BEIJING, (APP/AFP) – North Korea has “no thoughts” of resuming six-party talks on its nuclear programme, a top Pyongyang official said Thursday in Beijing, despite the repeated urgings of its closest ally China. The North quit the now-stalled negotiations aimed at curbing its nuclear weapons programme in 2009, and soon afterwards carried out its second […]
International News
N. Korea rules out nuclear talks resumption: official
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UN to reprimand peacekeepers over inaction during S. Sudan attack
UNITED NATIONS, United States, (APP/AFP) – The UN is preparing to send peacekeepers home over a “lack of responsiveness” during a bloody attack at a camp in South Sudan in February, a senior official announced Wednesday. UN peacekeeping chief Herve Ladsous acknowledged that an investigation had found “inadequacies” in peacekeepers’ response when gunmen in army […]
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China to launch cruises to Spratly islands
BEIJING, (APP/AFP) – Chinese cruise ships will regularly bring tourists to the contested Spratly Islands in the South China Sea by 2020, reports said Wednesday. Beijing asserts sovereignty over almost all of the strategically vital South China Sea, despite rival claims from Southeast Asian neighbours, and has rapidly built reefs into artificial islands capable of […]
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Lightning kills at least 67 as monsoon sweeps India
NEW DELHI, (APP/AFP) – At least 67 people have been killed by lightning in India over the past two days, disaster management officials said Wednesday, as the annual monsoon rains sweep the country. Lightning strikes are relatively common in India during the June-October monsoon, which hit the southern coast earlier this month, but this week’s […]
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Egypt court quashes cession of Red Sea islands to Saudi: judge
CAIRO, (APP/AFP): Egypt’s highest administrative court on Tuesday quashed the cession of two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia, a judge said. The State Council challenged the legitimacy of the island deal, which was announced in April during a visit to Egypt by Saudi King Salman and which prompted a public outcry and demonstrations against […]
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Poroshenko says ‘no alternative’ to Russia sanctions
PARIS, (APP/AFP): Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko said Tuesday that there was no alternative to European Union sanctions to pressure Russia to stick to a ceasefire agreement. “Sanctions are the only instrument left… There is no alternative to that,” Poroshenko told French television ahead of a meeting with President Francois Hollande.