Russia’s Constitutional Court rejects Putin critic Navalny’s election complaint: RIA
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s Constitutional Court has refused to review a complaint from opposition leader Alexei Navalny over a ban on him running in a March presidential election citing legal problems with it, the RIA news agency reported on Friday.
North Korea may hold military parade on eve of Olympics, analysts say
SEOUL (Reuters) – North Korea may be preparing to hold a military parade on the eve of next month’s winter Olympics in South Korea, analysts and diplomats say, even as the two countries have sought to mend ties.
Russia’s Putin takes dip in icy lake to mark Orthodox Epiphany
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin stripped off to his bathing trunks and immersed himself in the freezing waters of a lake late on Thursday, observing an Orthodox Christian ritual to mark the feast of Epiphany.
China says sunken Iranian tanker may be leaking bunker fuel
BEIJING (Reuters) – Bunker fuel may now be leaking from the Iranian oil tanker that sank in the East China Sea last Sunday, China’s State Oceanic Administration (SOA) said, underlining fears for contamination from the world’s worst oil ship disaster in…
Duterte says may ban sending Filipinos to work in Kuwait due to abuses
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte is considering banning workers being sent to Kuwait because of abuses he said were being inflicted on Filipino domestic helpers there and which led to several committing suicide in recent months.
China detains rights lawyer critical of President Xi Jinping: wife
BEIJING (Reuters) – Beijing authorities on Friday took outspoken rights lawyer Yu Wensheng into custody as he was taking his child to school, his wife told Reuters, days after Yu said he was stripped of his legal license for criticizing President Xi Ji…
Japan criticizes U.S. for military flights over school in Okinawa
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan criticized the U.S. military on Friday for breaking a pledge to avoid flying helicopters over a school next to its base in Okinawa, a rare flash of discord with Tokyo’s main ally.
Families of missing Japanese to urge prosecution of North Korean leader at Hague court
TOKYO (Reuters) – The families of Japanese abducted by North Korea, and those believed to have been taken, will urge the International Criminal Court to prosecute the North’s leader, saying the lack of information about their loved ones is a human righ…
South Korea President Moon’s approval rating drops on Olympics furor
SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korean President Moon Jae-in’s approval rating has fallen to a four-month low, a poll showed on Friday, after a public backlash over a decision for South and North Korea to field a joint ice hockey team at next month’s Winter Ol…
Car plows through Copacabana sidewalk, kills baby, injures 15
RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – A speeding car plowed through evening strollers on a crowded sidewalk of Rio’s famed Copacabana beach on Thursday in an apparent accident, killing an 8-month old baby and injuring 15 people, police said.
