SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Hackers have stolen health records belonging to 1.5 million Singaporeans, including Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong who was specifically targeted in the city state’s biggest ever data breach, authorities said Friday. Singapore’s health and information ministries said a government database was broken into in a “deliberate, targeted and well-planned” strike, describing the attack as “unprecedented”. “Attackers specifically and repeatedly targeted the personal particulars and outpatient information of Prime Minister Lee […]
Tag: politics
Sanctions-hit North Korea economy shrank sharply in 2017: Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea saw its economy contract 3.5 percent last year – its worst showing in two decades – as it was hit by sanctions over its weapons programs, the South’s central bank said Friday. It was a sharp reversal from 3.9 percent growth in 2016, according to the Bank of Korea (BOK). The UN Security Council last year banned the North’s main exports — coal and other mineral resources, fisheries […]
Talks underway for Trump-Putin meet in Washington, says White House
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump has instructed his national security adviser to invite Russian President Vladimir Putin to visit Washington later this year, the White House said Thursday. “President Trump asked @AmbJohnBolton to invite President Putin to Washington in the fall and those discussions are already underway,” Press Secretary Sarah Sanders tweeted, three days after the Finland summit between the US and Russian leaders. Earlier Thursday, Trump tweeted that he was […]
S. Korea’s Park given eight more years in prison: court
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Disgraced South Korean president Park Geun-hye was convicted of charges including illegally receiving funds from the country’s spy agency on Friday and given eight more years in prison, on top of her current term. Park, the South’s first female president, was impeached last year after huge street protests over a sprawling scandal, and was jailed for 24 years for corruption and abuse of power in April. Friday’s penalty – […]
S. Korea liable for botched ferry rescue, court rules
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – The South Korean government is liable for the botched rescue of more than 300 people, mostly schoolchildren, who drowned when their overloaded ferry sank, a court ruled Thursday, ordering the state to compensate relatives. In a landmark ruling, the Seoul Central District Court awarded the next of kin of each deceased passenger from the Sewol ferry 200 million won ($177,000), a further 40 million won for each of their parents, […]
US troops’ remains to be repatriated soon from N. Korea: Pompeo
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The repatriation of remains of US troops killed during the Korean War should begin shortly, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday, starting a process agreed by President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. “I think in the next couple weeks we will have the first remains returned,” Pompeo said during a meeting at the White House. Repatriating remains of US soldiers who perished during the 1950-53 […]
N. Korea’s Kim lambasts officials during ‘field guidance’ visits
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un berated officials during inspections of a factory, power station and holiday camp, state media reported Tuesday, with analysts saying the reports show nuclear-armed Pyongyang’s desire to focus on economic development. “Field guidance” visits by the leader are the mainstay of the North’s state media output, with Kim regularly shown giving “on-the-spot guidance” to attentive officials, their notebooks in hand. After his latest tour to […]
Trump says Iran in turmoil since US withdrew from nuke deal
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump asserted Monday that Iran was being roiled by nationwide riots since he pulled out of an international nuclear deal and that Washington supports the protesters. Trump, interviewed after his summit in Helsinki with President Vladimir Putin, said that Russia still supported the nuclear accord because it does business with the regime in Tehran, so the deal is in Moscow’s interest. “It is not good for us […]
Russia targeted by almost 25 million cyber-attacks during World Cup: Putin
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia was the target of almost 25 million cyber-attacks during the World Cup, President Vladimir Putin said, though he did not indicate who may have been behind the attacks. “During the period of the World Cup, almost 25 million cyber-attacks and other criminal acts on the information structures in Russia, linked in one way or another to the World Cup, were neutralised,” Putin said during a meeting on Sunday with […]
Haiti prime minister resigns after deadly unrest
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Embattled Haiti Prime Minister Jack Guy Lafontant resigned on Saturday following deadly violence and looting sparked by a now-abandoned plan to raise fuel prices. “I submitted my resignation to the president of the republic,” who has “accepted my resignation,” Lafontant said in the lower house of Haiti’s legislature. Lafontant had faced a potential vote of no confidence had he not resigned — something he had previously insisted he would not […]
Robredo tried to get a new Cabinet post before pronouncement on leading united opposition, says Roque
(Eagle News) — Vice President Ma. Leonor “Leni” Robredo had tried to “apply” for a new Cabinet position before her recent pronouncement that she was willing to lead the united opposition against President Rodrigo Duterte’s government, according to a Palace spokesperson. Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque revealed this as he also bid Robredo “luck” in her new role of trying to lead a united opposition against the President. “Good luck po, at sana po ay malinaw […]
Toll from Nicaragua unrest hits 264: rights body
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The known death toll from a four-month crackdown on anti-government protests in Nicaragua has risen to 264, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights said Wednesday. “As recorded by the IACHR since the start of the repression against social protests, to date, 264 people have lost their lives and more than 1,800 have been injured,” the commission’s chief Paulo Abrao told reporters. He was speaking at a meeting of the […]





