declaration sent shares of many firms which were once involved in now moribund inter-Korean […]

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Japan’s Abe in the UAE to boost ties

ABU DHABI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe arrived in the United Arab Emirates late Sunday for talks aimed at boosting political and economic ties. Abu Dhabi is the first leg of Abe’s Middle East tour which will also take him to Jordan, Israel, and the Palestinian territories. Abe is scheduled to meet UAE leaders on Monday and also attend a Japan-UAE business forum to highlight the scope for cooperation between […]

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China’s foreign minister to visit N. Korea this week

BEIJING, China (AFP) –Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi will visit North Korea this week, his office said Monday, days after the leaders of the two Koreas held a landmark summit. Wang will be in the neighboring country at the invitation of his North Korean counterpart on Wednesday and Thursday, the foreign ministry said in a brief statement. He will be the first Chinese foreign minister to visit the North since 2007, a lapse that highlights […]

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N. Korea offers to shut nuclear test site in May, invite US experts

by Jung Hawon with Mandel Ngan in Washington, Michigan Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has promised to shut its atomic test site within weeks and invite American weapons experts to verify its closure, Seoul reported Sunday, as new US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Washington had an “obligation” to pursue peace. North Korean leader Kim Jong Un — who may meet US President Donald Trump as early as next […]

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N. Korea to rejoin South’s time zone in conciliatory gesture

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would move the country’s clocks 30 minutes forward to unify with the South’s time zone as a conciliatory gesture after Friday’s inter-Korean summit, Seoul said Sunday. The two countries on the divided peninsula have had different time zones since 2015 when the North suddenly changed its standard time to 30 minutes behind the South. Pyongyang cited a nationalistic rationale, saying it would […]

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N. Korea offers to shut nuclear test site in May, invite US experts

    by Jung Hawon / With Mandel Egan in Washington, Michigan © Agence France-Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea promised to close its atomic test site next month and invite US weapons experts to the country, Seoul said Sunday, as Donald Trump expressed optimism about securing a nuclear deal in his summit with the secretive regime. The reported pledge from the North’s leader Kim Jong Un follows weeks of whirlwind diplomacy that saw […]

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Things ‘going very well,’ Trump says after talk with S.Korea’s Moon on details of Kim meeting

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said Saturday that “things are going very well” after talking with South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in about an upcoming summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “Just had a long and very good talk with President Moon of South Korea. Things are going very well, time and location of meeting with North Korea is being set,” Trump wrote on Twitter. “Also spoke to Prime […]

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Three arrested after 10 young Israeli hikers killed in desert flash flood

  JERUSALEM (AFP) — Three people have been arrested in Israel in connection with the deaths of 10 young hikers in flash floods during a program to prepare them for military service, police said Friday. The ten students, mostly aged 17 and 18, were caught up in floods while hiking in the Arabah desert in southern Israel following exceptionally heavy rainfall. They were part of a group of around 25 hikers taking part in the […]

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Deadline looms on US steel tariff exemptions

  by Heather Scott © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Key US trading partners face a looming deadline on Tuesday when crippling tariffs on steel and aluminum are set to take effect — and they are urging the White House to exempt them permanently. The major suppliers, including Canada, Mexico, South Korea and the European Union, were granted a temporary reprieve when President Donald Trump imposed the tariffs in March. The measures were largely […]

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N. Korea says ‘historic meeting’ opens ‘new era for peace’

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The inter-Korean summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in was a “historic meeting” that paved the way for the start of a new era, Pyongyang’s state media said Saturday. The official KCNA news agency said it was a “historic meeting that has opened a new era for national reconciliation and unity, peace and prosperity”, and carried the text of the leaders’ Panmunjom […]

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