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SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Tuesday told her government to prepare for large-scale defections from North Korea, just days after direct appealing to its citizens to flee their country. A recent spate of high-profile North Korean defections have provided a propaganda windfall for Seoul, which has spun them into a narrative of a Pyongyang leadership in crisis and riven with descent. Notable defections have included the North’s deputy ambassador […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing rapped Washington Tuesday for its interventions in Asia, as tensions grow between the two powers over territorial disputes in the South China Sea and how to handle increasingly erratic North Korea. Speaking at the 7th annual Xiangshan regional defence forum in Beijing, Chang Wanguan, China’s defence minister, levied thinly veiled criticism at recent US involvement in Asia’s trouble spots. Washington has conducted freedom of navigation operations close to artificial islands […]
ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Saudi Arabia said on Monday it was “not unthinkable” that the price of crude oil could surge to $60 a barrel by the end of the year but warned against drastic production cuts that might shock markets. Speaking in the opening keynote speech at the World Energy Congress in Istanbul, Saudi Energy Minister Khalid Al-Falih said that whatever the oil price the kingdom was in good shape to implement its reform […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday called for a resumption of talks with China and pledged that “anything” can be on the table for discussion. Relations with Beijing have deteriorated under Taiwan’s first female president, whose China-sceptic Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took office in May after a landslide victory over the Kuomintang party (KMT). Tsai has refused to accept the concept of “one China”, prompting Beijing to cut off all official […]
by Stuart WILLIAMS ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin visits Turkey on Monday for talks with counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, pushing forward ambitious joint energy projects as the two sides try to overcome a crisis in ties. Only a few months ago, Putin and Erdogan were exchanging acrimonious accusations over Syria. But the pair are expected to reaffirm their commitment to the planned TurkStream gas pipeline to pump Russian gas under the Black […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — More than 20 people were buried under rubble after four houses collapsed in China on Monday, a local government and state media reported. The buildings caved in during the early hours in Wenzhou in the eastern province of Zhejiang, the Lucheng district government said in a statement. The Xinhua news agency said on social media that an “initial estimate” was that more than 20 people had been buried. The Lucheng government […]
ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Eighteen people were killed Sunday when a van packed with five tonnes of explosives blew up in Turkey’s restive southeast, the prime minister said, in an attack blamed on Kurdish militants. The bombing, which killed 10 soldiers and eight civilians, was one of the deadliest attacks on Turkish security forces since the attempted coup of July 15 when a rogue military faction tried to oust President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. “The attack […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Analysis of recent satellite images of North Korea’s nuclear test site shows activity at all three of its tunnel complexes, fuelling speculation of another test ahead of a key political anniversary next week. North Korea has already conducted two nuclear tests this year — in January and September — and experts say it is capable of carrying out a third as soon as the order is given. Past nuclear tests, […]
BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — At least 20 Syrian rebels were killed in a blast at a border crossing with Turkey on Thursday, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. The Britain-based monitoring group said it was unclear what caused the blast at the Atme crossing between Turkey and the northern Syrian province of Idlib, adding that around 20 people had also been wounded. Turkey’s state-run Anatolia news agency confirmed the blast left 20 people dead […]
by Ben Dooley DONGGUAN, China (AFP) — US presidential candidate Donald Trump has pledged to bring long lost American manufacturing jobs back from China. But he may be too late — even for products that bear his family name. A Chinese company that makes shoes for his daughter’s fashion line is moving production to Africa, where labour is much cheaper. The billionaire tycoon has frequently accused China of stealing US jobs through unfair trade practices […]
Typhoon Chaba hits South Korea, bringing heavy rains that swelled rivers to bursting point, flooding city streets and forcing mass flight cancellations. The typhoon left six persons dead and at least four missing after triggering flashfloods in the southern coast of the country.
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea cleaned up Thursday after Typhoon Chaba lashed its southern coast with powerful winds and heavy rains that triggered flash floods and left six people dead and four missing. The violent storm passed over the southern tip of the Korean peninsula on Wednesday, pummelling the port of Busan — the country’s second-largest city — and the industrial city of Ulsan. In Ulsan, a man drowned near his apartment […]
