International

Hope endures for some relatives of MH370

  Beijing, China (AFP)—Distrust, disbelief, despair: two years after their loved ones vanished, many Chinese relatives of those on board Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 still refuse to believe they are somewhere at the bottom of the Indian Ocean. The unique circumstances of the disaster — including conflicting initial accounts, an inconclusive search and a backdrop of skepticism all contribute to their insistence, specialists say. For many Chinese families, the impact of the disaster was magnified […]

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Australian Navy says seizes huge weapons cache headed for Somalia

REUTERS — An Australian Navy ship seized a huge cache of weapons near Oman’s coast from a fishing vessel bound for Somalia, the navy said on Monday (March 7), exposing a possible violation of a U.N. Security Council arms embargo. The United Nations has a decades-long arms embargo in place against Somalia, which has been mired in conflict since civil war broke out in 1991. The Australian navy, which patrols waters around the Indian Ocean […]

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Blast kills 13 as Pakistani Taliban avenge executed Islamist

PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — A suicide bomber killed 13 people and injured 23 in northwest Pakistan Monday, in an attack which the Taliban said was revenge for the hanging of an Islamist assassin last week. The bomber attacked as lawyers and litigants were arriving at a court complex during the morning rush hour in the town of Shabqadar. Senior police official Fayaz Khan said 13 people had been killed and 23 wounded after the bomber […]

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N. Korea threatens nuclear strikes over South-US military drills

by Hwang Sung-Hee SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea threatened pre-emptive and “indiscriminate” nuclear strikes against South Korea and the United States on Monday, as the two allies kicked off their annual, large-scale military exercises. The drills always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the North’s recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over tough UN sanctions imposed in response. Participation […]

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12 dead in Chinese coal mine accident: report

Twelve people were killed in a coal mine accident in China, state media reported Monday, the latest incident in the country’s notoriously dangerous industry. Coal gas flooded a colliery in Baishan, in the northeastern province of Jilin, killing the miners, the official Xinhua news service said. One was rescued and the cause of the accident on Sunday was being investigated. Industrial safety standards are often flouted in China even though deadly incidents regularly make national […]

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Philippine Muslim rebels warn IS seeks foothold in south

KUALA Lumpur, Malaysia (AFP) — The Islamic State group is trying to establish a stronghold in the violence-racked southern Philippines, the head of the nation’s biggest Muslim rebel organisation warned Monday. Moro Islamic Liberation Front (MILF) chairman Murad Ebrahim said the extremist IS seeks to capitalize on growing frustration over the breakdown of efforts to end a decades-long Muslim separatist rebellion in the southern Mindanao region. The peace process has been frozen since the Philippine […]

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South Korea, US launch military drills, North threatens nuclear strikes

  by Giles Hewitt SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea and the United States kicked off their largest-ever joint military drills on Monday, prompting fresh warnings from North Korea of “indiscriminate” nuclear strikes against Seoul and the US mainland. The annual exercises always raise tensions on the divided Korean peninsula and the situation is particularly volatile this year, given the North’s recent nuclear test and long-range rocket launch and its fury over the tough UN […]

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South Korea kicks off joint military drills with the United States

SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) — South Korean and U.S. troops began large-scale military drills on Monday (March 7) in an annual test of defensive readiness against North Korea, which called the exercises “nuclear war moves” and threatened to respond with an all-out offensive. South Korea has said the drills will be the largest ever in scale in response to North Korea’s recent nuclear test and a long-range rocket launch that led to the latest U.N. […]

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First case of Zika virus detected in Philippines since 2012

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — An American woman was infected with the Zika virus while visiting the Philippines, health department officials said Sunday, the first  case detected in the country for several years. Health Secretary Janette Garin said the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (US-CDC) had informed her that a US resident who stayed in the Philippines for four weeks in January had apparently developed symptoms in her last week before returning to America. “We were […]

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Philippines impounds N. Korean ship under UN sanctions

MANILA, Philippines (AFP) — The Philippines said Saturday it had impounded a North Korean vessel in response to tough new United Nations sanctions introduced in response to Pyongyang’s recent nuclear and ballistic missile tests. The 6,830-tonne cargo ship Jin Teng will not be allowed to leave Subic port, northeast of the capital Manila, where it had been docked for three days and its crew will be deported, presidential spokesman Manolo Quezon said on state-run radio station […]

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Sixty hospitalised as boat engine explodes in Bangkok

BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Sixty people were hospitalized Saturday, mostly for burns, after the engine on a Bangkok commuter boat exploded and sent passengers leaping to a nearby pier or into the water, officials and reports said. The crowded boat was ferrying passengers on a major canal in the eastern outskirts of the Thai capital, which boasts an extensive network of waterways that teem with motorised commuter boats during rush hour. Most of the injured […]

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China says its defense budget maintained in reasonable range

BEIJING, China (Reuters) — China said on Friday (March 4) that it’s defense budget had been controlled in a reasonable range, while it urged the United States to respect the interests of countries in the region of South China Sea after a report saying its navy fleet entered the disputed waters. China’s defense budget this year is likely to rise at its slowest pace since 2010, in line with the decelerating economy and by a […]

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