CALIFORNIA (AP) -- A woman was dragged by a car in Oakland's Asian business district during a robbery that her husband says left her bruised and shaken, marking the latest in a series of attacks against people of Asian descent in the San Francisco Bay Area and in other parts of the US. Eric Nghiem said his wife, Jenny, who is Vietnamese, had her purse crossed around her neck and shoulder as she was walking to a grocery store when a thief grabbed it and jumped into the passenger side of a car W

Japan on Sunday formally approved its first COVID-19 vaccine and said it would start nationwide inoculations within days, but months behind the US and many other countries. Japan's health ministry said it had approved the vaccine co-developed and supplied by Pfizer Inc. The announcement comes after a government panel on Friday confirmed that final results of clinical testing done in Japan showed that the vaccine had an efficacy similar to what overseas tests showed. Many countries began vacc

South Korea and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have agreed to launch a working-level dialogue to strengthen cooperation in protecting the environment and tackling climate change, the foreign ministry said Wednesday.  The two sides have wrapped up weeks of discussions to establish the "South Korea-ASEAN Dialogue on Environment and Climate Change" and plan to hold the first meeting next year, the ministry said.  South Korea is the third partner after Japan

The top economic policymakers of Korea and China held talks for the first time in nearly three years Friday, focused on ways to boost tourism battered by the new coronavirus outbreak. Finance Minister Hong Nam-ki had the virtual meeting with his Chinese counterpart He Lifeng, chairman of the National Development and Reform Commission, according to Seoul's finance ministry. The high-level economic talks were last held in February 2018. They discussed ways to bolster exchanges in the tourism an

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit South Korea next week for talks with high level officials there, the state department said Tuesday. His planned visit comes after South Korean President Moon Jae-in proposed declaring an end to the Korean War as a way of bringing North Korea back to the dialogue table over its denuclearization process. It will be part of his three-nation trip that will begin Sunday, according to the state department. He will first head to Tokyo where he will meet w

TOKYO (AP) -- IOC member John Coates, who oversees planning for next year's Tokyo Olympics, has claimed the postponed games could help "kick start" Japan's economy. Japan has been devastated like many countries by the coronavirus pandemic and could be in a recession when the Olympics are to open on July 23, 2021. "These games are a very positive opportunity for an economic stimulus," Coates said in a teleconference on Thursday with the Tokyo organizing committee. "T

US President Donald Trump has rejected South Korea's offer to raise its contribution to shared defense costs by at least 13 percent, a news report said Friday. Trump made the decision last week after consultations with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Secretary of Defense Mark Esper, Reuters said, quoting unidentified current and former US officials. Esper made a phone call to South Korean Defense Minister Jeong Kyeong-doo earlier this week to press Seoul to quickly agree to much higher con

The United States has cancelled its preliminary designation of South Korea as a country that engages in illegal, unreported, and unregulated (IUU) fishing, lifting concerns of possible sanctions, the oceans ministry said Wednesday.     In September, the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) made the preliminary decision as it identified South Korea as "failing to apply sufficient sanctions to deter its vessels from engaging in fishing activities that

BEIJING (AFP) - China on Sunday slammed officials from the US and other countries for congratulating Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen after she was re-elected with a landslide victory in a stunning rebuke of Beijing's campaign to isolate the self-ruled island. Tsai, who had pitched herself as a defender of liberal democratic values against an increasingly authoritarian China, secured a record-breaking win in Saturday's presidential election.US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, as well as top diplomat

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) -- Iran deployed riot police in the capital on Sunday expecting more protests after its Revolutionary Guard admitted to accidentally shooting down a passenger plane at a time of soaring tensions with the United States. Riot police and plainclothes officers could be seen massing in Vali-e Asr Square in Tehran as calls circulated for protests later in the day. A large black banner unveiled in the square bore the names of those killed in the plane crash.The plane cr

Iran announced Saturday that its military  'unintentionally' shot down a Ukrainian jetliner, killing all 176 aboard. The statement came Saturday morning  and blamed ``human error'' for the shootdown.The jetliner, a Boeing 737 operated by Ukrainian International Airlines, went down on the outskirts of Tehran during takeoff just hours after Iran launched a barrage of missiles at US forces. Iran had denied for several days that a missile downed the aircraft. But then the US and Canada, ci

A South Korean statue symbolizing Japan’s sexual enslavement of women from Korea and elsewhere in Asia was put back on display Tuesday at a major Japanese art show in Nagoya.The statue, representing Korean women who were forced into sexual service for the imperial Japanese military during World War II, and its umbrella exhibition -- “After ‘Freedom of Expression?’” -- were withdrawn from the Aichi Triennale 2019 in Nagoya just days after the Japanese art show opened

South Korea on Tuesday called for a successful replenishment of the UN Green Climate Fund to better deal with climate change.The fund -- launched in 2010 -- aims to channel money from industrialized nations to developing countries to help them tackle climate change-related problems.The fund has so far received $7 billion from about 40 countries, including South Korea and the United States. South Korea contributed $100 million to the fund. "The expansion of public finances and a successful r

South Korean President Moon Jae-in formally expressed support Wednesday for a major press freedom initiative by Reporters Without Borders, meeting with its visiting leader.Moon greeted Christophe Deloire, secretary general of the Paris-based international non-governmental organization, also known as Reporters Sans Frontieres, at Cheong Wa Dae.Joining their half-hour meeting were Cedric Alviani, director of the RSF's East Asia bureau in Taipei, and Jung Kyu-sung, head of the Journalists' Associat

President Donald Trump said his administration has reached an initial trade accord with Japan over tariffs and that he intends to enter into the agreement in coming weeks.In a notice to Congress on Monday, Trump also said the US will be entering an “executive agreement” with Japan over digital trade.There was no mention by Trump if he’ll end his threat to slap tariffs on Japanese auto imports as part of the trade deal.“My administration looks forward to continued collabor