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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri has accepted an invitation to travel to Paris after Beirut accused Riyadh of detaining him following his shock resignation, the French foreign minister said Thursday. “He will come to France and the prince has been informed,” Jean-Yves Le Drian told reporters, referring to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed Bin Salman with whom he held talks late on Wednesday. Asked about the date of the visit for talks […]
by Frankie Taggart Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Three US college basketball players detained in China for shoplifting publicly apologized Wednesday and thanked President Donald Trump for helping secure their release. Trump had personally asked Chinese leader Xi Jinping to intervene to free UCLA’s LiAngelo Ball — the younger brother of Los Angeles Lakers rookie star Lonzo Ball — and teammates Cody Riley and Jalen Hill, who were arrested last Tuesday in Hangzhou. The […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean authorities took the unprecedented step of postponing nationwide college entrance exams after a rare 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit the southeast on Wednesday, sparking alarm in a country that seldom experiences significant tremors. The quake, the second most powerful recorded in South Korea, struck at a depth of nine kilometers (six miles) near the industrial city of Pohang around 2:30 pm (0530 GMT), the Korea Meteorological Administration said. Seven people […]
by Andrea Palasciano with Maria Isabel Sanchez in Caracas Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) – Venezuela signed a debt restructuring deal with major creditor Russia on Wednesday, as ratings agencies declared Caracas in partial default. The country is seeking to restructure its foreign debts, estimated at around $150 billion, after it was hit hard by tumbling oil prices and American sanctions. A Venezuelan delegation led by Finance Minister Simon Zerpa signed the deal restructuring $3.15 billion of […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan and the United States launched a joint naval drill Thursday in a show of force aimed at North Korea, whose nuclear ambitions dominated US President Donald Trump’s recent Asia trip. The 10-day exercise, joined by some 14,000 US servicemen, aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan and the guided-missile destroyers USS Stethem, USS Chafee and USS Mustin, among others, “will take place in waters surrounding Okinawa” in southern Japan, the US navy […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A rare 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit South Korea’s southeast Wednesday afternoon, the second most powerful quake on record, in a country that seldom experiences significant tremors. The quake, which was felt across much of the country including in the capital Seoul, struck at the shallow depth of nine kilometers (six miles) near the southeastern industrial city of Pohang at around 2:30 pm (0530 GMT), the Korea Meteorological Administration said. The Korean […]
SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — At least 25 people were injured in a train collision in Singapore on Wednesday, officials said, in the latest incident to hit the troubled metro system. The Singapore Civil Defense Force (SCDF) said the injured passengers were taken to hospital, with most sustaining minor injuries. Transport officials said a moving train collided with a stationary faulty train at the elevated Joo Koon station in the far west of the city state. […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China will send a special envoy to North Korea, state media said Wednesday, after US President Donald Trump concluded an Asian tour to rally support against Pyongyang’s nuclear threats. President Xi Jinping’s special envoy, Song Tao, is going to North Korea on Friday to discuss the Chinese Communist Party’s congress, which took place last month, Xinhua news agency said, without providing more details. The announcement came a day after the end […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — UN member-states on Tuesday condemned North Korea for gross human rights violations and for conducting missile and nuclear tests while its people suffer from severe hunger. The UN General Assembly’s human rights committee adopted by consensus a resolution drafted by the European Union and Japan that expressed international concern over Pyongyang’s rights record. The measure will now go to the General Assembly for debate next month. North Korea conducted its sixth […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A North Korean soldier involved in an extremely rare and dramatic defection to the South was shot six times by his own side as he drove to the heavily guarded border and ran across under a hail of bullets. The US-led United Nations Command (UNC), which monitors the Panmunjom border truce village where the defection occurred Monday, said the soldier had driven close to the heavily-guarded, military demarcation line separating the two […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — North Korea warned at the United Nations Monday that the deployment of three US aircraft carriers in joint navy drills with South Korea was fueling tensions that could lead to nuclear war. North Korea’s Ambassador Ja Song Nam said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres that this was “the worst ever situation prevailing in and around the Korean peninsula.” The first such deployment of three US carriers […]
by Siavosh Ghazi with Shwan Mohammed in Darbandikhan, Iraq Agence France Presse TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Teams of Iranian rescuers dug through rubble in a hunt for survivors Monday after a major earthquake struck the Iran-Iraq border, killing at least 421 people and injuring thousands. The 7.3-magnitude quake rocked a border area 30 kilometers (20 miles) southwest of Halabja in Iraqi Kurdistan at around 9:20 pm (1820 GMT) on Sunday, the US Geological Survey said. […]
