SEOUL/ AP Seoul has instructed its foreign embassies to take extra precautions against possible North Korean attempts to kidnap or attack South Koreans abroad, officials said on Monday. The instruction was issued in response to North Korea’s threat to retaliate for last month’s group defection by 13 North Koreans, who Pyongyang says were kidnapped by South Korean spies while ...

  Canberra/ AFP A mega deal to build Australian submarines was so important, French Prime Minister Manuel Valls said on Monday, that he pledged to personally supervise the project as Paris and Canberra bolster defence ties. French contractor DCNS last week beat off competition from Japan and Germany to seal the 12-submarine Aus$50 billion ($39 billion) contract, prompting Valls to make ...

  Paris / AFP Police evacuated more than one thousand people from a makeshift migrant camp near a Paris metro station on Monday, the third time the camp has been cleared in as many months. Shortly after 6:00 am, people who had been staying in the tightly packed tents under an elevated section of the Stalingrad station in the north of ...

  Jakarta / AFP An Indonesian sailor told on Monday how Philippine militants threatened to slit his throat during a terrifying kidnap ordeal, a day after he and nine other crew members were released. The sailors were freed on Sunday in the strife-torn southern Philippines after more than a month in the hands of Abu Sayyaf militants, and flew back ...

Last week, Donald Trump gave a long awaited speech on foreign policy at the Center for the National Interest (CFTNI) in Washington, D.C., laying out what he characterized as “a new foreign policy direction.” While the foreign policy views of Hillary Clinton, the Democratic Party’s front runner, are well known–she is a firm believer in the continuation and spread of ...

  The G7 energy ministers in Japan again reflected on the issue of power. They agreed on Monday to step up energy security and boost investment to counter price instability caused by the fall in crude oil prices. Ministers from Japan, Canada, Germany, Italy, the US, Britain and France and representatives from the International Energy Agency (IEA) and The International ...

  Sara Hsu SPECIAL TO EMIRATES BUSINESS Despite China’s downturn, its automobile industry is performing well, as may be surmised from the enthusiasm generated at the Beijing Auto Show and, of course, sales statistics. Auto sales have been on the rise, growing 4.7 percent in 2015 from 2014, with passenger cars making up the lion’s share of purchases. Auto sales ...

  Last year, a few influential voices urged the Federal Reserve not to raise interest rates out of concern that it would slow global growth and fuel financial disruptions. Fed officials listened politely, then hiked rates in December and subsequently paused. Given recent developments in the foreign-exchange markets, some of these voices may now be wondering if the Fed should ...

  Recently, Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that France had secured a $50 billion contract to build Australia’s new submarine fleet, confirming weeks of speculation that Japan had lost out in the three-way competitive evaluation. While the outcome is definitely a missed strategic opportunity to enhance Australia-Japan defense ties, an overemphasis on it also risks missing the broader story ...

  The inauguration of Tsai Ing-wen as president of Taiwan offers a unique opportunity for Washington to address two fraught issues in U.S.-China relations. First, sending an appropriate high-level American official to Taipei would signal U.S. commitment to the democratic security of Taiwan in the face of Beijing’s intensifying pressure. Second, it would elevate Taiwan’s status as a regional security ...