MOSCOW: North Korea’s foreign minister lauded comradely ties with Russia on Tuesday (Jan 16) ahead of a rare meeting in Moscow with Russian President Vladimir Putin, who has been invited by Kim Jong Un to visit the reclusive nuclear-armed country. Putin has deepened ties with North Korea since the 2022Continue Reading
TOKYO: A Korean Air Lines plane clipped a Cathay Pacific Airways aircraft at New Chitose Airport on Japan’s northern island of Hokkaido on Tuesday (Jan 16), a Korean Air official said. The accident happened when the Korean Air plane was preparing for take-off, the airline official said. No injuries wereContinue Reading
“While the Government of Nauru’s action on Jan 15 to sever its diplomatic relationship with Taiwan is a sovereign decision, it is nonetheless a disappointing one,” the State Department said. “Taiwan is a reliable, like-minded, and democratic partner. The PRC often makes promises in exchange for diplomatic relations that ultimatelyContinue Reading
Moscow and Pyongyang have denied arms deals but have said they would deepen cooperation across the board and have staged a series of high-level meetings since last year, including the summit between Putin and Kim. Peskov said Russia hoped a Putin visit to North Korea, at Kim’s invitation, would takeContinue Reading
BEIJING: China Foreign Minister Wang Yi said the war in Gaza continues to escalate and China is calling for a larger-scale, more authoritative and effective international peace conference and a concrete timetable to implement a two-state solution. Wang made the comments to reporters after talks with the Egyptian Foreign MinisterContinue Reading
HONG KONG: Chinese state media warned on Friday (Jan 12) that a report by a prominent US think tank on the military uses of Chinese scientific research across the Indian Ocean gave “ammunition” to countries bent on concocting threats from China. The report this week by the Washington-based Center forContinue Reading
KYIV: Ukraine’s power grid operator said on Tuesday (Jan 9) severe winter weather left more than 1,000 towns and villages without electricity in nine regions and urged residents to conserve power as the energy system has been weakened by Russian strikes. Electricity consumption was at this week’s highest levels asContinue Reading
Three Boeing 737 MAX 9 planes, the only ones Indonesia had, were grounded starting from Jan 6 until further notice, said Adita Irawati, a transport ministry spokesperson. The Lion Air planes had a “mid cabin emergency exit door type II” whereas the Alaska Airlines plane had a “mid exit doorContinue Reading
SEOUL: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is believed to have turned the big four-oh on Monday (Jan 8), but state media continued its decades of silence on his birthday. Kim’s birthday is believed to be Jan 8, though his secretive regime has never confirmed the date. The US governmentContinue Reading
BEIJING: China’s spy agency said on Monday (Jan 8) that the head of a foreign consultancy had been found to be spying for Britain’s MI6 intelligence service. The Ministry of State Security said in a WeChat post that Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service – also known as MI6 – used aContinue Reading