TOKYO -- Typhoon Ampil is expected to make landfall in Japan on Friday, the country's weather forecasters said Wednesday of what will be the second weather system to strike the archipelago in a week. The Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA) forecasts that the slow-moving typhoon, currently south of Japan, will close in on the eastern or northern part of the country Friday through Saturday with a "strong force." In an advisory at 5:05 p.m., Typhoon Ampil was packing gusts of up to 162

South Korean police said Monday they were investigating a YouTuber who vlogged about undergoing a late-term abortion, sparking online outrage and calls from the country's health ministry for a murder probe. The woman, whose identity police withheld, claimed in a video posted on Google-owned YouTube in June to have undergone an abortion in her thirty-sixth week of pregnancy, saying she had only discovered she was pregnant very late in the process. The footage, which was later deleted, quickl

Diplomatic pressure mounted Monday to avoid an escalation between Iran and Israel following high-profile killings that have sent regional tensions soaring, while numerous governments urged their citizens to leave Lebanon. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said late Sunday that his country was "determined to stand against" Iran and its allied armed groups "on all fronts." As its war against Iran-backed Hamas in Gaza nears its 11th month, Israel has been bracing for ret

WASHINGTON -- Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump said late Friday that he had agreed to debate his Democratic opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, on Fox News on Sept. 4. "I have agreed with FoxNews to debate Kamala Harris on Wednesday, September 4th," Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform. It was not immediately clear if Harris had agreed to the debate. Trump's post came hours after the vice president had secured the Democratic Party's nomination as standar

Landslides in southwest China on Saturday destroyed homes and caused a highway bridge to collapse, killing at least two people and leaving around 17 others missing, authorities said. State broadcaster CCTV said "local mountain torrents and landslides" swept away part of Ridi village in Garze Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture, Sichuan province. The disasters killed two people and left 12 missing, CCTV reported, adding that "the disaster situation is undergoing further verification.&quo

The International Olympic Committee apologized Saturday for a gaffe during the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympics in which South Korean athletes were incorrectly introduced as North Korean. As the South Korean delegation sailed down the Seine River in the French capital, they were introduced with the official name for North Korea: "Republique populaire democratique de Coree" in French, then "Democratic People's Republic of Korea" in English. "We deeply apologise

PARIS (AFP) -- Thousands of athletes are set to sail through central Paris on Friday during an unprecedented and high-risk Olympics opening ceremony that will showcase the country's hugely ambitious vision for the Games. The parade on Friday evening will see up to 7,500 competitors travel down a six-kilometer stretch of the river Seine on a flotilla of 85 boats. Compared to the Covid-blighted 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which were delayed by a year and opened in an empty stadium, the Paris show wi

PARIS (AFP) -- Plans for the opening ceremony at the Paris Olympics -- the first time a Summer Games will start outside a stadium -- have been a closely guarded secret. Here is what we know about the concept, the artists and the music: What's the concept? Instead of using the main athletics stadium for the opening parade, as is customary, organizers have moved the event outside and into the heart of the capital -- in keeping with their motto "Games Wide Open." Around 6,000-7,000

North Korean sweet wrappers and packets of crackers made at a factory once visited by leader Kim Jong Un were seen by AFP reporters on streets in the South Korean capital Wednesday. The nuclear-armed North has sent thousands of balloons carrying bags of trash southwards since May, in a tit-for-tat propaganda war between the two Koreas, with Seoul blasting K-pop and anti-regime messages from loudspeakers along the border in return. South Korea's military warned of a fresh batch of balloons e

WASHINGTON (AFP) - For years Kamala Harris faced criticism that she was not up to the job of being a heartbeat away from the US presidency. Now, she finds herself feted by Democrats as their best hope to stop Donald Trump's comeback. Despite blazing a trail as the first woman, Black and South Asian vice president in the nation's history, the 59-year-old Democrat long struggled with approval ratings as bad or worse than President Joe Biden's. The last 12 months, however, have revea

Joe Biden wanted to save the "soul of America" from Donald Trump, but his stubborn defiance of the march of time threatened to clear his rival's path back to power. Biden caved in to growing pressure Sunday and announced he is dropping out of the presidential race, amid concerns over his mental acuity and ability to beat Trump and serve four more years. His decision saw him hailed as a "patriot of the highest order" by his one-time boss, former president Barack Obama. Bu

Joe Biden's withdrawal from the US election offers Democrats the precious opportunity for a late reset in a campaign that was going badly -- but ushers in an uncertain few weeks that will make or break their chances against Donald Trump. Grassroots voters will hope to be better served than they were during the initial nomination race, when Democrats put up no serious competition to the 81-year-old president's candidacy despite worries over his age. "Remarkable leadership shown by

The powerful sister of North Korean leader Kim Jong-un slammed South Korean "scum" on Sunday for launching anti-regime propaganda leaflets across the border via balloon, warning they would pay "a very high price." The Korean peninsula has seen tit-for-tat balloon campaigns in recent weeks, with Pyongyang floating trash-filled balloons southward in protest of ones carrying propaganda leaflets sent northward by South Korean activists. Kim Yo-jong, a key regime spokesperson, sai

Germany said Thursday it will phase out the use of components from Chinese telecom giants Huawei and ZTE in its 5G networks in the coming years due to national security concerns. Parts from the firms will no longer be used in "core" 5G mobile networks by the end of 2026 at the latest, the interior ministry said. In 5G access and transmission infrastructure, the systems of the telecom firms must be replaced by the end of 2029. "We are protecting the central nervous systems of Germa

KOUROU, French Guiana (AFP) -- Europe's new Ariane 6 rocket successfully blasted off for the first time on Tuesday, releasing satellites into orbit and restoring the continent's independent access to space. European space efforts have suffered a series of blows, including four years of delays to Ariane 6, that have robbed the continent of its own way to launch missions into space for the past year. But with the successful inaugural flight of Europe's most powerful rocket yet, Euro