Washington, United States | AFP | Russian military spies hacked hundreds of computers used by Winter Olympics organizers and tried to make it look like the work of North Korea, the Washington Post reported Sunday, quoting US intelligence sources. South Korea had previously announced that it was investigating the failure of …
Read More »US says any talks with N. Korea must lead to denuclearization
Washington, United States | AFP | The US on Sunday said talks with North Korea could lead to a “brighter path” for the isolated regime but cautioned any dialogue must result in its denuclearization. The White House issued a statement after a North Korean delegation to the neighboring South reportedly expressed …
Read More »UN Security Council to vote Friday on Syria ceasefire
United Nations, United States | AFP | The UN Security Council will vote Friday on a draft resolution demanding a 30-day ceasefire in Syria to allow for humanitarian aid and medical evacuations. A slightly amended text was circulated to council members late Thursday but it was unclear whether Russia …
Read More »Giant mosaic unveiled in world’s second largest Orthodox church
Belgrade, Serbia | AFP | A four-million-euro mosaic depicting Jesus Christ inside the world’s second largest Orthodox church was unveiled in Belgrade on Thursday. The giant mosaic, which weighs 40 tons and was worked on by 70 Serbian and Russian artists, decorates the central dome of the city’s Saint Sava …
Read More »Billy Graham: The pastor who took the Word to the North Koreans, China
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The staunchly anti-communist Billy Graham had a record of engaging with Communist leaders in Asia as he pursued his global evangelistic mission — most notably North Korea’s Kim Il Sung. Graham, the influential US pastor who died aged 99 on Wednesday, became one of …
Read More »‘I inherited a broke country’, says new Liberian president
Paris, France | AFP | Liberia’s new President George Weah on Tuesday pledged to fight endemic corruption as he spoke about conditions in his “broke country” on the first day of an official visit to Paris. The former international football star who, took office on January 22, is faced with …
Read More »France urges UN’s top court to dump E. Guinea case
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | France on Monday urged the UN’s top court to throw out a case brought against it in a bitter diplomatic row with oil-rich Equatorial Guinea over French accusations of top-level corruption. “France has not accepted the jurisdiction of this court under any title whatsoever …
Read More »S. Korea’s Moon says ‘too early’ for Pyongyang summit
Pyeongchang, South Korea | AFP | South Korea’s President Moon Jae-in on Saturday said it was too early to think about a summit with North Korea despite the Olympic-driven rapprochement with its nuclear-armed neighbour. Moon last week received an invitation from the North’s leader Kim Jong Un for a summit …
Read More »New Liberia president Weah to visit France
Paris, France | AFP | Liberia’s new president, the ex-footballer George Weah, will visit France later this month and meet President Emmanuel Macron, the Elysee Palace announced Thursday. “This will be George Weah’s first trip to Europe since his election”, a statement said, calling his victory “an exemplary democratic change …
Read More »US concerns over EU defence pact cloud NATO talks
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | NATO defence ministers gathered for talks Wednesday amid US concerns over the EU’s landmark defence cooperation pact and increasingly strained relations between Washington and Turkey. Washington and Ankara, two of the transatlantic alliance’s most important members, are at loggerheads over Turkey’s military offensive in northern …
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