Asia

N. Korea scraps air show as sanctions tighten: reports

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has cancelled this year’s Wonsan Air Show, travel agents said Monday, with reports suggesting tightened travel restrictions by several countries due to nuclear tensions with Pyongyang could be behind the move. The first-ever Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival was held in September last year, attracting hundreds of foreigners as the isolated North showcased a line-up of civilian and military aircraft. The event had been planned to take […]

Two dead, 25 missing in China landslide: state media

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A landslide struck some 34 homes in southwest China on Monday, killing two people and leaving another 25 missing in the latest natural disaster to hit the country, state media reported. Rescuers pulled six people out of the rubble, including two who died, in Bijie, Guizhou province, city authorities told the official Xinhua news agency. Search efforts are ongoing and local authorities sent tents, quilts and camp beds to the site, […]

51 bankers, businessmen on trial in Vietnam for fraud

HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — A former banking magnate and 50 others went on trial in Vietnam Monday over a multi-million dollar fraud at a major private bank, as the communist nation cracks down on corruption in the sector. Authorities have vowed to clean up an industry plagued by favoritism and dodgy loans — part of a broader drive against corruption in the country. In the latest trial the ex-chairman of Ocean Bank, Ha Van Tham, […]

India says troops ‘disengaging’ after stand-off with China

NEW DELHI, India (AFP)–India said Monday its troops were disengaging from a months-long stand-off with the Chinese military at a strategically important  disputed area in the Himalayas. The foreign ministry said it had reached an “understanding” after talks with Beijing on the confrontation in an area near the Indian border that is claimed by both China and Bhutan. “India and China have maintained diplomatic communication in respect of the incident at Doklam,” the ministry said in a […]

Remains of all missing sailors recovered from US warship

SINGAPORE, Singapore (AFP) — Divers have recovered the remains of all 10 United States sailors who went missing after their warship collided with a tanker off Singapore, the US Navy said Monday. The remaining eight sailors were retrieved by divers searching flooded compartments of the USS John S. McCain, it said, after the discovery of two bodies was announced last week. The guided-missile destroyer collided with an oil tanker as it headed for a routine […]

Second storm hits Hong Kong and Macau amid typhoon recovery

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A powerful storm lashed Hong Kong and Macau on Sunday, just days after a punishing typhoon swept through southern China and claimed at least 18 lives. Both cities raised a Typhoon 8 signal, the third-highest warning level, early Sunday morning as severe tropical storm “Pakhar” made landfall in the region, where emergency workers are still battling to repair Wednesday’s damage. Hong Kong’s flagship carrier Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon cancelled 50 […]

Saudi-led coalition says Yemen civilians hit by mistake

  RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — The Saudi-led Arab military coalition on Saturday admitted responsibility for an air strike the previous day in the Yemeni capital that killed 14 civilians, describing it as a “technical mistake”. The coalition, in a statement carried by the official Saudi Press Agency, said a review of the strike investigators found “that a technical mistake was behind the accident”. Witnesses and medics in Sanaa said several children were among 14 […]

Children among 14 dead in new air strike on Yemen capital

  by Jamil Nasser Agence France Presse SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — Children were among at least 14 people killed in an air strike that toppled residential blocks in Yemen’s capital Sanaa on Friday, witnesses and medics said. The attack was the latest in a wave of deadly raids on residential areas of Yemen blamed on a Saudi-led Arab military coalition, drawing strong international condemnation. The United Nations has accused the Arab coalition of killing 42 […]

Fugitive Thai ex-PM Yingluck ‘may be in Dubai’: party source

BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Former Thai prime minister Yingluck Shinawatra may have fled to Dubai, a senior party source told AFP Saturday, after slipping out of the country to avoid a court ruling in an escape act that stunned many Thais. Yingluck, 50, was on Friday morning due to arrive at the Supreme Court for the ruling in her trial for criminal negligence that could have seen her jailed for 10 years. But she did […]

UPDATED: US says N. Korea fired three ‘short-range’ ballistic missiles

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles Saturday, the United States military said, following weeks of heightened tensions between Washington and Pyongyang. The missile launches come as tens of thousands of South Korean and US troops take part in joint military drills in the South, which Pyongyang views as a highly provocative rehearsal for an invasion of its own territory. Two of the missiles failed in flight and the third blew […]

JUST IN: US says N. Korea fired three ‘short-range’ ballistic missiles

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States military said that North Korea fired three short-range ballistic missiles on Saturday, with two of them failing in flight and the third blowing up “almost immediately.” A spokesman for the US Pacific Command said none of the missiles, which it said were launched near Kittaeryong, had posed a threat to either North America or the US Pacific territory of Guam. “The first and third missiles… failed […]

Clashes kill 32 in India as court convicts guru of rape

by Bhuvan Bagga Agence France-Presse PANCHKULA, India –  At least 32 people were killed Friday when clashes broke out in northern India after a court convicted a controversial religious leader of raping two of his followers, sparking fury among tens of thousands of supporters who had gathered for the verdict. Authorities rushed hundreds of troops to the city of Panchkula after followers of guru Ram Rahim Singh went on a rampage throwing rocks,  attacking television vans and […]