Asia

North Korea’s Kim calls for expansion of nuclear arsenal

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for an expansion of the size and power of his country’s nuclear arsenal, state media said on Wednesday (January 13), a week after a nuclear test that drew condemnation from its neighbours and the United States. Last week’s nuclear test was North Korea’s fourth, although the United States and experts doubt the North’s claim that it was of a more powerful hydrogen bomb, as the blast was of […]

Afghan forces battle gunmen after blast near Pakistani consulate

Afghan security forces exchanged fire with gunmen barricaded in a house near the Pakistan consulate in the eastern city of Jalalabad on Wednesday (January 13) after a suicide bomber blew himself up, officials said. At least six people were killed and 11 wounded in the suicide attack and subsequent fighting, they said. The attack on the consulate, which comes amid efforts to restart the stalled peace process with the Taliban and ease diplomatic tensions between […]

VP Binay meets OFWs in UAE

Vice President Jejomar Binay went to the United Arab Emirates to meet with officials of said country as well as with the overseas Filipino workers in the said country to check on their condition. Binay served as Presidential Adviser on OFWs before resigning from the cabinet June of last year. (Eagle News Service Described by Jay Paul Carlos, Video Editing by Dexter Magno, Uploaded by MRFaith Bonalos)

China exports for 2015 fall 1.8 percent, while imports drop 13.2 percent

China said on Wednesday (January 13) its exports for 2015 dropped 1.8 percent while imports dropped 13.2 percent in yuan-denominated terms, both much less than economists had expected but still likely consigning the economy to its weakest annual growth in 25 years. “Exports decreased by 1.8 percent to 14.14 trillion yuan ($2.2 trillion). Imports dropped by 13.2 percent to 10.45 trillion yuan ($1.6 trillion). Trade surplus increased by 56.7 percent to 3.69 trillion yuan ($561 […]

Iran holds 10 U.S. sailors; U.S. officials expect prompt return

Ten sailors aboard two U.S. Navy boats were seized by Iran in the Gulf on Tuesday (January 12), and Tehran told the United States the crew members would be promptly returned, U.S. officials said. A senior U.S. defense official said the U.S. had lost contact earlier in the day with two small craft en route from Kuwait to Bahrain. U.S. officials told Reuters it was unclear how or if the boats became disabled. Iranian Foreign […]

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi, ethnic armed groups gather for peace talks

Democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi said on Tuesday (January 12) her government is ready to build ‘forever peace’ within the country as she was attending a peace summit in the in the country’s administrative capital, Naypyitaw. Hundreds of representatives of ethnic armed groups, the military and lawmakers gathered for talks that are expected to last until the end of the week, over a ceasefire to end insurgencies that have plagued the country for decades. […]

Indonesian radical Muslim cleric appeals to reduce jail term

Indonesia’s radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir appealed to reduce 15-year jail term on Tuesday (January 12), pledging no wrongdoings on all allegation. The 78-year-old, who was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2011, attended the hearing in Cilacap district court in central Java province, the town near notorious prison island Nusa Kambangan where Bashir is jailed. Supporters of Bashir cheered as he walked to the court room escorted by heavy police forces. This […]

Taiwan’s likely first woman president keeps cards close on China game plan

Taiwan’s elections are just days away with little clarity about how a likely win by a party that traditionally favours independence from China will go down with a neighbour that has threatened force to ensure the island never goes it alone. Taiwan votes in a new president and parliament on January 16 when the ruling Nationalists (KMT) are expected to be soundly beaten by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), supported by youthful voters angered by […]

Asia stocks wary as China concerns remain

Asian stocks held near four-year lows and crude oil prices approached a 20 percent drop in less than two weeks as investors worried over the extent of China’s economic slowdown and its impact on emerging markets. MSCI’s broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan edged 0.4 percent higher but still stood near a four-year low touched on Monday, and was still down more than 8 percent since the start of 2016. It fell 12 percent […]

International agencies start to transfer aids to besieged areas in Syria

International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) announced on Monday that they started to transfer relief materials to some 60,000 residents of three besieged towns in Syria. Loaded with foods, medicines, blankets and other aid materials, 49 trucks arrived in the town of Madaya, which located in Damascus suburbs, and towns of Foua and Kefraya, both of which are near Turkey. Data shows about 40,000 residents in Madaya, and other 20,000 in Foua and Kefraya, […]

Aid convoy enters besieged Syrian town Madaya

Civilians in Madaya, a rebel-held town in Syria, finally saw the arrival of four trucks carrying relief aids on Monday. The inter-agency humanitarian aid is part of a deal concluded recently between the government and rebels to alleviate the suffering of thousands of starved people. Madaya, sitting in north of the capital Damascus, is among the three besieged towns where the trucks must simultaneously enter according to the deal. Madaya is held by rebels and […]

Iraq hits Islamic State targets in Anbar province

Iraq said on Monday (January 11) that its air force targeted and destroyed Islamic State targets in the provinces of Salahuddin and Anbar. A statement by the Ministry of Defence said that Iraqi fighter jets conducted air strikes against the Islamic State near and in the city of Falluja in Anbar province. The statement did not say when the air strikes were carried out, but it said that it caused Islamic State heavy losses in […]