Beijing / AFP China warned rivals Wednesday against turning the South China Sea into a “cradle of war” and threatened an air defence zone there, after its claims to the strategically vital waters were declared invalid. The surprisingly strong and sweeping ruling by a UN-backed tribunal in The Hague provided powerful diplomatic ammunition to the Philippines, which filed the challenge, ...

  Seoul / AFP Seoul said on Wednesday an advanced US missile defence system will be deployed in a remote southern county and will have the capacity to protect two thirds of the country against feared attacks from the North. The plan to deploy the powerful system, which fires projectiles to smash into enemy missiles, came last week after the ...

  Beijing / AFP EU Commission head Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday that the bloc would use all possible means to protect itself from a flood of Chinese steel imports blamed for turmoil in global markets. China, which makes more than half the world’s steel, is widely accused in Europe of dumping its production on world markets and violating trade ...

  Kathmandu / AFP Nepali opposition lawmakers filed a no-confidence motion on Wednesday against Prime Minister K.P. Sharma Oli after former rebel Maoists quit his coalition, triggering fresh political turmoil in the quake-hit nation. The former guerrillas announced on Tuesday that they were withdrawing support for Oli’s government, leaving his coalition without a majority. After Oli refused to resign, opposition ...

  Tokyo / AFP Japan’s Emperor Akihito plans to abdicate in favour of his eldest son within a few years, Japanese media reported on Wednesday. The 82-year-old monarch has told those close to him that the role should be occupied by someone who can fulfil the emperor’s duties as stipulated in the constitution, public broadcaster NHK reported, without citing a ...

  Tehran / AFP Iran’s nuclear deal with world powers is holding a year after it was agreed but more needs to be done to ensure its full implementation, a top Iranian negotiator said on Wednesday. “The total process has been relatively satisfactory despite the difficulties that we see in the implementation,” Hamid Baeidinejad told a press conference in Tehran ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkey has condemned as unacceptable an exhibition at the European Parliament on a Kurdish militia force in northern Syria, accusing the EU body of showing propaganda for a “terrorist” group. The exhibition in Brussels contains images from Syria of the Syrian Kurdish People’s Protection Units (YPG), a group the West sees as allies in the fight ...

  WASHINGTON Can we get globalization right? It has emerged as an all-purpose scapegoat for our economic woes — lost jobs, depressed wages, large trade deficits, greater income inequality, anxieties about the future. The reality is otherwise: Although globalization is genuine, it’s been distorted and its ills exaggerated. I have written about this before, but because the issue is so ...

  Stronger Consumer Confidence Index (CCI) in both Abu Dhabi and Dubai reflects the UAE economy is healthy and has weathered the storms of lower oil prices and the global economic slowdown. The General Index for Consumer Confidence in Abu Dhabi’s economic performance during Q1 of 2016 recorded about 115 points on average, which means consumers are positive about the ...

China’s claim of jurisdiction over pretty much the entire South China Sea boils down to this: Dudes, we’re back. That is, after a century of humiliation at the hands of foreign powers and 67 years of rebuilding since the Communists took power, the country is ready to reassert dominion over a body of water that has been in its sphere ...