South Korea on Tuesday lifted a ban on the departure of a blacklisted Russian ship that it seized last week in the southern port city of Busan, following an investigation, Seoul's foreign ministry said.      The Sevastopol was barred from leaving the country on Sept. 28 under a UN sanctions resolution after entering the country's biggest port for repairs on Aug. 13, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.   The Sevastopol (Yonhap)    "We have lifted the ban on the vessel as in our probe we

The Japanese government is maintaining its plan to fly the controversial Rising Sun flag during an upcoming navy event in South Korea, Seoul's foreign ministry said Tuesday.    Japan's Self-Defense Forces will send a warship to the International Fleet Review to be held at a military port on Jeju Island next week. (Yonhap)    At issue is its plan to hoist the flag, which South Koreans regard as a symbol of Japan's imperialistic past.     The matter has caused another diplomatic stand-off between

TOKYO (AFP) --  Tokyo police said Tuesday they had arrested a 49-year-old woman suspected of dumping a stillborn baby‘s body in a coin locker, amid reports she had moved the corpse around for as many as five years.　“The suspect... left and abandoned the body of an infant inside the locker,” near Uguisudani Station, a Tokyo police spokeswoman told AFP, with the latest incident occuring around September 13. People walk in the streets of Shinjuku district of Tokyo (Yonhap)　According to local media,

BEIJING (AFP) -- China said on Tuesday it was impossible to hold trade talks with the United States while Washington is imposing tariffs that are like “holding a knife to someone‘s throat”.　Speaking a day after Washington activated tariffs on $200 billion in Chinese goods, vice commerce minister Wang Shouwen said China is open to negotiations but that the two sides must treat each other “equally and with respect”.　“Now that the US has adopted this type of large-scale trade restrictions, they’re

SAN FRANCISCO, (AFP) -- Instagram co-founders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger are leaving the smartphone photo-sharing service bought by Facebook six years ago for a billion dollars, the New York Times reported late Monday citing unnamed sources.　Systrom and Krieger have resigned from their posts as chief executive and chief technology officer respectively, not giving reasons and saying they planned to take time off, according to the Times.　Facebook did not respond to a request for comment. FILE

UNITED NATIONS (AFP) -- One year after mobilizing the international community against North Korea, Donald Trump is trying to force another arch enemy to the negotiating table by targeting Iran with a similar campaign of “maximum pressure.”　But if North Korea‘s leader Kim Jong Un has seen his standing with the US president transformed in the 12 months since Trump’s United Nations debut, theprospects of Hassan Rouhani undergoing a similar transformation appear far from clear.　In his debut speech b

The European Union said Monday it would set up a legal entity to preserve oil and other business with Iran, in a bid to evade US sanctions after President Donald Trump withdrew from a nuclear agreement.　(Yonhap)The European Union and Iran, along with Russia and China, said they were determined to “protect the freedom of their economic operators to pursue legitimate business with Iran” in a statement issued after high-level talks at the United Nations. (AFP)

MANILA (AFP) -- Two women were killed Saturday in a landslide set off by Super Typhoon Mangkhut, Philippine police said, the first reported deaths in the massive storm. A man is hit by a wave while attempting to recover salvageable materials in Manila Bay, Manila, Philippines, Saturday. (Yonhap)　Officers in the city of Baguio recovered the women‘s bodies from the soil and rubble after a hillside collapsed from the typhoon’s heavy rains, said police Superintendent Pilita Tacio.

WASHINGTON (AP) --  A warmer world makes for nastier hurricanes. Scientists say they are wetter, possess more energy and intensify faster.Their storm surges are more destructive because climate change has already made the seas rise. And lately, the storms seem to be stalling more often and thus dumping more rain.Study after study shows that climate change in general makes hurricanes worse. But determining the role of global warming in a specific storm such as Hurricane Florence or Typhoon Mangkh

PALERMO, Italy  (AFP) -- Pope Francis visits the Italian island of Sicily on Saturday to pay homage to a priest murdered by the mafia 25 years ago after trying to save youngsters in poor neighbourhoods from falling into their hands.　The Argentinian pontiff‘s visit will be brief but is part of a wider campaign he has been waging against organised crime. 　He is expected to arrive in Palermo at 10:45 am (0845 GMT) and will say mass, then head to the Palermo parish where Father Giuseppe “Pino” Pugli

The United States has called an urgent meeting of the U.N. Security Council for Monday in response to what it says are efforts by some countries “to undermine and obstruct” sanctions against North Korea.　 　The U.S. Mission announced Friday evening that the meeting will “discuss the implementation and enforcement of U.N. sanctions on North Korea.”　 　The mission didn‘t name any countries, but U.S. Ambassador Nikki Haley accused Russia on Thursday of pressuring an independent panel of U.N. experts

An Indian court ruled there is enough evidence to send India‘s former U.N. climate chief Rajendra Pachauri to trial on charges of stalking and sexual harassment in a case filed by a former female colleague in New Delhi.　 　Magistrate Charu Gupta set Oct. 20 for pretrial proceedings.　 　Lawyer Ashish Dixit, who represented Pachauri before the magistrate on Friday, said there was no case against him and he will fight the charges during the trial, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. 　  In

Typhoon Mangkhut slammed into the Philippines‘ northeastern coast early Saturday, its ferocious winds and blinding rain ripping off tin roof sheets and knocking out power, and plowed through the agricultural region at the start of the onslaught.　 　The typhoon made landfall before dawn in the coastal town of Baggao in Cagayan province on the northern tip of Luzon Island, a breadbasket of flood-prone rice plains and mountain provinces often hit by landslides. More than 5 million people were at ris

PANISH FORK, Utah (AP) -- A raging Utah wildfire driven by high winds in dry terrain has the potential to decimate hundreds of homes if firefighters cannot get a handle on it in the next couple of days, the governor said Friday.　 　Gov. Gary Herbert, who spoke at the fairgrounds in Spanish Fork after getting a briefing from fire officials, said the terrain, visibility and wind are making things difficult.　 　“Boy, if you‘ve got any sway with the man upstairs, let’s see what we can do to help with

A South Korean tourist who had went snorkeling near Indonesia’s Lombok Island was found dead on the beach of the outlying Gili Trawangan Island. Another Korean tourist is missing. According to local police in Lombok on Thursday, the body of the 19-year-old was found by another tourist on Gili Trawangan on Wednesday afternoon. The victim was last seen leaving a hotel around 4 p.m. with snorkeling gear, along with a 22-year-old female friend, who is now missing.Police believe the couple could have