Despite the heavy casualties it has suffered in the war between Russia and Ukraine, North Korea appears to have sent more troops to Russia as its soldiers re-entered frontline combat, South Korea’s spy agency said on Thursday. The National Intelligence Service, South Korea’s main spy agency, said it was still trying to assess the size … Read more
Thailand on Thursday sent back 40 “illegal immigrants” to China, Chinese state media reported, hours after rights groups warned that Thailand was on the verge of repatriating dozens of Uyghur men who had fled persecution in China. The Uyghurs, a Muslim minority in China, face possible torture and long-term imprisonment upon return to that country, … Read more
The founding family of 7-Eleven’s Japanese parent company has failed to secure the money to buy it out, the company said Thursday, months after they launched a bid worth over $50 billion to fend off a foreign takeover. Seven & i Holdings, which sits atop a vast network of 85,000 convenience stores, primarily in Asia … Read more
The job advertisement promised a fat salary in a modern metropolis. Fisher, a 27-year-old Ethiopian who had studied electrical engineering, convinced his father to sell the family farmland — where generations had grown mangoes, avocados and teff, an ancient grain — to pay for a ticket to Bangkok. The car ride to his new workplace, … Read more
There are usually no international flights out of the airport in Mae Sot, a town on Thailand’s border with Myanmar. But in recent days, hundreds of people here boarded direct flights back home to China. They had been rescued from Myanmar, where they were ensnared in a 21st-century scourge — online scam mills that have … Read more
Hamas and Israel to move forward with another swap What may be the last hostage exchange of this phase of the cease-fire was set to go forward late last night. Israel and Hamas have agreed to exchange the remains of four Israelis for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, Israel said, and mediators guaranteed that Hamas would … Read more
President Trump’s intense interest in Ukraine’s minerals seemed to come from out of the blue. He dispatched his Treasury secretary to Kyiv this month to negotiate with Ukraine’s leader, then began ratcheting up the pressure publicly in what appeared to critics like a Mafia don’s extortion scheme. “I want security of the rare earth,” he … Read more
Drake, whose new album topped the Billboard 200 chart this week after Kendrick Lamar had made him a punchline at the Super Bowl halftime show, has canceled four tour dates in Australia and New Zealand because of a “scheduling conflict,” representatives for the rapper said on Wednesday. It was not immediately clear what the conflict … Read more
President Trump’s tough talk on China typically centers on tariffs. But a closer look at the decisions he has made since taking office shows that the president is considering a far wider set of economic restrictions on Beijing, ones that could hasten America’s split from a critical trading partner. The Trump administration has so far … Read more
The Trump administration has opened a broad new front in its global trade conflict, proposing to affix levies reaching $1.5 million on Chinese-made ships arriving at American ports. Such fees would apply even on vessels made elsewhere if they are operated by carriers whose fleets include Chinese ships — an approach that risks increasing costs … Read more