New Zealand warns of security risk from China’s influence in Pacific
New Zealand warned in a defense report on Friday that China’s rising influence in the South Pacific could undermine regional stability, in comments likely to stoke bilateral tension.
Turkey’s Erdogan vows more efficient government, non-party ministers
President Tayyip Erdogan promised on Friday to make government more efficient when Turkey’s new executive presidency is inaugurated next week, saying the new cabinet would include ministers not from his AK Party.
EU to make new proposal on protecting external borders: Juncker
The European Commission will make a new proposal on how to protect the European Union’s external borders in September, President Jean-Claude Juncker said.
Thai helicopters, divers search for 29 from sunken tourist boat
Rescuers in Thailand deployed helicopters on Friday in a search for 29 people still missing after the sinking of a tourist boat off the island of Phuket, as the death toll in the incident rose to 27.
Putin says World Cup has broken stereotypes about Russia
Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday that his country’s hosting of the soccer World Cup had helped debunk stereotypes about it.
Pompeo hopes to ‘fill in’ details on denuclearization on North Korea trip
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo met North Korean officials in Pyongyang on Friday, hoping to “fill in” details on how to dismantle the North’s nuclear program and recover the remains of U.S. troops missing from the Korean War.
In Thai jungle above trapped boys, alternative rescue effort ramps up
Rescue teams thrashed through dense forest hundreds of meters above a cave complex on Friday, searching for an alternative way to extract 12 boys and their soccer coach trapped inside for nearly two weeks.
Japan executes leader, six followers, of sarin attack doomesday cult
Japan executed on Friday the former leader of a doomsday cult and six other members of the group that carried out a sarin gas attack on the Tokyo subway in 1995, killing 13 people and shattering the country’s myth of public safety.
Ghosts of past massacres haunt Zimbabwe’s Mnangagwa before election
Zimbabwean President Emmerson Mnangagwa’s bid to seal his position in a July 30 election is meant to mark a break with Robert Mugabe’s violence-tainted rule. But massacres that took place decades ago are coming back to haunt him.
Still no justice, says Spanish woman a decade after daughter killed in Pamplona
A decade has passed since her daughter was beaten and strangled to death at Pamplona’s annual bull-running festival, but Asuncion Casasola says there is still no justice for women affected by violence in Spain.
