Politics

  Seoul / AFP South Korea said on Thursday it would resume salvage operations on the Sewol ferry next week, but underlined the enormous challenges posed by raising the vessel that sank in 2014 with massive loss of life. The Sewol was carrying 476 people when it went down off the southwestern island of Jindo, leaving 304—mostly school children—dead in ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea on Thursday kicked off a live-fire naval exercise near its disputed sea border with North Korea — a move likely to fan already elevated military tensions with Pyongyang. The three-day exercise in the Yellow Sea is aimed at practising responses to simulated incursions by North Korean vessels and aircraft, the South’s navy said in ...

  Beijing / AFP China criticised US President Barack Obama on Thursday for hosting the Dalai Lama at the White House, despite efforts to avoid irking Beijing by holding the meeting off-camera and out of the public eye. Obama carried out what has become a political rite in Washington, spiriting the exiled Tibetan religious leader into the White House through ...

  Manila / AFP Incoming Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte will resume stalled peace talks with communist rebels next month, negotiators said, a step towards ending one of Asia’s longest insurgencies that has killed tens of thousands of people. The long-running talks collapsed in 2013, but Duterte had made a campaign pledge to revive the negotiations aimed at bringing a swift ...

  Washington / AFP Senate Democrats claimed a small victory early Thursday, forcing the US upper house to consider legislation to help keep guns out of the hands of terrorism suspects. The move, which could break a years-long logjam on gun control, follows demands for action after the weekend massacre of 49 people at a gay nightclub in Florida. Democrats ...

  Fallujah / AFP The IS group battled Iraqi forces and held civilians hostage on Wednesday to defend its bastion of Fallujah, where three weeks of fighting has forced tens of thousands from their homes. Security forces have retaken significant parts of southern Fallujah over the past two weeks and are now attacking the extremists in the Jbeil neighbourhood, officers said. ...

  HYDERABAD / AFP The southern Indian state of Telangana has declared a “high alert” for polio after an active strain of the virus was found in samples of sewage water in the state capital. RajeshwarTiwari, Telangana’s top health official, said on Wednesday that a vaccination drive will be launched next week after tests revealed the Type-2 polio virus in ...

  Tripoli / AFP Forces allied with Libya’s unity government said on Wednesday they had repelled a counter-attack by the IS group in the extremists’ coastal stronghold of Sirte. IS extremists hit positions controlled by fighters loyal to Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord west of the city with tank, mortar and sniper fire on Tuesday, according to a statement ...

  Washington / AFP In February, the richest world powers pledged more than $11 billion to help frontline states in the Middle East cope with the Syrian refugee crisis. But four months later, less than a quarter of the headline sum has been turned over and five million people are still at risk in an unstable region. Countries like Lebanon, ...

  South Sudan / AFP Aid workers in South Sudan have suffered an increase in attacks in recent weeks, the UN warned Wednesday, with three killed in May since the formation of a unity government. Violence continues despite efforts to end a civil war that broke out in December 2013, a conflict that has now seen 55 aid workers killed. ...