Asia

Obama, Abe to battle negative images at U.S.-Japan summit

By Linda Sieg and David Brunnstrom TOKYO/WASHINGTON Wed Apr 16, 2014 8:28pm EDT (Reuters) – When President Barack Obama meets Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at a summit next week, they will be battling negative undercurrents that could undermine their message that Asia’s most important security alliance is firm. Obama, stopping in Tokyo at the start of a four-nation Asian trip, must counter worries in Japan that his commitment to its defense in the face […]

Obama looks to salvage Asia ‘pivot’ as allies fret about China

By Matt Spetalnick and Manuel Mogato WASHINGTON/MANILA Wed Apr 16, 2014 1:51pm EDT (Reuters) – When a Philippine government ship evaded a Chinese blockade in disputed waters of the South China Sea last month, a U.S. Navy plane swooped in to witness the dramatic encounter. The flyover was a vivid illustration of the expanding significance of one of Asia’s most strategic regions and underscored a message that senior U.S. officials say President Barack Obama will […]

Hundreds still missing in deadly Korea ferry sinking

By Narae Kim JINDO, South Korea Wed Apr 16, 2014 9:39pm EDT (Reuters) – South Korean coastguard and navy divers resumed searching on Thursday for about 290 people still missing, many of them students from the same high school, after a ferry capsized in sight of land. Grieving family members gathered on the quay of the coastal city of Jindo, huddled in blankets against the spring cold as efforts to locate the missing went into […]

Search continues for hundreds missing in South Korea ferry capsize

Rescue teams in South Korea are racing against time to find almost 300 people missing after a ferry sank off the country’s southern coast. The vessel was carrying a large group of high school students. A distress signal was sent from the ferry at 9:00 a.m. local time (0000 GMT), but the 6,825-ton vessel sank within two hours, after listing sharply and capsizing. It sank 20 kilometers (13 miles) off the southern island of Byungpoong. […]

More than 300 people missing after South Korea ferry sinks: coastguard

(Reuters) – More than 300 people were missing after a ferry sank off South Korea, the coastguard said on Wednesday, with a three-fold increase in the number of passengers unaccounted for put down to a miscalculation by officials. The ferry was carrying 477 people, of whom 164 were confirmed rescued, coastguard officials said. Two people were confirmed dead after the ferry listed heavily onto its side and capsized in apparently calm conditions off South Korea’s […]

Passenger ferry sinks off South Korean coast with hundreds on board

A passenger ferry, carrying more than 400 people, is sinking off the coast of South Korea. The ship has sent a distress signal and South Korean authorities have launched a rescue operation. The South Korean Coast Guard on Wednesday dispatched patrol boats and aircraft to rescue the sinking ferry’s passengers, 325 of whom were high school students on their way to the island of Jeju, located some 100 kilometers (62 miles) off the Korean Peninsula’s […]

Bird flu outbreak reported in Japan

Japan has ordered the killing of more than 100,000 chickens after officials confirmed bird flu infections at a poultry farm in the south. It is the first confirmed outbreak in the country since 2011. DNA tests confirmed the H5 strain of the bird flu virus at a farm in Japan’s southern prefecture of Kumamoto after its owner reported on Saturday more than 1,000 sudden deaths among his poultry, the Agriculture Ministry announced in a statement […]