HONG KONG (AFP) - Hong Kong's leader on Wednesday bowed to a key demand of pro-democracy protesters following three months of unrest, announcing the withdrawal of a loathed extradition bill, but activists vowed to press on with their campaign.Millions of people have taken to Hong Kong's streets since June in the biggest challenge to China's rule of semi-autonomous Hong Kong since its handover from the British in 1997.After refusing for months to permanently withdraw the bill, which aimed to allo

TOKYO (AFP) -- In the "little Seoul" area of Tokyo, Japanese shoppers flock to get their fix of K-pop and Korean face cream, seemingly shrugging off a deep freeze in Japan-South Korean ties.Visitors to Shin-Okubo could be forgiven for thinking they had stumbled into a district in Seoul, with rows of restaurants serving kimchi and music shops selling the latest K-pop hits from BTS or Wanna One.And in contrast to South Korea where anger over a deterioration in bilateral ties has sparked

NASSAU, Bahamas (AFP) -- Weakening slightly but still packing a powerful punch, Hurricane Dorian churned along the southeastern coast of the United States on Tuesday after delivering a devastating blow to the Bahamas.Bahamas National Security Minister Marvin Dames said several children were among the five deaths reported in the Atlantic archipelago from the monster storm and predicted more fatalities."I can't see any way out of it," the Nassau Guardian newspaper quoted Dames as telling

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong's embattled leader insisted Tuesday she had no intention of stepping down after an audio recording emerged of her saying she wanted to quit over three months of unrest in the southern Chinese city.Hong Kong has endured dozens of sometimes violent pro-democracy protests triggered by opposition to Chief Executive Carrie Lam's bid to push through a law allowing extraditions to mainland China.The protests have evolved into a wider democracy campaign involving clashes bet

Myanmar's civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi has washed her hands of the Rohingya crisis, a UN rights investigator said Tuesday ahead of a meeting between South Korea's President Moon Jae-in and the tarnished democracy icon.Yanghee Lee, a university professor in Seoul who is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights to Myanmar, said Suu Kyi was "terribly misguided and misinformed" about the abuses against the stateless Muslim minority in her country.The Nobel laureate was und

WARSAW (AFP) -- German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Sunday asked Poland's forgiveness 80 years after Germany's attack triggered World War II while his Polish counterpart denounced Russia's recent "imperialist" aggression against its neighbours.Poland suffered some of the worst horrors of World War II: nearly six million Poles died in the conflict that killed more than 50 million people overall. That figure includes the six million Jews who died in the Holocaust, half of them Po

KIRYAT SHMONA (AFP) - Israel and Hezbollah exchanged fire along the Lebanese border on Sunday after a week of rising tensions, sparking fears of an escalation and prompting concern from world powers.Israel said it responded with around 100 artillery shells after Hezbollah fired two or three anti-tank missiles at a battalion headquarters and military ambulance, hitting both. Israeli officials refuted claims by the Iranian-backed movement that it had killed and wounded those inside the military ve

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The death toll in a chaotic mass shooting in Texas has risen to seven, the local police chief confirmed Sunday, adding that it might have been far worse had the shooter not been stopped before entering a crowded movie theater.On Sunday, police identified the shooter as a local man named Seth Aaron Ator, age 36. Police had said Saturday that five people died in the frantic shootout spread out over several miles on roads between the cities of Midland and Odessa in the west of t

HONG KONG -- Thousands of Hong Kong pro-democracy activists blocked some routes to the city's airport Sunday as the financial hub cleaned up after another night of violent protests marked by fires, tear gas and police beatings. Operators of the Airport Express train said it suspended services on Sunday afternoon, while black-clad protesters -- hiding from CCTV cameras under umbrellas -- built barricades at the airport bus station and attempted to stop traffic on the main road leading to terminal

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Chaos engulfed the heart of Hong Kong late Saturday, as police fired tear gas and water cannon at pro-democracy protesters who defied a ban on rallying, set fires, and hurled petrol bombs in some of the most intense clashes in months.Police had banned the demonstration on security grounds, and on Friday arrested several key activists and legislators in a dragnet on pro-democracy figures.But on Saturday afternoon tens of thousands of protesters under a colourful canopy of umbre

SHANGHAI (AFP) -- US retailer Costco was forced to cut short the opening day of its inaugural mainland China outlet over safety worries Tuesday after huge crowds of bargain-hunters swamped the store in suburban Shanghai.The massive warehouse outlet issued a notice to users of its official app in the early afternoon saying that it would no longer allow more customers through the doors, citing an "overcrowding" situation inside the store and traffic chaos in surrounding areas.Earlier in

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States on Wednesday called on Japan and South Korea to put aside differences and focus on challenges posed by China and North Korea as a rift showed no signs of easing.South Korea accused the mutual US ally of treating it as an adversary as Tokyo's decision effectively to degrade Seoul's trading status came into effect.The two nations have engaged in a tit-for-tat row stemming from a long-running dispute over Japan's use of forced labor during its colonial rule ove

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- South Korea's decision to end a military intelligence-sharing pact with Japan will benefit China and reduce the allies' ability to respond in crises with North Korea, US officials said Tuesday.Seoul said last week that it would exit the agreement as a row intensified over compensation of wartime forced labor by former colonial ruler Japan, which earlier ended preferential export treatment with South Korea."I don't think Beijing is unhappy about this outcome," a seni

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong police said Monday they were forced to fire water cannon and a warning shot to fend off "extremely violent"  demonstrators, following another weekend of clashes at pro-democracy rallies.Sunday's violence in the district of Tsuen Wan, around 10 kilometres (six miles) from the city centre, was some of the worst in 12 weeks of political unrest roiling the international financial hub.As night fell, a group of officers were cornered by protesters armed with

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong police used water cannon for the first time and at least one officer fired his sidearm during pitched battles with protesters Sunday, one of the most violent nights in three months of pro-democracy rallies that have rocked the city. An afternoon rally in the district of Tsuen Wan spiralled into violent running confrontations between protesters and police, with officers several times caught outnumbered and isolated by masked youths wielding sticks and throwing rocks.I