Asia

6.6-magnitude quake hits Xinjiang

JINGHE COUNTY, China (CCTV) —  A 6.6-magnitude earthquake jolted Jinghe County on Wednesday following Tuesday’s strong earthquake in southwest China’s Sichuan Province, according to the China Earthquake Networks Center (CENC). No casualties have been reported so far in the quake that took place at 07:27 in the Bortala Mongolian Autonomous Prefecture, northwest of China’s Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The epicenter was recorded at a point 44.27 degrees north latitude and 82.89 degrees east longitude, with […]

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Trump warns North Korea of ‘fire and fury’

by Thomas Watkins Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump issued an apocalyptic warning to North Korea on Tuesday, saying it faces “fire and fury” over its missile program, after United States media reported Pyongyang has successfully miniaturized a nuclear warhead. North Korea raised the stakes just hours later, saying it was considering missile strikes near US strategic military installations on the Pacific island of Guam. Once finalized, the plan could […]

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Up to 100 feared dead, several injured in China quake: gov’t 

Agence France Presse — A 6.5-magnitude earthquake rattled southwest China late Tuesday, killing at least five people, with up to 100 feared dead, according to a government estimate. Five people died and more than 60 were injured in the quake, the official Xinhua news agency said, including 30 who were in critical condition. But China’s National Commission for Disaster Reduction estimated that as many as 100 people may have perished, based on 2010 census data […]

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Japan says North Korea poses ‘new level of threat’

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — North Korea’s missile development poses a “new level of threat,” Japan’s defense ministry said Tuesday in an annual report that also reiterated concerns over China’s increasing military posture. Japan, which lies across the sea from North Korea, has been wary for decades over its missile development as well as Pyongyang’s history of abducting Japanese citizens to train its spies. North Korea has increasingly been firing missiles into the waters between the […]

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Al-Qaeda ousted from oil-rich Yemen province: army

ADEN, Yemen  (AFP) — Al-Qaeda fighters have retreated from an oil-rich southern province of war-ravaged Yemen in the face of an assault by an elite United States-backed government force, a military official said Monday. Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), seen by the US as the global network’s most dangerous franchise, has exploited Yemen’s war to expand its presence in the country’s south. But special forces, trained by the United Arab Emirates and backed by […]

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North Korea defiant after new sanctions, rejects talks

by Dave Clark  and Ayee Macaraig Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) —  North Korea vowed Monday that tough new United Nations sanctions would not stop it from developing its nuclear arsenal, as it rejected talks and angrily warned the United States of retaliation. The message of defiance was the first major response to the US-drafted sanctions, which the UN Security Council unanimously approved over the weekend and which could cost North Korea $1 […]

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Hong Kong cleans up greasy beaches after palm oil spill

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A clean-up operation was under way in Hong Kong Monday after a massive palm oil spillage from a ship collision in mainland Chinese waters clogged some of its most popular beaches. The coast was coated with rancid-smelling sticky white clumps of the oil as it washed in Sunday, with 11 beaches still closed to swimmers Monday in the height of a summer heatwave. There are still lumps of the solidified oil […]

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N. Korea condemns UN sanctions, says no nuclear negotiations: KCNA

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea on Monday condemned the latest round of United Nations sanctions imposed against it over its weapons programs, saying it would not negotiate over its nuclear arms while it was threatened by the United States. The sanctions passed at the weekend were a “violent violation of our sovereignty,” Pyongyang said in a statement carried by its official Korea Central News Agency. “We will not put our self-defensive nuclear deterrent […]

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China, Russia to maintain close communications on Korean Peninsula issue

MANILA, Philippines (CCTV) — China and Russia vowed on Sunday to maintain close communications with each other on the Korean Peninsula issue, saying the two countries hold highly consistent attitudes toward it. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said he and his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov held an extensive and profound exchange of views over the current situation in the Korean Peninsula, especially the new resolution passed by the United Nations Security Council. Wang and Lavrov […]

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North Korea dismisses South’s talks offer: Yonhap

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea dismissed offers of talks from the South during a rare exchange between the two rivals’ foreign ministers, Seoul’s Yonhap news agency reported Monday after the UN imposed a new round of sanctions on nuclear-armed Pyongyang. News of the brief encounter on the sidelines of a regional forum in Manila came as the South’s President Moon Jae-In urged a “peaceful resolution” to the tensions in a telephone conversation with […]

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Tillerson: World united to disarm North Korea

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — United States Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Monday that a United Nations Security Council vote to impose sanctions on North Korea showed that world powers were united behind a push for a denuclearized Korean peninsula. Speaking at a security forum in Manila, Washington’s top diplomat said Kim Jong-Un’s regime must halt ballistic missile tests if it wanted to talk to the US about resolving the standoff. “It’s quite clear in terms […]

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Landslide disrupts traffic in southwest China

SICHUAN, China (CCTV) — A massive landslide in southwest China blocked traffic on National Highway 213 for three hours on Sunday. No death or injury has been reported, according to the emergency office of Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in southwest China’s Sichuan Province. The landslide, occurring at 15:45, caused about 20,000 cubic meters of mud to fall onto the highway, cutting off traffic on the highway’s Maoxian County section. An emergency team, including […]

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