Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
by Adam Plowright, Sebastian Smith and Stuart Williams Agence France Presse BIARRITZ, France (AFP) — G7 leaders close their summit Monday with discussion of world problems including the fires ravaging the Amazon rainforest, but overshadowed by President Donald Trump’s trade wars and questions over the group’s unity. The summit in Biarritz, a high-end surfers’ paradise in southwestern France, saw a dramatic shift of focus Saturday when Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif flew in […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea said Thursday it will terminate its military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan amid intensifying trade and diplomatic disputes with Tokyo. The decision comes as Seoul and Tokyo are locked in a tit-for-tat trade and diplomatic dispute following a series of South Korean court rulings against Japanese firms, requiring them to pay for forced labor during World War II. Japan had removed South Korea from a so-called white list of […]
by Paul HANDLEY with Amir HAVASI in Tehran Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Justice Department issued a warrant Friday for the seizure of the Iranian oil supertanker Grace 1, one day after a Gibraltar judge allowed the release of the detained vessel. The Justice Department alleged the ship was part of a scheme “to unlawfully access the US financial system to support illicit shipments to Syria from Iran by […]
by Giff Johnson Agence France Presse MAJURO, Marshall Islands (AFP) — Pacific islands that were key World War II battlegrounds but largely neglected for the past 30 years are now back in the spotlight as China challenges traditional US supremacy in the region. Palau, the Federated States of Micronesia and the Marshall Islands, whose territories stretch thousands of kilometres across the Pacific, have been the recipients of largesse by Washington, Tokyo and other allied powers, […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea on Monday put Japan into its own new export category, intensifying a trade war between the two neighbours and US allies. The move came after Seoul announced earlier this month it would remove Tokyo from its list of trusted trading partners, reciprocating an identical move by Japan. That followed Tokyo’s imposition of tough restrictions on exports crucial to tech titans such as Samsung following a series of […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Britain was seeking to fast-track a crucial post-Brexit trade deal with the United States on Wednesday after new Prime Minister Boris Johnson dispatched his top diplomat and foreign trade minister to Washington. Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab was due to hold talks with his US counterpart Mike Pompeo at the State Department while the International Trade Secretary Liz Truss has lined up meetings with top American trade officials. With Johnson […]
by Claire LEE Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un says the country’s latest missile launches were a warning to Washington and Seoul over their joint war games, state news agency KCNA reported on Wednesday, as tensions rise on the Korean peninsula. The latest launch by the nuclear-armed North came after the South Korean and US militaries began mainly computer-simulated joint exercises on Monday to test Seoul’s ability […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea on Tuesday said US-South Korean war games are a “flagrant violation” of efforts to reach peace on the Korean peninsula and reflect a lack of “political will” to improve relations. The comments by an unnamed North Korean foreign ministry spokesman, carried by state news agency KCNA, came as Pyongyang fired two “unidentified projectiles” off its eastern coast, South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff said. There were no further […]
by Francesco FONTEMAGGI / Dene-Hern Chen Agence France Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo insisted Thursday that Washington was not asking Southeast Asian nations to “choose” between his country and rival power China, as he trailed a rebooted security and trade strategy at a Bangkok summit. The denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula, a bitter trade war between the superpowers and open access to contested seas dominated talks between Pompeo […]
by Alice RITCHIE LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain on Monday said it was planning a European-led protection force for shipping in the Gulf after Iranian authorities seized a British-flagged tanker in a dramatic escalation of tensions in the region. Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt condemned Iran’s actions as “state piracy” while at the same time emphasizing that Britain did not want confrontation. “We will seek to establish this mission as quickly as possible,” Hunt said, […]
by Amir Havasi TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran warned Sunday that the fate of a UK-flagged tanker it seized in the Gulf depends on an investigation, as Britain prepared for an emergency security meeting on Tehran’s action. Iranian authorities impounded the Stena Impero with 23 crew members aboard off the port of Bandar Abbas after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized it Friday in the highly sensitive Strait of Hormuz. Video footage released by Iran […]
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam has accused China of trespassing and demanded a Chinese survey ship in the South China Sea withdraw in the latest flashpoint over the disputed territory. The two countries have long been locked in a maritime disagreement over the resource-rich waters, with the Chinese claiming nearly all of it. But the international community has largely sided with the other claimants — Vietnam, Philippines, Indonesia, Malaysia, Taiwan, and Brunei — citing […]
