Politics

  Seoul / AFP South Korean President Park Geun-Hye replaced her prime minister and finance minister on Wednesday, as she scrambled to contain a damaging scandal over a close friend accused of meddling in state affairs The top-level reshuffle, which also saw a new public safety minister, was the latest attempt to appease growing public anger with the president and her ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korean coastguard vessels have, for the first time, fired machine guns against Chinese boats illegally fishing in Korean waters, an official said on Wednesday. No casualties were reported from the incident on Tuesday, the first of its kind since the coastguard announced last month that it would pursue a “more aggressive” firearms policy with Chinese ...

  Sydney /AFP Flight MH370 was likely out of control when it plunged into the ocean with its wing flaps not prepared for landing, a new report said on Wednesday, casting doubt on theories a pilot was still in charge. Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777 disappeared en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing on March 8, 2014 carrying 239 passengers and ...

  Pretoria / AFP South African President Jacob Zuma on Wednesday abandoned a court bid to block a watchdog’s report into corruption allegations against him, as calls grew for him to stand down. Zuma’s surprise move came as thousands of people took to the streets of the administrative capital Pretoria to demand that he leaves office. It paves the way ...

  Arbil / AFP Elite Iraqi forces battled the IS group on the eastern edge of Mosul on Tuesday, with a top commander saying the “true liberation” of the extremist-held city had begun. Amid heavy fighting on the eastern front over the past two days, forces from Iraq’s US-trained Counter-Terrorism Service (CTS) had advanced into Gogjali, a village separated from Mosul ...

  Moscow / AFP Russian Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu on Tuesday accused the US-led coalition in Syria of failing to rein in hardline rebels, and said the chance of a political settlement was now remote. He said the coalition was “putting spokes in the wheel” of Russia’s military operation in the country and failing to “act in unison”. “As a ...

  Islamabad / AFP Amnesty International has called on Pakistan to release hundreds of opposition activists detained before a planned mass protest, as police used tear gas and rubber bullets overnight to prevent demonstrators from entering Islamabad. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif is under growing pressure from opposition parties, mainly Imran Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), over corruption. It plans to lock ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korean prosecutors on Monday questioned the woman at the centre of a political scandal that has shattered public confidence in President Park Geun-Hye, with allegations of fraud and meddling in state affairs. In the wake of mass street protests in Seoul and other cities to demand Park’s resignation, Choi Soon-Sil—who has denied any criminal wrongdoing—submitted to ...

  Yangon / AFP Myanmar police said on Tuesday they have brought charges punishable by a long jail term against the captain of an overloaded river ferry that sank last month, killing dozens of people. A total of 73 people, including scores of teachers and university students, died when the boat capsized on the Chindwin River on its way to the ...

  Calais / AFP Initially caught off guard, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has swung between defiance, counter-attack and painting Donald Trump as a mortal danger since the FBI director revived her email scandal. The decision, announced by James Comey in a letter to lawmakers last Friday, initially dumbfounded Clinton and her allies, throwing what was already America’s ugliest presidential election into spasms ...