A senior Chinese politician A defended Beijing’s right to build facilities on artificial islands in the South China Sea in comments that were seen as a veiled attack on the United States. The remarks on Thursday by Wang Guoqing, spokesman for the country’s top political advisory body, came after a US aircraft carrier group was sent to the disputed waters, and the PLA Navy staged combat exercises in the Western Pacific.
Category: Asia
North Korea: Heart attack, not nerve agent, killed Kim Jong Nam
A North Korean envoy rejected a Malaysian autopsy finding that VX nerve agent killed Kim Jong Nam, saying Thursday the man probably died of a heart attack because he suffered from heart disease, diabetes and high blood pressure.
The Latest: N. Korean envoy rejects Malaysian autopsy
Media film and photograph a North Korean diplomatic vehicle leaving the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Thursday, March 2, 2017. Malaysia is scrapping visa-free entry for North Koreans traveling into the country, the state news agency said Thursday in the latest fallout from a deadly nerve agent attack at Kuala Lumpur airport.
Nepal seeks foreign investment to help recovery from quake
Nepal made a pitch to foreign investors Thursday for help in developing its struggling economy as the Himalayan nation recovers from a devastating 2015 earthquake. The government hopes to attract at least $1 billion in new foreign investment during the two-day conference in the capital, Kathmandu.
Malaysia to release, deport N. Korean in nerve agent probe
This file image provided by Star TV of closed circuit television footage from Feb. 13, 2017, shows Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong, left, at Kuala Lumpur International Airport in Sepang, Malaysia, who police say was arrested in connection with the death of Kim Jong Nam, the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Because of a grainy security camera photo that went viral, she is now known to many as the LOL assassin.
News 14 Mins Ago Malaysia to release, deport N. Korean in nerve agent probe
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The White House is considering direct military action to…
In a dramatic shift from traditional policy, an internal White House review on North Korean strategy revealed that the option to use military force, or a regime change to curb the threat of North Korean nuclear weapons was on the table, The Wall Street Journal reported on Wednesday. This review comes at the heels of a report claiming President Donald Trump believed the ” greatest immediate threat ” to the US was North Korea’s nuclear program.
Lawyers sue Chinese authorities for not getting rid of smog
Lawyer Cheng Hai has an itemized list of compensation demands from Beijing authorities over the city’s smog: 65 yuan for having to buy face masks, 100 yuan for seeing a doctor for a sore throat and 9,999 yuan for emotional distress. Fed up with what they consider halfhearted efforts to fight air pollution, Cheng and like-minded lawyers are putting China’s legal system to the test by suing the governments of the capital and its surrounding regions.
RPT-Freight and fridge sales: Indian economists seek GDP clues amid data doubts
NEW DELHI, March 1 Surprised again by India’s strong official growth statistics, economists are relying increasingly on high-frequency indicators like bank credit and rail freight to gauge the real health of Asia’s third-largest economy. For India’s cash-reliant economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s decision in November to outlaw old 500 and 1,000 rupee banknotes came as a big shock.
North Korea accuses South Korea and US of murder of its citizen
PETALING JAYA: In denying its own involvement, North Korea has accused South Korea and the United States of killing one of its citizens. Yonhap, the largest news agency in South Korea, reported that the deceased was not acknowledged as the half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
Afghan official: 2 separate suicide bombings in Kabul
Smoke rises from a district police headquarters after a suicide bombing in Kabul, Afghanistan, Wednesday, March 1, 2017. An Afghan official says that a suicide car bomber attacked at the gates of a police station in the western part of the capital, Kabul.
French Mediapart journalist says judicial source denies report on Fillon’s wife
A journalist for French investigative web site Mediapart said his report that the wife of conservative presidential candidate Francois Fillon was being held for questioning by police had been denied by a judicial source. Journalist Michel Delean, who initially said on Twitter that Penelope Fillon was being questioned over allegations she did little work for payments she received as Fillon’s assistant, later issued a correction on Twitter, saying his report had been denied by a judicial source.
Former addicts try to help drug users in Afghanistan
Raheem Rejaey was a drug addict for 17 years. He lived under bridges in Kabul or in the ruins of buildings.
Japan emperor to meet abandoned Vietnam families of soldiers
Japan’s emperor and empress, on a landmark visit to Vietnam, are expected to express their sympathies when they meet Thursday with Vietnamese women abandoned by their Japanese soldier husbands after World War II. Sixteen surviving wives and their children have been invited to meet with Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko, the emperor’s press secretary, Hatsuhisa Takashima, said Wednesday.
The strange life, and sudden death, of a North Korean exile
The heavy-set man got out of a taxi one night last September and headed for the lobby bar of the swank Wynn Macau – a quiet place, where women are often in evening dresses and gamblers can relax with $300 Cuban cigars. He was dressed casually.
UN panel says North Korea uses new ways to flout sanctions
North Korea is flouting United Nations sanctions by trading in prohibited weapons and other goods and using evasion techniques “that are increasing in scale, scope and sophistication,” U.N. experts say in a new report. The panel of experts monitoring sanctions against Pyongyang said that despite strengthened financial sanctions adopted in 2016 the country is still accessing formal banking channels “by using greater ingenuity.”
The United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad, Christian Ilube, Hampton School
The United Kingdom Linguistics Olympiad is a competition open to school students of any age or level. The Linguistics Olympiad originally started in 1965 in Russia but since then it has spread across the World and the UK started their own Olympiad recently in 2010.
Malaysia to charge two women with murder of Kim Jong Nam
Two women accused of killing the half-brother of North Korea’s leader with a nerve agent in a Kuala Lumpur airport terminal will be charged with murder on Wednesday, Malaysia’s chief prosecutor has said. Mohamed Apandi Ali said the charges against Indonesian Siti Aisyah and Vietnamese Doan Thi Huong would bring a mandatory death sentence if they are convicted.
Afghan official: Policeman turns gun on colleagues, kills 11
An Afghan policeman turned his rifle on his colleagues at a checkpoint in southern Helmand province, killing 11 of them before fleeing the scene, officials said Tuesday. The attack happened late on Monday night in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, said Omer Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor.
Afghan official: Policeman turns gun on colleagues, kills 11
An Afghan policeman turned his rifle on his colleagues at a checkpoint in southern Helmand province, killing 11 of them before fleeing the scene, officials said Tuesday. The attack happened late on Monday night in Lashkar Gah, the provincial capital, said Omer Zwak, spokesman for the provincial governor.
NKorea official in Beijing after China’s ban on coal imports
A senior North Korean diplomat arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks following China’s ban on coal imports from its neighbor and the killing of the exiled half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Vice Foreign Minister Ri Kil Song will hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on “issues of common concern,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing.
NKorea official in Beijing after China’s ban on coal imports
A senior North Korean diplomat arrived in Beijing on Tuesday for talks following China’s ban on coal imports from its neighbor and the killing of the exiled half brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Vice Foreign Minister Ri Kil Song will hold talks with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi on “issues of common concern,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang said at a daily news briefing.
Kunio Hoshi, 65, was gunned down in October 2015 by masked men on a motorcycle.
Dhaka: Bangladesh court handed down the death sentence on Tuesday for five militants found guilty of killing a Japanese citizen, court officials said. Kunio Hoshi, 65, was gunned down in October 2015 by masked men on a motorcycle on his way to visit a grass farm project in the northern district of Rangpur.
Kunio Hoshi, 65, was gunned down in October 2015 by masked men on a motorcycle.
Dhaka: Bangladesh court handed down the death sentence on Tuesday for five militants found guilty of killing a Japanese citizen, court officials said. Kunio Hoshi, 65, was gunned down in October 2015 by masked men on a motorcycle on his way to visit a grass farm project in the northern district of Rangpur.
N. Korean diplomats in Malaysia to seek Kim’s brother’s body
Ri Tong Il, former North Korean deputy ambassador to the United Nations, speaks to reporters outside the North Korean embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017. Ri told reporters Tuesday that North Korea has sent a high-level delegation to Malaysia to seek the return of the body of leader’s Kim Jong Un’s slain half brother and the release of a North Korean arrested in the case.
Japanese emperor departs for visit to Vietnam and Thailand
Japan’s Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko smile as they leave for Vietnam at the Haneda International Airport in Tokyo, Tuesday, Feb. 28, 2017. Emperor Akihito and Empress Michiko will spend most of the week in Vietnam, with an overnight stop in Bangkok on Sunday before returning home.
Students from China and Auckland’s North Shore work to feed astronauts
Students Leyi Shen, Breanna Keating, Xingyue Zhu, Zili Lu, Syndie Johnson and Hannah Hardy work together on a project at Birkdale Intermediate School to create hydroponics to feed astronauts. Auckland pupils have teamed up with students from China to solve the problem of how to feed astronauts in space.
Plastic’ seaweed? Chinese producers lose millions over rumours
Video clip went viral on the internet in China falsely claiming some of the produce sold in Fujian province was artificial, newspaper reports Seaweed producers in southeast China say they have lost hundreds of millions of yuan in two weeks after a video went viral on the internet alleging that some of their produce was made of plastic, according to Chinese media reports. In the two-minute clip that was widely circulated on social media, a woman questioned whether the seaweed collected by one producer in Jinjiang in Fujian province was real.
US and allies discuss ‘irreversible denuclearization of North Korea’
Senior U.S., Japanese and South Korean officials met Monday to plan for “the irreversible denuclearization of North Korea,” the State Department said. North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un has pressed ahead with his regime’s nuclear weapons program, despite years of international pressure.
Russian opposition struggles 2 years after Nemtsov killing
Russia’s op… . Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, center, and his wife Yulia, left, take part in a march in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov in Moscow, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017.
Asking the right questions
“Thanks to smartphones and Facebook, 10-year-old children these days know more about relationships and boys than an 18-year-old did 5-6 years ago. Many of the girls here have boyfriends, and they are gossiped about in the community.
Japan emperor’s Vietnam visit a sign of improved ties
Many Vietnamese women married to Japanese soldiers saw their families split up, but today, the former foes enjoy strong bilateral ties, with … . In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 photo, Nguyen Thi Xuan listens next to her daughter Nguyen Thi Phuong, back, during an interview in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Japan emperor’s Vietnam visit a sign of improved ties
In this Thursday, Feb. 23, 2017 photo, Nguyen Thi Xuan sits on her bed in Hanoi, Vietnam.
Russians march to honour slain opposition leader Nemtsov
Thousands of Russians marched through Moscow on Sunday shouting slogans such as “Russia will be free!” and “Putin is war!” to mark two years since opposition leader Boris Nemtsov was gunned down outside the Kremlin. Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, was a fierce critic of President Vladimir Putin.
Russians march to remember slain opposition leader Nemtsov
People gather in memory of opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, portrait in center, in St. Petersburg, Russia, Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017. Russians have taken to the streets of downtown Moscow and St. Petersburg to mark two years since Nemtsov was gunned down outside the Kremlin.
Malaysia: Poisoning of Kim Jong Nam caused paralysis, quick death
Malaysia’s Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017. Subramaniam said Sunday that the dose of nerve agent given to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un’s half brother was so high that it killed him “within 15-20 minutes.” Kim Jong Nam died Feb. 13 at Kuala Lumpur’s airport in what Malaysian police say was a well-planned hit by two women who wiped a liquid on Kim’s face.
Gujarat ATS foils ISIS plot targeting ‘religious place’
Rajkot , Feb. 26 : The Gujarat Anti Terrorist Squad on Sunday claimed to have successfully foiled an attack by two brothers who are alleged ISIS operatives. The ATS team nabbed Wasim Ramodia and Naem Ramodia, from Rajkot and Bhavnagar respectively, and also seized literature on making explosives, 90 grams gun powder, mobile phones and also Jihadi material from them.
Taliban leader encourages people to plant trees
Springtime in Afghanistan usually brings a spike in violence as the Taliban takes advantage of the thaw to launch a wave of fresh attacks. But the Taliban’s leader has just issued a statement calling on Afghans to plant more trees.
Malaysia: Poisoning of Kim caused paralysis, quick death
Malaysia’s Health Minister Subramaniam Sathasivam speaks during a press conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia Sunday, Feb. 26, 2017. Subramaniam said Sunday that the dose of nerve agent given to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un’s half brother was so high that it killed him “within 15-20 minutes.”
Kim Jong Nam died within 20 minutes of exposure to nerve agent at airport
A man watches a television showing news reports of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, in Seoul on February 14, 2017. Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un has been assassinated in Malaysia, South Korean media reported on February 14. / AFP / JUNG Yeon-Je A man watches a television showing news reports of Kim Jong-Nam, the half-brother of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un, in Seoul on February 14, 2017.