Politics

  Taipei / AFP Taiwan’s defence minister warned on Tuesday that enemy threats were growing daily after China’s aircraft carrier and a flotilla of other warships passed south of the island in an exercise as tensions rise. After sailing south of Taiwan itself, the Liaoning and five other warships on Monday passed the Taiwan-administered Dongsha Islands in the South China ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korea’s ruling conservative party officially split Tuesday over the impeachment of scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye, threatening to complicate presidential elections that could be held as soon as March. A group of 29 lawmakers left the ruling Saenuri Party, arguing that its leadership refuses to embrace reforms despite the political crisis fuelled by the corruption scandal that ...

  Seoul / AFP North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un is planning a “prime time” nuclear weapons push in 2017 to take advantage of leadership transitions in South Korea and the United States, a high-ranking defector said on Tuesday. In his first press conference since fleeing his post as North Korea’s deputy ambassador to Britain in August, Thae Yong-Ho said Kim ...

  Istanbul / AFP Turkey on Monday said it wanted international air support for its army’s assault on the extremist-held Syrian town of Al Bab where the military is facing tough resistance from IS extremists. Turkish forces have for weeks joined pro-Ankara Syrian rebels in fierce fighting for Al Bab, taking increasing casualties as they approach closer to the centre. Turkey ...

Goma / AFP Attacks in villages and fighting between militias killed at least 35 people over the Christmas weekend in North Kivu, a majority Christian area in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. The bloodshed began in Eringeti—a town 55 kilometres (35 miles) north of the regional hub Beni, which for two years has been hit by massacres killing hundreds, many of ...

  Khartoum / AFP Sudan has freed 20 political opponents detained since last month after they called for protests against rising fuel prices, their parties said on Monday. Sudanese Congress Party spokesman Mohamed Arabi said 16 members were freed on Sunday, but added that “dozens of other figures including the head of the party and his deputy are still imprisoned.” Another ...

  Beijing / AFP China signed an agreement to restore diplomatic relations with Sao Tome and Principe on Monday, just days after the small African nation announced it had cut ties with Taiwan. The move comes amid heightened tensions between Beijing and the independence-leaning government of the self-ruled island, which Chinese leaders view as a “renegade province.” Chinese foreign minister Wang ...

  Seoul / AFP A handful of South Korean lawmakers on Monday finally got to question the woman at the heart of the impeachment crisis surrounding President Park Geun-Hye, after she snubbed a televised hearing at her detention centre. Choi Soon-Sil, a long-time friend of the president, has repeatedly ignored several summons to appear before a parliamentary committee probing a corruption ...

  Banda Aceh / AFP Thousands of Indonesians prayed for their loved ones at mass graves and mosques on Monday to mark a tsunami which devastated Aceh province 12 years ago today, one of the worst natural disasters in human history. Some 170,000 lives were lost in the country when a 9.1-magnitude “megathrust” quake struck Aceh, a predominantly Muslim province in ...

  Sochi / AFP Russian rescuers found on Monday the first parts of the Syria-bound military plane that plunged into the Black Sea, as officials said they do not suspect terrorism as the reason for the crash that killed 92 people on board. The Tu-154 jet, whose passengers included more than 60 members of the internationally-renowned Red Army Choir, was heading ...