International

South Korea ruling party sweeps local elections after summit

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party (DP) won a landslide victory Wednesday in local elections held the day after a historic summit between the United States and North Korea. The triumph in the first elections since President Moon Jae-in took office around a year ago is widely seen as a boon to the country’s leader, who helped bring together the Cold War foes for an unprecedented meeting. Exit polls by […]

PH extends condolences over missile strikes in Saudi Arabia

(Eagle News) — The Philippines, through the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), has expressed its condolences to Saudi Arabia after a missile strike killed three civilians in the southern city of Jizan on Saturday. “We express our condolences with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia over the unfortunate loss of lives in the missile strike in Jizan,” DFA Secretary Alan Peter Cayetano said. Cayetano also expressed concern over the series of attacks being led by the […]

Life and death: World Cup rivalry turns violent in Bangladesh

    by Shafiqul Alam / Sam Jahan © Agence France-Presse DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — The World Cup is arousing high passions in Bangladesh, where machete-wielding fans of Brazil and Argentina have clashed in the streets and flags of the two countries are so ubiquitous that some people want to ban them. Ignoring the lack of any obvious link to the South American giants, and the absence of their national team — which is ranked 194th […]

Indian woman chess star boycotts Iran event over headscarf law

  NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — One of India’s top women chess players has pulled out of an upcoming championship in Iran in protest at having to wear an Islamic headscarf. Soumya Swaminathan, a former world junior girls champion, said the dress code at the Asian Nations Chess Cup starting next month violated her rights. “I find the Iranian law of compulsory headscarf to be in direct violation of my basic human rights including my right […]

S. Korea newspapers welcome summit as ‘first step’ toward peace

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Most South Korean newspapers reacted with cautious optimism Wednesday to the historic meeting between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un in Singapore, although one conservative daily denounced the agreement it produced as “absurd”. The centrist Hankook daily noted that the post-summit joint statement signed by the US president and North Korean leader on Tuesday had omitted Washington’s demand for a “complete, verifiable, irreversible” denuclearisation of the North and lacked a […]

Kim summit helped world avoid ‘nuclear catastrophe’: Trump

HONOLULU, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump’s summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has helped bring the world back from “nuclear catastrophe,” the US president said Tuesday. “The World has taken a big step back from potential Nuclear catastrophe!” Trump tweeted. “No more rocket launches, nuclear testing or research! The hostages are back home with their families. Thank you to Chairman Kim, our day together was historic!” Trump and Kim met in Singapore […]

Catholic Pope’s envoys in Chile to ‘ask forgiveness’ over sex abuse

  SANTIAGO, Chile (AFP) — The Vatican’s top abuse investigator arrived in Chile on Tuesday, a day after the Catholic Pope accepted the resignation of three bishops from the scandal-wracked Chilean Church. Maltese archbishop Charles Scicluna and fellow papal envoy Jordi Bertomeu will take witness statements from victims of sexual abuse within the Church and provide instruction to Chilean dioceses to respond adequately to any new complaints. “We have come to ask forgiveness” from the victims on […]

Kim invites Trump to visit Pyongyang as North hails ‘radical switchover’

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Kim Jong Un invited Donald Trump to visit North Korea during their historic summit and the US President accepted, Pyongyang state media reported Wednesday, calling it the start of a “radical switchover” in the nuclear-armed Cold War foes’ fraught relations. The unprecedented encounter in Singapore Tuesday saw the leader of the world’s most powerful democracy shake hands with the third generation scion of a dynastic dictatorship, standing as equals […]

Trump, Kim hail historic summit; questions over way forward

by Andrew BEATTY / Sebastien BERGER Agence France-Presse SINGAPORE, Singapore – Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un hailed their historic summit Tuesday as a breakthrough in relations between Cold War foes, but their agreement was short on details about the key issue of Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons. The unprecedented encounter in Singapore saw the leader of the world’s most powerful democracy shake hands with the third generation scion of a dynastic dictatorship, standing as equals in […]

Trump’s vow to end US-SKorea drills catches Pentagon off guard

by Thomas WATKINS Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States – Pentagon officials were surprised Tuesday after President Donald Trump vowed at his summit with the North’s leader Kim Jong Un to cancel “provocative” joint military drills with South Korea. Following the unprecedented meeting in Singapore, Trump stunned observers when he said continuing the exercises routinely held between the US and South Korea would be “inappropriate” while Washington fleshes out a comprehensive deal with Pyongyang. “We will […]

Trump says he will stop ‘war games’ with S. Korea

  Singapore (AFP) — The US will stop holding joint military exercises on the Korean peninsula, President Donald Trump said Tuesday, making a major concession to North Korea after his summit with Kim Jong Un. Washington and Seoul are security allies, with 28,500 US troops stationed in the South to defend it from its neighbor which invaded in 1950. They hold joint military exercises every year that infuriate Pyongyang, which has long demanded an end […]

Korean Air heiress probed for illegal hiring of Pinay maids

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The matriarch of the troubled Korean Air dynasty was grilled Monday over allegations she used company resources to illegally hire foreign housekeepers, as a probe into the scandal-hit family widened. Lee Myung-hee, 69, who was questioned by police twice last month over multiple assault allegations, was interrogated by immigration authorities over suspicions she hired more than 10 Filipina maids to work at her family home on false pretences, by […]