The big earthquake that struck New Zealand last year may have been the most complex ever, say scientists. November’s Magnitude 7.8 event ruptured a near-200km-long swathe of territory, shifting parts of NZ’s South Island 5m closer to North Island. Whole blocks of ground were buckled and lifted upwards, in places by up to 8m. Subsequent investigations have found that at… Read more »
A ferry has been raised from the sea bed, three years after it sank in one of South Korea’s deadliest disasters. The Sewol sank off the south-western island of Jindo on 16 April 2014 killing 304 people, almost all school children on a trip. It has been winched to the surface so a platform can be inserted under it for… Read more »
Some 70,000 Rohingya have fled Myanmar into Bangladesh in the last six months, and the UN has gathered accounts of gang rapes and mass killings. A Burmese official said the move was “not acceptable” as Myanmar was carrying out its own investigation. China and India did not back the decision, however. The two countries said they would “disassociate” themselves from… Read more »
A panel of judges at Taiwan’s top court are hearing a case that could make the island the first place in Asia to introduce gay marriage. The case has been brought by a gay activist as well as municipal authorities from the capital, Taipei. Taiwan’s parliament has also been debating whether to pass laws that would allow same-sex marriage. The… Read more »
MOSCOW (Sputnik) — North Korea sent a letter to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres about the situation on the Korean peninsula amid the joint US-South Korean military drills, the North Korean Embassy in Russia said in a statement obtained by Sputnik. “Permanent representative of North Korea to the United Nations [Ja Song Nam] sent a letter to the UN secretary-general on March 22 due to a tense situation on the Korean peninsula caused by the largest… Read more »
Nepal’s prime minister is set to throw his support behind Beijing’s initiative to build a modern-day Silk Road across Asia during a six day trip to China starting on Thursday, in a move that could upset traditional regional powerhouse India. Beijing is jostling to increase its influence in Nepal, which serves as a natural buffer between China and India. China,… Read more »
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN — U.S. and Afghan officials report that they have made a strategic retreat from a district headquarters that has been under heavy assault by Taliban forces, however, the governor of the embattled province says local forces remain in control of the area. Sangin district in southern Helmand province has been one of the most contested parts of Afghanistan… Read more »
North Korea has a criticism of US President Donald Trump he probably wasn’t expecting: He’s too much like Barack Obama. North Korea’s state media, which regularly vilified Obama in the strongest terms, had been slow to do the same with the Trump administration, possibly so that officials in Pyongyang could figure out what direction Trump will likely take and what… Read more »
Hong Kong (CNN)It’s campaign season in Hong Kong, and on the streets of the city’s Wan Chai district, John Tsang is getting mobbed. Moustachioed and gray-haired, the former financial secretary poses for selfie after selfie with shoppers in a busy street market. It’s all a bit of a shock for the lifelong bureaucrat, previously best known for repeatedly flubbing his… Read more »
Their homes burned and relatives killed, Rohingya have been fleeing northern Myanmar since October. They trek for miles along a dangerous route — risking drowning, disease and capture by the military — to cross the border into neighboring Bangladesh, where refugee camps provide temporary shelter. Tens of thousands of members of Myanmar’s Muslim minority have left in this fashion, and… Read more »