Asia

Trump tells Xi US trade deficit with China ‘not sustainable’: W.House

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump told Chinese leader Xi Jinping he was disappointed about Washington’s deepening trade deficit with Beijing, calling the situation “not sustainable,” the White House said Tuesday. In telephone talks, Trump “expressed disappointment that the United States’ trade deficit with China has continued to grow,” the White House said in a statement. “President Trump made clear that the situation is not sustainable.” According to figures published Friday by […]

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South Korean soldiers’ wages almost doubled

(AFP) — South Korea nearly doubled wages for its rank-and-file conscripted soldiers on Tuesday but their pay will remain just a fraction of the country’s minimum wage. Salaries for conscripted privates were raised 88 percent from 163,000 won to 306,100 won ($288) a month, with privates first class and corporals enjoying similar increases. But they remain far below South Korea’s minimum wage of 10,000 won ($9.40) per hour. President Moon Jae-In has promised to increase […]

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Eight bodies found as ‘North Korean’ boat washes up in Japan

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Eight bodies have been recovered from a wrecked boat that washed ashore in central Japan, authorities said Tuesday, suspecting the vessel is the latest in a series of North Korean “ghost ships.” Coastguard rescuers found the corpses of seven men inside the wreckage of the boat that washed up in Kanazawa, central Japan, last week, senior police official Hiroshi Abe told AFP. The badly decomposed remains of another man were […]

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US, allies meet to find diplomatic way out of N. Korea crisis

by Michel Comte  © Agence France-Presse VANCOUVER, Canada (AFP) — Foreign ministers from 20 nations began crisis talks Monday on North Korea’s ballistic missile and nuclear weapons programs, though China’s absence cast doubt over the effectiveness of any deal. The two-day Vancouver meeting hosted by Canada and the United States comes amid signs of easing tensions on the Korean peninsula, after the North and South met for the first time in two years and Pyongyang agreed to […]

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Palestinian leaders call for suspension of recognition of Israel

by Nasser Abu Bakr and Joe Dyke Agence France-Presse RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Palestinian leaders voted on Monday to call for the suspension of recognition of Israel in a move with potentially deep implications as they met in response to US President Donald Trump’s declaration of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital. While withdrawing the Palestine Liberation Organisation’s recognition of Israel could spark international backlash, it was unclear whether the vote was binding. A previous vote by the […]

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Baghdad twin suicide bombing kills 31

  by Ammar Karim Agence France Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq’s Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi called for the elimination of jihadist “sleeper cells” Monday after a twin suicide bombing killed 31 people in Baghdad in the second such attack in three days. There was no immediate claim of responsibility, but most such attacks in Iraq are the work of the Islamic State jihadist group. The bombing comes after Abadi’s government declared victory over IS […]

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Floor at Indonesia’s stock exchange collapses, 75 injured

by Bagus SARAGIH Agence France-Presse JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — At least 75 people were injured Monday when a mezzanine floor at Indonesia’s stock exchange building collapsed into the lobby, police said, with victims carried out of the debris-filled building on stretchers. A cascade of glass, metal and other material crashed onto the ground floor when part of the mezzanine level gave way. A Jakarta police spokesman said the collapse was an accident and not the […]

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Iraq PM heads for May elections after defeating IS

by Ali Choukeir Agence France Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi said Sunday he would stand for re-election in May at the head of a new coalition, buoyed by victory over the Islamic State group. Abadi’s newly created “Victory Alliance” will face the “State of Law” bloc of Nuri al-Maliki, his predecessor, key rival and Shiite Dawa party co-member who now holds the post of vice president. The 65-year-old Abadi was […]

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Turkish passenger plane skids off runway onto seaside cliff

ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — A plane with 168 people aboard skidded off a runway onto a seaside cliff after landing at an airport in northern Turkey at the weekend, but no one was injured in what one passenger called a “miracle”. The Pegasus Airlines flight had taken off smoothly from the capital Ankara bound for Trabzon, where the accident occurred as the plane was landing late Saturday. Dramatic images from CNN Turk broadcaster showed the […]

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No survivors as Iranian tanker sinks engulfed in flames

by Becky Davis Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — An Iranian oil tanker burst into flames from end to end and sank Sunday, eight days after it caught fire following a collision with a cargo ship off China, state media said. Earlier, a Tehran official said there was no hope of saving some 30 missing crewmen before the ship sank, amid concern over an oil spill as Chinese officials played down fears of a […]

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China demolishes a megachurch

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Authorities in northern China have demolished a megachurch in a move denounced by a religious rights group as “Taliban-style persecution”. China’s officially atheist Communist authorities are wary of any organised movements outside their control, including religious ones. The huge evangelical Jindengtai (“Golden Lampstand”) Church, painted grey and surmounted by turrets and a large red cross, was located in Linfen, Shanxi province. Its demolition began on Tuesday under “a city-wide campaign to […]

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Japan PM beefs up European ties amid N. Korea tensions

by Polina Kalantar © Agence France-Presse   TALLINN, Estonia  (AFP) —  Japan’s prime minister on Friday landed in Estonia, his first stop on a tour of the Baltic states and other European nations as he seeks to drum up support for his hawkish stance on North Korea. Despite a recent cooling of tensions in the run-up to the Winter Olympics in South Korea, Shinzo Abe has insisted on “maximising pressure” on Pyongyang over its nuclear and missile […]

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