Asia

U.S. Third Fleet expands East Asia role as tensions rise with China

(Reuters)  The U.S. Navy’s Third Fleet will send more ships to East Asia to operate outside its normal theater alongside the Japan-based Seventh Fleet, a U.S. official said on Tuesday, a move that comes at a time of heightened tensions with China. The Third Fleet’s Pacific Surface Action Group, which includes the guided-missile destroyers USS Spruance and USS Momsen, was deployed to East Asia in April. More Third Fleet vessels will be deployed in the […]

Representatives from U.S. and China hold talks on cyber security in Beijing

U.S. Under Secretary for the National Protection and Programs Directorate (NPPD) at the Department of Homeland Security, Suzanne Spaulding and China’s Minister of Public Security Guo Shengkun held talks about cyber security in Beijing on Tuesday (June 14). Representatives from U.S. and China posed for photos before sitting down for talks at the second U.S.-China High-Level Joint Dialogue on Cybercrime and Relates Issues at Beijing’s Diaoyutai State Guesthouse. The United States and China reached an […]

Timeline of Abu Sayyaf’s rise and rampage in Philippines

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — The Abu Sayyaf was on Monday accused of murdering a Canadian hostage abducted nearly nine months ago, the latest in a long line of atrocities by the Islamic militant group based in the southern Philippines. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he had “compelling reasons to believe” that Robert Hall had been murdered. Hall would be the second Canadian killed this year by the Abu Sayyaf, which has terrorised the region […]

Canada probes reports of hostage killed in Philippines

OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — The Canadian government said Monday it was investigating reports that one of its nationals kidnapped by Islamic militants in the southern Philippines nearly nine months ago had been killed. “The Government of Canada is aware of reports that a Canadian citizen has been executed,” the Canadian foreign affairs ministry said in a statement. “We are pursuing all appropriate channels to seek further information and are in close contact with Philippines authorities.” […]

Israel wins UN committee chair

United Nations, United States—Israel on Monday was elected to chair a United Nations committee for the first time in the world body’s 71-year history, triggering strong protests from Arab countries and the Palestinians. Israeli Ambassador Danny Danon won the chair of the legal affairs committee of the General Assembly by picking up 109 votes from the 193 member-states. Danon’s candidacy was put to a vote by secret ballot at the request of Arab countries. All […]

China’s Xi sends ‘deep ‘condolences’ over US club massacre

BEIJING , China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping called his US counterpart Barack Obama on Monday to express “deep condolences” over the 50 people killed by a gunman in a Florida gay nightclub, officials said. Xi “expressed deep sympathy and sincere condolences to the American people” and “deep condolences” to the victims of the attack, the foreign ministry said on its website. He joined an international outpouring of sympathy over the worst mass shooting […]

Trade disputes loom over Merkel’s China visit

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Tensions over trade and Chinese investment in a German robotics firm dominated Chancellor Angela Merkel’s visit to Beijing Monday, with differences about steel and China’s future market status on display. China has been pressing the European Union to grant it “market economy” status this year, making it harder for the bloc to levy anti-dumping tariffs even as Beijing is accused of selling excess steel cheaply on world markets at the cost […]

Top human rights activist rearrested in Bahrain: family

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Leading Bahraini human rights activist Nabeel Rajab was rearrested on Monday by security forces in the Gulf island state, his family said on Twitter. Rajab, who was detained in 2014 for tweets deemed insulting to the authorities before his release on health grounds, was apprehended in a dawn raid on his home in the mainly Shiite village of Bani Jamra near Manama, according to his family. “Rajab was arrested […]

Blast from ‘self-made’ explosive injures five in Shanghai airport

  (Reuters) A man set off a home-made explosive at a terminal in Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport on Sunday, the city’s government said, injuring five people, including himself. The explosion occurred near the airport’s Terminal Two ticketing area at about 2:20 p.m. and the people who were injured were taken away for medical treatment, the Shanghai government said in a short statement on its official microblog. “According to an initial police investigation, a man took […]

ACT cancels entrance exam in South Korea, Hong Kong after test leak

  (REUTERS) The ACT college-entrance exam was canceled Saturday for all test-takers in South Korea and Hong Kong in the latest example of how an East Asia cheating epidemic is roiling American higher education. The incident marked the first known cancellation of the high-stakes exam for an entire country, according to ACT spokesman Ed Colby. ACT Inc, the Iowa-based nonprofit that operates the test, said it halted the test after discovering that it had leaked […]

North Korea plant makes kimchi under Kim’s ‘loving care’

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea is producing kimchi at a new plant “built under the loving care” of leader Kim Jong-Un, who praised the spicy pickle as “one of the world’s five health foods”, state media said Friday. Kim made his remarks while inspecting the sprawling Ryugyong Pickle Factory, built to supply Pyongyang residents with the traditional dish year-round, the Korean Central News Agency said. The plant is capable of producing 4,200 tonnes […]

Seoul prosecutors raid Lotte Group headquarters

Seoul prosecution investigators raided Lotte Group headquarters on Friday (June 10) morning, a group spokesman told Reuters, in what local media reported as a widening investigation into South Korea’s fifth-largest conglomerate. The raids came as the group’s Hotel Lotte unit is readying an IPO, worth up to $4.6 billion, that has been cut in value and pushed back after the emergence of a bribery probe. About 200 Seoul prosecution investigators were searching 17 locations including […]