SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea lashed out Friday at a new South Korea-Japan intelligence-sharing accord, accusing Seoul of a gross act of betrayal with the “sworn enemy” of the Korean people. The deal to share defence intelligence — largely driven by the growing threat of the North’s nuclear and missile programmes — was reached and provisionally signed in Tokyo on Monday. It was a controversial move in South Korea, where the legacy of […]
Asia
Japan PM says ‘great confidence’ in Trump as leader
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Thursday said his meeting with Donald Trump — the first by a foreign leader — convinced him the US president-elect was someone “in whom I can have great confidence”. “We were able to have a very candid talk over a substantial amount of time. We held it in a very warm atmosphere,” Abe told reporters after their meeting at the billionaire’s Manhattan skyscraper in New […]
Russia launches missile strikes in Syria: ministry
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia said Thursday it had bombed jihadist groups in Syria using cruise missiles launched by strategic bombers deployed from Russian territory. The defence ministry said its bombers on Thursday “launched cruise missiles against targets of the Islamic State terrorist group and Jabhat al-Nusra”, referring to Al-Qaeda’s former Syrian affiliate, now known as Fateh al-Sham Front. The cruise missiles were launched from above the Mediterranean Sea, the statement said. The planes left […]
Japan’s Abe heads for New York for first talks with Trump
by Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s premier Shinzo Abe headed to New York Thursday for talks with Donald Trump, the first leader to meet with the president-elect whose campaign pledges provoked anxiety over US foreign policy. The brash billionaire is set to receive Abe at his Trump Tower headquarters on Thursday evening, in an encounter that will be closely watched for hints on long-standing security pacts that he has called into question. “I’m […]
IS tightens grip in Syria bastion Raqa as assault nears
by Rouba El Husseini BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Internet cafes closed down, travel bans and new checkpoints: residents say jihadists are trying to tighten their grip on power in Raqa as US-backed forces near the Islamic State group’s Syrian bastion. A Kurdish-Arab alliance called the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) began an operation to recapture the northern city on November 5. Since then, residents say IS has tried to seal its stronghold off from the outside world, […]
Assad says Trump a natural ally if he fights ‘terror’
DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syria’s Bashar al-Assad said in an interview aired on Tuesday that Donald Trump will be a “natural ally” if the US president-elect fulfils his pledge to fight “terrorists”. In his first reaction to Trump’s election victory last week, the Syrian president struck a note of caution and said he was unsure the American billionaire would be able to keep his word and step up the fight against jihadists. “We cannot tell […]
Peru increases security forces for APEC 2016
(CCTV) — Peru has increased the security guards to 11,500 who will serve around the Lima Jorge Chavez International Airport, summit venue and the accommodations for delegations during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) 2016 in Lima, the capital city of Peru. Four main events are scheduled to be held through this week, including the APEC Concluding Senior Officials’ Meeting on Nov. 14-15, the APEC Ministerial Meeting on Nov. 17-18, the APEC CEO Summit on Nov. […]
Obama leaves US on final foreign trip – to Greece, Germany and Peru
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Barack Obama headed across the Atlantic late Monday on his final foreign trip while in office — a farewell tour of Europe and a summit with Asia-Pacific leaders to reassure concerned allies after Donald Trump’s election. Obama will first go to Greece, his first trip to the birthplace of democracy, where he will visit the Parthenon and hold talks with the country’s leaders. Security will be tight in […]
Japan street swallowed by giant hole reopens
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese city on Tuesday reopened a busy street that collapsed into a giant sinkhole, with the efforts of workers who toiled around the clock for a week drawing praise on social media. The gigantic sinkhole, measuring around 30 metres (98 feet) wide and 15 metres deep, appeared last Tuesday in a bustling business district in the southwestern city of Fukuoka, swallowing part of a five-lane street. The sinkhole, apparently triggered […]
Skygazers gawp at extra bright ‘supermoon’
by Sam Reeves Jakarta, Indonesia (AFP) — Skygazers took to high-rise buildings, observatories and beaches Monday to get a glimpse of the closest “supermoon” to Earth in almost seven decades, and snap dramatic pictures. The unusually big and bright moon appeared at its most impressive just as night fell over Asia, but astronomy enthusiasts will be able to see Earth’s satellite loom large anywhere in the world shortly after sunset, weather permitting. The phenomenon happens […]
China’s Xi, Trump agree to meet ‘at an early date’: CCTV
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and the US president-elect Donald Trump agreed in a telephone call Monday to meet “at an early date” to discuss the relationship between their two powers, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said Monday. Xi told Trump — who frequently savaged China on the campaign trail and threatened to impose a 45 percent tariff on Chinese exports — that the world’s top two economies “need cooperation and there are a […]
First woman to fly China’s J-10 fighter killed in crash
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The first woman to fly China’s J-10 fighter plane was killed in a crash during an aerobatics training exercise, state-run media reported Monday. Yu Xu, 30, a member of the Chinese air force’s “August 1st” aerobatic display team, ejected from her aircraft during a training exercise in the northern province of Hebei at the weekend, the China Daily newspaper said. She hit the wing of another jet and was killed, it […]