Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
BEIJING, Sept 19 (Reuters) – China on Monday accused Japan of trying to “confuse” the situation in the South China Sea, after its neighbor said it would step up activity in the contested waters, through joint training patrols with the United States. Ties between Asia’s two largest economies have long been overshadowed by arguments over their painful wartime history and a territorial spat in the East China Sea, among other issues. China has repeatedly denounced […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese court on Friday approved Tokyo’s plan to relocate a US military base on Okinawa in a move unlikely to immediately resolve a long-running spat between central and local authorities. Tokyo wants to move the unpopular US airbase in a crowded residential district on Okinawa to a sparsely populated area in its north, but many locals want the base moved off the island altogether. The dispute has seen Okinawan governor Takeshi […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Hundreds of horseshoe crabs — known as “living fossils” because they are among the Earth’s oldest creatures — have been found dead in southern Japan, confounding experts who study the alien-like sidewalkers. Horseshoe crabs, known for their blue blood, are a regular summer visitor to tidal flats in southern and western Japan, including one near Kitakyushu city where they lay their eggs. Some invariably die in the process, but this year […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Most Asian markets fell again Thursday, led by a more than one percent loss in Tokyo, ahead of key policy meetings in the United States and Japan next week. Traders worldwide are focusing on the central bank gatherings, hoping they will clear up some uncertainty about monetary policy in two of the world’s biggest economies. Equity markets have been hit by volatility the past week after two Federal Reserve officials suggested US […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – South Korean President Park Geun-hye and Japanese leader Shinzo Abe agreed to cooperate closely Friday after North Korea claimed it had successfully tested a nuclear warhead that could be mounted on a missile. The two leaders spoke on the phone about Pyongyang’s test which they agreed was “unacceptable”, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported. The blast at the Punggye-ri nuclear site was the North’s fifth and most powerful yet at […]
(REUTERS) North Korea conducted its fifth nuclear test on Friday, South Korea and Japan said after meteorological agencies reported a surface-level seismic tremor near the North’s known test site that indicated it was its most powerful yet. The U.S. Geological Survey and European agencies measured the quake, which was recorded at 0030 GMT, with a magnitude of 5.3. Agencies in China, reclusive North Korea’s main diplomatic ally, also recorded the tremor. South Korean President […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese bullet train driver came under fire Thursday after an online photo emerged of him operating it with his feet up. Central Japan Railway said the 29-year-old acknowledged that he operated the high speed train in that position for 10 seconds on Tuesday. “He told the company that he had tired feet,” a spokesman for the operator said, also telling AFP that there was never any danger to the 320 […]
VIENTIANE, Laos (AFP) — Japan is “seriously concerned” about Beijing’s increasingly muscular claims in the South China Sea, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe told Asian leaders Wednesday. Beijing insists it has sovereign rights to almost all of the strategically vital waters, where the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan also have claims. It also has a simmering territorial row with Tokyo over disputed islands in the East China Sea. “I am seriously concerned with the continuing […]
(REUTERS) U.S. President Barack Obama and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte shook hands and had a brief chat on Wednesday, officials said, easing a standoff after Duterte called Obama a “son of a bitch” ahead of a summit of Asian leaders in Laos. The presidents of the two longtime allies were due to hold talks on Tuesday but the White House canceled the meeting after Duterte’s insult. “I’m very happy that it happened,” Philippines’ foreign […]
(REUTERS) An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.9 shook buildings in Tokyo on Wednesday, but no tsunami warning was issued and there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world’s most seismically active areas. Japan accounts for about 20 percent of the world’s earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater. On March 11, 2011, Japan’s northeast coast was struck by a magnitude 9 earthquake and […]
(Reuters) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday agreed to provide two large-sized patrol ships and lend up to five used surveillance aircraft to the Philippines, a Japanese government spokesman said, with both countries locked in territorial disputes with China. Abe and Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte agreed in Vientiane to strengthen cooperation to ensure a peaceful resolution of the South China Sea dispute, Japanese Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Koichi Hagiuda said. China claims […]
(Reuters) — Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte sat down for talks with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Tuesday (September 6) on the sidelines of a regional meeting in Laos, with both sides agreeing to strengthen cooperation to ensure a peaceful resolution of the South China Sea dispute. With both countries locked in territorial disputes with China, Abe agreed during the bilateral meeting to provide two large-sized patrol ships and lend up to five used […]
