China’s Tianjin city issues first 2018 Level 2 pollution alert from March 1
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s smog-prone port city of Tianjin issued its first level 2 “orange” pollution alert this year effective from March 1, the city government said in a statement on its website on Wednesday.
Afghan President Ghani makes offer to Taliban for peace talks
KABUL (Reuters) – Afghan President Ashraf Ghani offered recognition of the Taliban as a legitimate political group, as part of a proposed political process that could lead to peace talks aimed at ending more than 16 years of war.
Lebanon’s Hariri leaves for Riyadh on first visit since ‘resignation’
BEIRUT (Reuters) – Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri left for Riyadh late on Tuesday, his media office said, for his first to the Saudi capital since he abruptly resigned there in November.
Thousands of Rohingya flee ‘no man’s land’ after resettlement talks
DHAKA/YANGON (Reuters) – – Thousands of Rohingya Muslims have fled a strip of land on the border between Myanmar and Bangladesh after the two countries met to discuss resettling them, an official and a community leader said.
Papua New Guinea officials say whole villages flattened by deadly quake
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Whole villages were flattened and water sources spoiled by a powerful earthquake that killed at least 20 people, residents said on Wednesday as rescuers struggled to reach the hardest-hit areas in Papua New Guinea’s remote, mountaino…
South Korea presidential adviser says U.S.-South Korea drills to start early April: Yonhap
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea and the United States will start in early April a joint military exercise postponed until after the Winter Olympics and Paralympics, a South Korean presidential security adviser said according to Yonhap news agency.
U.S.-Russian crew returns from space station: NASA TV
(Reuters) – A capsule carrying two U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut from the International Space Station landed in snowy Kazakhstan on Wednesday after a five-and-a-half month mission, a NASA TV live broadcast showed.
South Korea complains to Chinese ambassador for military jet in South Korea’s airspace
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea summoned the Chinese ambassador on Tuesday to lodge a complaint over a Chinese military aircraft entering the South’s air defense territory, the second such incident this year, the foreign ministry said on Wednesday.
Venezuela’s Falcon runs against Maduro for presidency, defying opposition
CARACAS (Reuters) – Venezuelan politician Henri Falcon on Tuesday defied a call by the country’s political opposition to boycott an April presidential election and said he would run against President Nicolas Maduro.
Rohingya refugees test Bangladeshi welcome as prices rise and repatriation stalls
KUTUPALONG REFUGEE CAMP, Bangladesh (Reuters) – The first Rohingya refugees who arrived on Jorina Katun’s farmland in Bangladesh last year were worn out and traumatized after fleeing violence in neighboring Myanmar. They wept and begged to stay, and Ka…
