COX'S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AFP) -- Bangladesh needs "massive international assistance" to feed and shelter the 436,000 Rohingya who have fled Myanmar in recent weeks, the head of the UN refugee agency said Sunday. Rohingya refugees reach up for relief supplies at the Kutupalong refugee camp. AFP-YonhapUN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi said there were "immense" challenges after visiting the overflowing camps around Cox's Bazar in southern Bangladesh."I was struck by the incredible ma

World News Sept. 24, 2017

PYONGYANG -- Petrol prices are being pumped higher in Pyongyang in the wake of United Nations sanctions restricting exports of oil products to nuclear-armed North Korea.Retail prices have gone up around 20 percent in two months, AFP saw in the capital -- and are now more than double what they were at the beginning of the year.Two weeks ago the UN Security Council imposed its eighth set of sanctions on the North in an effort to rein it in following its sixth nuclear test, which Pyongyang said was

North Korea Sept. 24, 2017

WASHINGTON -- An escalating war of words between Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un ratcheted up a notch on Friday as the US president dubbed North Korea‘s leader a “madman,” a day after the reclusive regime hinted it may explode a hydrogen bomb over the Pacific Ocean.Hours earlier, in a rare personal attack, Kim took aim at Trump, branding him “mentally deranged” and a “dotard,” and warning he would “pay dearly” for his threat to destroy North Korea if challenged, uttered before the United Nations Ge

World News Sept. 24, 2017

BEIJING -- A shallow 3.5-magnitude earthquake hit North Korea near the country’s nuclear test site Saturday, US seismologists said, in what China’s seismic service said was a “suspected explosion”, but Seoul deemed a “natural earthquake”. (Yonhap)The earthquake came after days of increasingly bellicose rhetoric between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un’s regime over Pyongyang’s nuclear ambitions raised international alarm.The United States Geological Survey (USGS) sai

North Korea Sept. 23, 2017

British police said Friday they had charged an 18-year-old man with attempted murder following last week's bombing of a London Underground train, which injured 30 people. (AP-Yonhap)Ahmed Hassan, who was arrested the morning after the attack on September 15, was also charged with use of the explosive triacetone triperoxide (TATP), a statement said. (AFP)

World News Sept. 22, 2017

British police said Sunday they had made a second arrest over the bombing of a London Underground train, as their probe into the terror attack widened.The 21-year-old man, who has not been named, was detained late Saturday in Hounslow, on the western rim of the capital, a police statement said. (Yonhap)Officers had earlier arrested an 18-year-old man over Friday's attack at Parsons Green station, which injured 30 people, and said they were hunting for more suspects.Home Secretary Amber Rudd said

World News Sept. 17, 2017

Tropical Storm Norma surged to hurricane strength late Friday off Mexico's Pacific coast which was pounded just hours earlier by Tropical Storm Max.   Norma looked likely to churn toward the Los Cabos resort area, according to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami.   At 0300 GMT, Norma was 270 miles (435 km) south of Cabo San Lucas, packing top sustained winds of 75 mph (120 kmh). It was expected to strengthen in coming days the NHC said.After barreling into Mexico's Pacific coast as a Categ

World News Sept. 16, 2017

North Korea is seeking an "equilibrium" of military force with the United States, state media reported Saturday, after Pyongyang sparked global condemnation with a sixth nuclear test then fired a second missile over Japan in less than a month.The North's leader Kim Jong-Un said the country was close to the goal of completing their nuclear force and should use all state power to finish as they have "nearly reached the terminal", the official KCNA news agency reported."Our final goal is to establi

North Korea Sept. 16, 2017

Norway's foreign minister Borge Brende on Friday announced he has been appointed as president of the World Economic Forum (WEF), a foundation that organises a high-level global economy event every year in Davos, Switzerland. Speaking at a joint news conference with Prime Minister Erna Solberg in Oslo, Brende, 51, said he would step down as foreign minister in mid-October. "World Economic Forum has some of the largest companies in the world as partners and works with politicians, the industry and

World News Sept. 15, 2017

At least 22 people were injured after a bomb detonated on a packed London Underground train during the morning rush hour on Friday in what police are treating as a "terrorist incident".Witnesses reported seeing a "wall of fire" and passengers with facial burns and hair coming off at Parsons Green station in west London after the explosion on the train."At 8:20 this morning at Parsons Green station there was an explosion on a Tube train. We now assess that this was a detonation of an improvised e

World News Sept. 15, 2017

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said Friday, September 15, that Japan would "never tolerate" what he called North Korea's "dangerous provocative action that threatens world peace" following a missile launch over his country. (Yonhap)"We can never tolerate that North Korea trampled on the international community's strong, united resolve toward peace that has been shown in UN resolutions and went ahead again with this outrageous act," Abe told reporters. (AFP)

North Korea Sept. 15, 2017

YANGON -- Myanmar's leader Aung San Suu Kyi will address the crisis engulfing Rakhine state next week, in her first speech since scores were killed in violence that has sent nearly 380,000 Rohingya Muslims fleeing to Bangladesh and battered her reputation as a defender of the downtrodden.In a press conference government spokesman Zaw Htay said Suu Kyi will "speak for national reconciliation and peace" in a televised address on September 19. In this Friday, Aug. 11, 2017, file photo, Myanmar's St

World News Sept. 13, 2017

GENEVA -- The cholera epidemic tearing through Yemen, exacerbating the already dire humanitarian situation in the war-ravaged country, could impact 850,000 people by the end of the year, the Red Cross warned Wednesday.The outbreak "has reached colossal proportions," said Robert Mardini, the International Committee of the Red Cross's Near and Middle East director.The collapse of Yemen's infrastructure after more than two years of war between the Saudi-backed government and Shiite rebels who contr

World News Sept. 13, 2017

MANILA -- At least four people died and six were missing after a major storm caused flooding in and around Manila on Tuesday, forcing schools, government offices and businesses to shut down.A 12-year-old girl who drowned in a rain-swollen river in a Manila suburb and a three-month old baby who was crushed by a landslide southeast of the Philippine capital were among the victims, local officials said.Most of the dead and missing were poor people forced to live in identified "danger zones" despite

World News Sept. 12, 2017