Monthly Archives: February 2019

Explainer: North Korea’s Yongbyon nuclear complex takes center stage in stalled talks

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

One of the most visible parts of North Korea's nuclear program, the Yongbyon reactor complex is a central point of contention for diplomats trying to resurrect a deal after U.S. President Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un's Vietnam summit ended without agreement.

The Latest: Pakistan’s airspace still closed, may open today

Posted on February 28, 2019 by FOX News

The Latest on escalating India-Pakistan tensions (all times local): 10:25 am.

South Korea to work with U.S. and North Korea after failed nuclear talks

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

South Korea will work with the United States and North Korea to ensure they reach agreement on denuclearization, the South's president said on Friday, a day after talks between the U.S. and North Korean leaders collapsed over sanctions.

Gun battle rages between Al Shabaab and Somali troops after hotel attack

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

A gun battle raged in Mogadishu on Friday between Somali soldiers and Al Shabaab fighters, holed up in a building next to a hotel they had hit with a suicide car bomb the previous evening.

Green economy? Thai party campaigns on marijuana as cash crop

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

Anutin Charnvirakul thinks he has hit on a winning issue for Thailand's election next month - promoting cannabis farming now that the Southeast Asia nation has legalized medical marijuana.

Priest under siege in battle over Venezuela’s political soul

Posted on February 28, 2019 by SCOTT SMITH

Salsa music and long tirades blasted through loudspeakers for days at a colonial church in one of Venezuela's toughest slums aimed at drowning out Monsignor Hector Lunar — an outspoken priest who isn't shy about criticizing President Nicolas Maduro, even from the pulpit.

Singapore plans to buy four F-35 jets with option for eight more

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

Singapore plans to buy an initial four F-35 fighter jets from Lockheed Martin Corp, with an option to purchase eight more, as it looks to replace its ageing F-16 fleet, the city-state's defense minister said on Friday.

Rescuers use excavator at collapsed Indonesia gold mine

Posted on February 28, 2019 by FOX News

Rescuers have brought an excavator to the remote Indonesian gold mine that collapsed earlier this week, trapping dozens, hoping to speed up rescue efforts despite the risk of triggering landslides.

Indonesian rescuers amputate miner’s leg to save him from collapsed mine

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

Indonesian authorities had to amputate the leg of a victim trapped under rubble to pull him out of a collapsed gold mine on Sulawesi island, as the slow and harrowing rescue operation entered its third day on Friday.

Pakistan ready to hand over Indian pilot amid more shelling

Posted on February 28, 2019 by FOX News

Pakistan is preparing to hand over a captured Indian pilot as shelling continued for a third night across the disputed Kashmir border even as the two nuclear-armed neighbors seek to defuse the most serious confrontation in two decades.

North Korea wanted sanctions lifted in exchange for partial nuclear plant closure: U.S. official

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

North Korea proposed closing part of its Yongbyon nuclear complex in exchange for the lifting of all U.N. sanctions except those directly targeting their weapons of mass destruction programs, a senior U.S. State Department official said.

South Korea’s Moon says Seoul will help U.S., North Korea talks ‘by any means’

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

South Korean President Moon Jae-in said on Friday South Korea will cooperate with the United States and North Korea to help their stalled talks reach a complete settlement.

Much politicking, little legislating as China congress meets

Posted on February 28, 2019 by CHRISTOPHER BODEEN

Thousands of delegates from around China are gathering in Beijing for next week's annual session of the country's rubber-stamp legislature and its advisory body.

Pompeo says North Korea not clear on scope of closing Yongbyon facility

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Friday that North Korea had asked for full sanctions lifting during a summit in Hanoi but lacked complete clarity on what it was prepared to offer on dismantling the Yongbyon nuclear facility.

North Korea leader Kim to leave Hanoi around noon on Saturday: source

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un is scheduled to leave the Vietnamese capital of Hanoi at around noon on Saturday and depart from the country via the Dong Dang railway station on the border with China in the afternoon, a Vietnamese foreign ministry source said.

SKorea’s Moon plans to discuss inter-Korean projects with US

Posted on February 28, 2019 by FOX News

South Korean President Moon Jae-in says Seoul plans to discuss with Washington the possibility of restarting joint inter-Korean economic projects to induce nuclear disarmament from North Korea.

Bangladesh: We’ll become unable to take new Myanmar refugees

Posted on February 28, 2019 by JENNIFER PELTZ

Bangladesh's foreign secretary says his country will need to stop accepting more refugees from Myanmar, and he says its government is being "obstructionist" about bringing back more than 1 million Rohingya Muslims who have fled violence.

New Zealand arms some police after shootouts

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

Frontline police in New Zealand's Canterbury District on the southern island will be armed until further notice following three shooting incidents that sparked a debate on whether all police should carry fire arms.

Trump’s cost complaint casts doubt on SKorea military drills

Posted on February 28, 2019 by HYUNG-JIN KIM

Even as he announced the failure of nuclear negotiations with North Korea, President Donald Trump complained that annual military drills with South Korea were "very, very expensive" and said the South must pay more for them.

Bangladesh tells U.N. Security Council cannot take more Myanmar refugees

Posted on February 28, 2019 by Reuters: World News

(This Feb 28 story corrects attribution of quote in paragraph 11 to Pierce not Schraner-Burgener)