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by Jung Ha-Won SEOUL , South Korea (AFP) — After more than a decade of global dominance, South Korea’s shipbuilders face an unprecedented crisis that threatens the very survival of one of the flagship industries of Asia’s fourth largest economy. South Korea’s “Big Three” shipbuilders were once considered the holy trinity of Korea Inc. — controlling nearly 70 percent of the global market after seeing off their European and Japanese rivals in the 1980s and […]
BEIJING , China (AFP) — Top Chinese Communist Zhang Dejiang, currently visiting Hong Kong, studied economics in North Korea and went on to run China’s richest and most populous province before ascending to the highest levels of the ruling party. Now 69, he was born in Liaoning in the northeast and was “sent down” to the countryside during the Cultural Revolution — which was declared 50 years ago on Monday. After his studies at Kim […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) – by Dennis Chong One of China’s most powerful officials said he would listen to political demands from Hongkongers in a conciliatory start to a visit Tuesday that has stirred anger in a city resentful of Beijing’s tightening grip. The three-day trip by Zhang Dejiang, who chairs China’s communist-controlled legislature, is the first by such a senior official in four years and comes as concerns grow in semi-autonomous Hong Kong that its […]
NEW DELHI , India (AFP) — Five low-caste villagers have died trying to revive an unused well in a parched region of northern India, police said Tuesday, as the country reels under one of the worst droughts on record. The five men, from India’s lowest Dalit caste, were killed by toxic gas in the pit of the well in Haryana state’s Jind district on Monday when they went in to clean it. “The well had […]
BEIJING , China (AFP) — The mayhem of China’s Cultural Revolution will never be repeated, state-run media said Tuesday, breaking their silence after the 50th anniversary of its start saw little state-sanctioned discussion. May 16 marked half a century since the 1966 internal Communist party declaration of the movement, which left chaos in its wake and transformed China’s political landscape. The Communist party restricts discussion of the period to prevent undermining the legitimacy of its […]
by Amber WANG TAIPEI , Taiwan (AFP) — When Tsai Ing-wen takes office as Taiwan’s president Friday she steps onto a tightrope between voter dreams of national pride and a Beijing that wants the island on a short leash. Tsai’s election victory reflected public desire for a president who would put self-ruling Taiwan first, not “sell out” to China, which still sees the island as part of its territory. Her political message revolves around the […]
DIYARBAKIR , Turkey (AFP) — Turkish authorities on Monday confirmed that 13 missing civilians had been killed last week in a blast caused by a huge quantity of explosives hoarded by Kurdish rebels blowing up accidentally. The mainly Kurdish region of Diyarbakir, in southeast Turkey, was rocked by a massive explosion on Thursday night said to have been caused by Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK) militants loading explosives onto a truck. Four people, all PKK militants, […]
by Alice RITCHIE LONDON , United States (AFP) — South Korean author Han Kang won the Man Booker International Prize on Monday, sharing the £50,000 ($72,000, 63,500 euros) award with her translator — who had only taught herself Korean three years before. Han Kang, 45, an author and creative writing teacher who is already successful in South Korea, is likely to enjoy a spike in international sales following the win for “The Vegetarian”. “I’m so […]
TOKYO ,Japan (AFP) –An earthquake shook buildings in the Japanese capital Tokyo and other areas on Monday but no damage or injuries were immediately reported. The quake struck at 9:23 pm (1223 GMT) in Ibaraki 41 kilometres (25 miles) northeast of Tokyo at a depth of 37 kilometres, the US Geological Survey said, putting the magnitude at 5.4. It was felt in large parts of eastern Japan. Japanese authorities said there was no danger of […]
KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) – by Mushtaq MOJADDIDI Tens of thousands of minority Shiite Hazaras marched through the streets of the Afghan capital Monday to protest at the proposed route for a major power transmission line, in a brewing political crisis for the beleaguered government. Security forces locked down central Kabul, blocking key intersections with stacked shipping containers as the protesters marched on the presidential palace — demanding that the line linking energy-rich Central Asia pass through a […]
SEOUL , South Korea (AFP) — South Korea, Japan and the United States will hold their first anti-missile drills together next month to guard against threats from nuclear-armed North Korea, a Seoul official said Monday. The drill will be held in the waters near Hawaii on June 28, said an official at the Seoul’s defense ministry, ahead of the US-led Rim of the Pacific naval exercises. “The training will involve detecting and tracing an imaginary […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday vowed cooperation with French investigators probing payments allegedly made to help Tokyo secure the 2020 Olympics. “I have instructed the education and sports minister to fully cooperate in the investigation,” Abe told lawmakers in parliament, Jiji Press reported. “Education and sports minister (Hiroshi) Hase told the Japanese Olympic Committee and the former bid committee to cooperate in the investigation,” Abe was quoted as saying. […]
