International

Colombia’s Santos says country closer to peace after FARC disarmament plan

Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos said on Tuesday (January 19) that his country was closer to peace after the government and leftist FARC rebels agreed earlier in the day to ask the United Nations Security Council to help monitor and verify a rebel disarmament should the two sides reach a final peace deal. “Today we’ve taken one more step, a definitive step towards the termination of conflict and for peace. In Havana we have formally […]

Non-Proliferation talks in Tokyo highlight terrorism, North Korea

Government representatives from 17 nations met in Tokyo for the 12th Asian Senior-level Talks on Non-Proliferation (ASTOP-XII), where they are expected to discuss North Korea’s recently claimed hydrogen bomb test, along with the attacks in Jakarta, Indonesia. “North Korea issues, is the issues that the international community, particularly countries in this region, needs to tackle and take united immediate action,” Ambassador and Director General for Disarmament, Non-Proliferation and Science Department of the Ministry of Foreign […]

Saudi Arabia warns of ‘nefarious activities’ by Iran

The lifting of sanctions on Iran as a result of its nuclear deal with world powers will be a harmful development if it uses the extra money to fund “nefarious activities”, Saudi Arabia’s Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir told Reuters on Tuesday (January 19). He said in an interview, the first direct Saudi comment on the lifting of sanctions on its bitterest regional rival, that Saudi Arabia would never negotiate on “our faith and our security”. […]

Haitians protest upcoming presidential election just days ahead of vote

Tension was high in Haiti on Tuesday (January 19) as protesters took to the streets of Haiti’s capital to demand the suspension of a Jan. 24 presidential election over alleged irregularities. Haiti is due to hold a run-off vote backed by international donors on Sunday, but tensions have risen since opposition candidate Jude Celestin said last week he would withdraw, on grounds that electoral authorities favoured the ruling party. Swiss-trained engineer Celestin, 53, came second […]

Jeb Bush says Donald Trump lacks ‘seriousness’

U.S. Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush said Republican front-runner Donald Trump will “get wiped out in the general election” at a Council on Foreign Relations event in New York on Tuesday (January 19). “There’s the lack of seriousness, at least by the front-running candidate that, I wouldn’t know what his policies are, but when he doesn’t know what the nuclear triad is, that’s cause for pause,” Bush said. “Someone who proposes a 45 percent tariff […]

Pakistani PM meets Saudi King

Pakistan’s Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif visited Saudi Arabia on Monday (January 18) ahead of a trip to Iran. Sharif met Saudi King Salman and other Saudi officials in a bid to bridge the growing divide between Saudi Arabia Iran after the Sunni kingdom’s execution of a Shi’ite cleric sparked a bitter row. The Pakistani government has sought to avoid taking sides the escalating dispute between Saudi Arabia and its main rival Iran as it wrestles […]

RMB depreciation will have little impact on China’s economy: official

The depreciation of the Chinese currency yuan will have little impact on the country’s economy, said Wang Bao’an, director of the National Bureau of Statistics, on Tuesday. “The depreciation of renminbi is triggered by two factors, both domestic and foreign ones. One of them is the appreciation of the U.S. dollar. That’s a practical reflection in China. The appreciation of the U.S. dollar brings about the depreciation of renminbi. I think the depreciation of renminbi […]

Car bomb in Yemeni port city kills four, injures others

Four people were killed and several others injured on Sunday (January 17) when a suicide car bomb exploded outside the home of the director of security for the southern Yemeni port city of Aden, eyewitnesses and medics said. The four men killed were guards for Brigadier General Shalal Ali Shayyeh, who survived a car bomb attack on his convoy on January 4 amid an escalating wave of assassinations against security forces in the city. People […]

Suicide bomber kills at least ten in northwest Pakistan

A suicide bomber blew himself up close to a police checkpoint in northwestern Pakistan on Tuesday (January 19), killing at least 10 people and wounding more than 20, officials said. The bomber rammed his motorcycle into the roadside checkpoint local government officials said. “During duty hours, a man arrived here either on a motorcycle or bicycle, he stopped the vehicle and blew himself up,” an unidentified policeman told Reuters Television. Among the dead were at […]

Saudi-led airstrike kills 26 in Yemen

  (Courtesy China Central Television) — At least 26 people have been killed and 20 others injured after fighter jets of the Saudi Arabia-led coalition attacked a police facility in Yemen‘s capital Sanaa on Monday morning. Rescuers at the airstrike site said the victims were mostly police officers working in the building. The death toll will probably rise as there are still people buried under the debris, according to rescuers. The Saudi-led coalition has been […]

Cuban migrants cross into the U.S. from Mexico

A small group of Cuban migrants crossed into the United States on Sunday (January 17) after a month’s long journey through Central America and Mexico finally came to an end. The migrants arrived to the border city of Reynosa in northeastern Mexico near the border with Hidalgo, Texas. One of the migrants, Byron Rojas Arevalo, who arrived to Reynosa by plane, said a long and harrowing journey, which started in Ecuador, was finally coming to […]

First snow of the year in Tokyo causes train delays and injuries

Snow began falling across eastern and western Japan, including Tokyo, early on Monday (January 18) morning. Many commuters arrived at work late as trains were delayed and taxis in high demand. Train stations were also overcrowded. “Everyone got into work an hour late today so we had to start work late. This was slightly troublesome,” said Takeshi Nakamura, a company worker. Japanese media reported that the highest accumulation of snow in central Tokyo was at […]