BEIJJING, China (AFP) — The deployment of a US missile defense system in South Korea would “seriously damage” regional security in northeast Asia, China said Friday, adding it strongly opposed the move. The deployment of the THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) system announced by the US and South Korea would “seriously damage the strategic security interests of countries in the region including China”, Beijing’s foreign ministry said in a statement posted online. “China strongly […]
Asia
Landslide kills 35 in northwest China
BEIJING, China (AFP) — At least 35 have been killed in a landslide in China’s northwestern Xinjiang region, state media reported Thursday. The landslide caused by heavy rain hit a village in the Kunlun Mountains, burying houses and their occupants in the early hours of Wednesday. By Thursday night 35 bodied had been pulled from the debris, according to the official Xinhua news agency. A rescue operation was underway, but efforts were being hindered by […]
US to deploy advanced missile defense system in S.Korea
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The US and South Korea announced Friday that they had reached an agreement to deploy an advanced missile defence system in the South in the face of growing threats from the North. The two allies began talks on deploying the US THAAD (Terminal High Altitude Area Defence) system to the Korean peninsula in February when the North launched a long-range rocket following a fourth nuclear test in January. “Based on these […]
Over 15,000 evacuated as super typhoon hits Taiwan
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Super Typhoon Nepartak lashed Taiwan with powerful winds and torrential rain as it made landfall Friday, injuring dozens and forcing more than 15,000 to evacuate their homes as the island cancelled hundreds of flights and shut offices and schools. Packing gusts of up to 198 kilometres per hour (123 miles per hour), it landed at Taimali township in eastern Taitung county shortly before 6:00 am (2200 GMT Thursday) and was moving […]
Attack kills 30 at Iraq Shiite shrine: spokesman
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Islamic State group militants killed 30 people at a Shiite shrine north of Baghdad, striking the area with suicide bombers, gunfire and mortar rounds, an Iraqi security spokesman said Friday. The overnight attack also wounded 50 people, the Joint Operations Command spokesman said in a statement. The Sayyid Mohammed shrine was first targeted with mortar rounds, after which suicide bombers arrived at the shrine and opened fire, the statement said. Two […]
Thousands evacuated as super typhoon hits Taiwan
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Super Typhoon Nepartak lashed Taiwan with powerful winds and torrential rain as it made landfall early Friday, forcing thousands to evacuate their homes as the island cancelled hundreds of flights and shut offices and schools for the day. Packing gusts of up to 234 kilometers per hour (145 miles per hour), it landed at Taimali township in eastern Taitung county shortly before 6:00 am (2200 GMT Thursday). One man drowned off […]
Blast injures 25 on Taiwanese passenger train
(Reuters) A suspected pipe bomb injured 25 people on a passenger train in the Taiwanese capital late on Thursday, officials said. The blast shook Taipei’s Songshan station close to midnight and witnesses quoted on Taiwanese television described seeing a man leaving a long black device on the train just before the explosion. Premier Lin Chuan told Taiwanese television the blast appeared to be a deliberate “act of malice”. Police and the Taipei fire department […]
S. Korea welcomes US blacklist for N. Korea leader
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Washington’s move to place North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un on its sanctions blacklist for the first time was welcomed by South Korea Thursday, with Seoul saying it would highlight human rights abuses in the hermit state. The US said Kim and 10 other top officials also blacklisted were behind widespread abuses including extrajudicial killings, forced labour and torture in the country’s system of prison camps for political detainees that has […]
Bangladesh reels from new deadly attack at start of Eid
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Suspected Islamists carried out another deadly attack in Bangladesh Thursday at the country’s biggest prayer service for the start of Eid, days after a mass murder of hostages in the capital Dhaka. Authorities said two policemen and an attacker had been killed after several explosions near a prayer ground in the district of Kishoreganj as at least 250,000 people joined a traditional post-Ramadan gathering. An officer stationed in the northern district’s […]
Putin, Obama to ‘intensify’ coordination in Syria: Kremlin
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama agreed during a telephone call Wednesday to “intensify” military coordination between their two countries in Syria, the Kremlin said. “The two parties have confirmed their desire to intensify coordination between the Russian and American militaries in Syria,” the Kremlin said in a statement. Putin also called on Obama to help aid the separation of moderate opposition groups from “terrorist groups like the […]
Policeman dead after Bangladesh Eid prayer attack
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — At least one policeman was killed and five others wounded Thursday following an explosion and a gunbattle near a mass prayer gathering to celebrate Eid in northern Bangladesh, police said. Only days after 20 hostages were murdered by suspected Islamists in Dhaka, police and local media reported a new attack by jihadists near a prayer ground where at least 200,000 people were marking the end of Ramadan in the northern Kishoreganj […]
Taiwan cancels flights as super typhoon bears down
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan cancelled dozens of flights and shut schools and offices Thursday as the island braced for a direct hit from Super Typhoon Nepartak, the first major tropical storm of the season. The typhoon was packing gusts of up to 245 kilometers an hour (152 miles an hour) as it rumbled towards the eastern county of Hualien, where it is due to make landfall early Friday, according to Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau. […]
