Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran announced Tuesday its first arrests over the shooting down of a Ukrainian airliner last week, as it struggles to contain the fallout from the disaster that sparked three days of protests. The Ukraine International Airlines plane was brought down by a missile shortly after takeoff …
Read More »Iran denies ‘cover-up’ as anger mounts over downed airliner
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran denied a “cover-up” Monday after taking days to reveal an airliner was accidentally shot down last week, a disaster that sparked demonstrations and calls for a fully transparent investigation. The Ukraine International Airlines Boeing 737 was shot down by a missile shortly after taking off …
Read More »Iran denies missile downed Ukrainian plane
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iran’s civil aviation chief denied Friday that a missile downed a Ukrainian airliner which crashed killing all 176 on board, dismissing claims of a catastrophic mistake by Tehran’s air defences. The declaration came as Tehran faced mounting international pressure to allow a “credible” investigation into the …
Read More »Trump says North Korea talks going ahead despite missile test
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump on Thursday brushed off North Korea’s test of a sea-launched ballistic missile, saying that planned nuclear talks with Pyongyang will go ahead. “They want to talk and we’ll be talking to them,” Trump told reporters at the White House in his …
Read More »N. Korea may be preparing a missile or space launch: NPR
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korea may be preparing for a missile or space launch, US news outlet NPR has reported, based on satellite image analysis of a key facility near Pyongyang. NPR said the images of Sanumdong, one of the facilities Pyongyang has used to produce inter-continental ballistic …
Read More »US urges UN to condemn Iran missile test
United Nations, United States | AFP | The United States on Tuesday urged the UN Security Council to condemn Iran for carrying out a ballistic missile test, describing the launch as dangerous and a violation of a UN resolution. The council met behind closed doors at the request of France …
Read More »N. Korea slams new UN sanctions as an ‘act of war’
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korea slammed fresh UN sanctions imposed over its missile tests as an “act of war” on Sunday, its first response to the latest diplomatic move to punish Pyongyang’s ever-accelerating weapons drive. Tension has been high on the flashpoint peninsula as the isolated but nuclear-armed …
Read More »UN weighs new N.Korea sanctions, vote expected Friday
United Nations, United States | AFP | The United States on Thursday presented a draft UN Security Council resolution ramping up sanctions on North Korea by cutting oil supplies vital for Pyongyang’s military programs, according to the text obtained by AFP. The council is expected to vote on the new sanctions …
Read More »Japan expands sanctions aimed at N. Korea
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Japan said Friday it had added 19 more entities to its list of organisations and individuals targeted by asset-freeze sanctions on North Korea. The sanctions list now comprises 103 entities and 108 individuals in total, including seven Chinese entities, five Chinese individuals, one Singaporean …
Read More »North Korea missile tests are ‘imminent threat’: Japan
Tokyo, Japan | AFP | North Korea’s missile tests are an “imminent threat” to Japan, the Japanese parliament declared Monday, as Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said talking to the reclusive state was meaningless. The upper house unanimously adopted a resolution protesting against the North’s firing of an intercontinental ballistic missile …
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