Leaders of the Group of 20 opened a high-stakes summit in Japan's Osaka Friday that is expected to be one of the most fractious in years.Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe opened the meeting, which will be dominated by contentious discussions on trade, geopolitical tensions, and climate change. But the mood appeared friendly in the opening minutes, with smiles on the faces of the arriving leaders as they posed for the traditional "family photograph".US President Donald Trump and China's

International June 28, 2019

BEIJING -- China said Monday it will not allow discussion on Hong Kong at the G20 this week even as US President Donald Trump plans to raise the city's mass protests during his meeting with President Xi Jinping.The semi-autonomous city has been shaken by huge demonstrations this month as throngs have demanded the withdrawal of a bill that would allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland. Trump has weighed in on Hong Kong's worst political unrest since its handover from Britain to China in 1997,

International June 24, 2019

North Korea raked in more than $120 million a year from a symbolic cross-border industrial zone that Pyongyang and Seoul are pushing to re-open as part of nuclear negotiations, a report said Monday.The Kaesong Industrial Complex -- where around 55,000 North Korean workers churned out products ranging from watches to clothes for some 125 South Korean companies -- was one of the most visible signs of reconciliation that followed the first inter-Korean summit in 2000. But it was shuttered by the So

North Korea June 24, 2019

ATHENS -- Climate change could wreak “irreversible damage” on the world’s most precious ancient monuments and other cultural sites, experts warned Saturday as they pushed for UN protection for major global sites.Academics and policy makers gathered in Athens for a meeting on the threats to world heritage called for an array of tools to predict, measure and counter the effects of climate change. They are campaigning to have the issue included on the agenda at the UN Summit for C

Culture June 23, 2019

PYONGYANG (AFP) -- Xi Jinping arrived in Pyongyang Thursday for a two-day state visit, the first by a Chinese president in 14 years, according to Chinese state media.Xi, who is accompanied by his wife Peng Liyuan, Foreign Minister Wang Yi and other officials, landed at 11:40 am local time (0240 GMT), according to China's CCTV broadcaster. (AFP)

North Korea June 20, 2019

TOKYO (AFP) -- A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked Japan, sparking a tsunami advisory that was later lifted with no reports Wednesday of major damage and only a handful of light injuries.The nation's meteorological agency had warned Tuesday that a wave of one metre (three feet) could hit the coast of the Sea of Japan, north of Tokyo, but only small ripples of 10 centimetres were recorded.The agency cancelled the tsunami advisory around two and a half hours after the quake. The earthquake re

World News June 19, 2019

WASHINGTON -- The United States ratcheted up pressure on Iran Monday, announcing the deployment of 1,000 additional troops to the Middle East and producing new photographs it said showed Tehran was behind an attack on a tanker ship.The twin moves came as Iran set a 10-day countdown for world powers to fulfil their commitments under a nuclear deal abandoned by the United States, saying it will otherwise surpass its uranium stockpile limit mandated by the accord.Tensions between Tehran and Washing

World News June 18, 2019

BEIJING -- Xi Jinping will make the first trip to North Korea by a Chinese president in 14 years this week, state media said Monday, as Beijing tightens relations with Pyongyang amid tensions with the United States.Xi will visit Pyongyang on Thursday and Friday at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un, said Chinese broadcaster CCTV.The timing is likely to raise eyebrows at the White House as it comes one week before the G20 summit in Japan, where US President Donald Trump expects to

North Korea June 17, 2019

THE VILLAGES, Florida -- Ronald, Don and John are living the good life in this haven of Republican retirees in Florida, a city designed for the aging, with paths everywhere for golf carts and where residents have plenty of time to campaign for their president, Donald Trump.The Villages is a pleasant, immaculately clean, fast-growing retirement town in central Florida. The average age of its 75,000 inhabitants is 71. Some two-thirds are Republican. One afternoon not long ago five retirees all wea

World News June 17, 2019

HONG KONG -- Holdout anti-government protesters remained in control of a major arterial road in Hong Kong on Monday a day after organizers said two million people flooded the streets in a historic rebuke of the city‘s pro-Beijing leader.Vast crowds marched for hours in tropical heat on Sunday calling for the resignation of chief executive Carrie Lam, who has been forced to suspend a widely loathed bill that would have allowed extraditions to the Chinese mainland.Critics fear the Beijing-ba

World News June 17, 2019

WASHINGTON -- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo vowed Sunday that the US will guarantee free passage through the vital Strait of Hormuz, as he accused Iran of recent attacks on oil tankers and the downing of a US drone.Pompeo confirmed in an interview with CBS that a US MQ-9 “Reaper” drone was shot down June 6 with a missile fired from Yemen “that we assess had Iranian assistance.” Pompeo would not be drawn on what options the US is considering to protect shipping -- or to p

World News June 17, 2019

BUENOS AIRES -- Electricity services have been restored to more than 70 percent of Argentina and Uruguay following a massive blackout that left around 48 million people without power on Sunday, authorities said.At around 7:00 pm (2200 GMT), Argentina's Energy Ministry Gustavo Lopetegui said services had been restored to 77 percent of customers in the country. There are still outages in multiple provinces, while Tierra del Fuego, in the country's extreme south, was spared because it is not part o

World News June 17, 2019

Hong Kong was rocked Wednesday by the worst political unrest since its handover to China, as police fired tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse protesters who tried to storm parliament and blocked roads in the financial hub.The violent demonstrations were the latest expression of widespread public anger over the government's controversial Beijing-backed plan to allow extraditions to China.Clashes broke out hours after tens of thousands of people seized key arteries in the morning rush hour and

World News June 13, 2019

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Violent clashes broke out in Hong Kong on Wednesday as police tried to stop protesters storming the city's parliament, while tens of thousands of people blocked key arteries in a show of strength against government plans to allow extraditions to China.Police used tear gas, pepper spray and batons to disperse crowds of black-clad demonstrators -- most of them young people and students -- calling for authorities to scrap the Beijing-backed law.Clashes broke out shortly after 3:0

World News June 12, 2019

A huge peaceful protest in Hong Kong against controversial plans to allow extraditions to the Chinese mainland descended into violence early Monday as police fought running battles with small pockets of demonstrators.Organisers said more than a million people took part in the Sunday march -- the largest protest since Hong Kong's 1997 handover to China -- confronting the city's pro-Beijing leadership with a major political crisis.The city government is pushing a bill through the legislature that

World News June 10, 2019