Philippine trial of Chinese fishermen stalls without interpreter
MANILA (Reuters) – A Philippine case against nine Chinese fishermen caught with hundreds of marine turtles in a disputed South China Sea shoal was delayed on Tuesday due to the lack of an interpreter, which one prosecutor said was due to pressure from …
Top China diplomat to visit Vietnam in possible thaw over oil rig
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s top diplomat will visit Vietnam on Wednesday in a sign the two countries want to ease tensions over China’s deployment of an oil rig in the disputed South China Sea, but experts said there were many obstacles to healing the …
South Africa platinum firms, union agree ‘in principle’ offer: Implats
JOHANNESBURG (Reuters) – South Africa’s platinum producers and union AMCU have agreed on a broad wage offer to end a protracted strike but details such as the timeframe and additional benefits are still outstanding, Impala Platinum said on Tuesday.
Accused South Korea ferry crew say rescue was coastguard’s job
GWANGJU South Korea (Reuters) – The surviving crew of a South Korean ferry that sank in April killing more than 300 people and sparking a nationwide outpouring of grief argued on Tuesday that it was up to the coastguard to rescue the passengers, not th…
Thai rice farmers paid $2.9 billion of arrears, state bank says
BANGKOK (Reuters) – Thailand’s military government has paid rice farmers all the arrears of 92.4 billion baht ($2.86 billion) owed under a controversial state purchase scheme, a senior official of the bank that funded the program said on Tuesday.
Norway’s Statoil says could boost gas to EU, but cannot replace Russia
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Norway’s Statoil could increase gas supplies to the European Union but would not be able to replace Russian gas, CEO Helge Lund said on Tuesday, a day after Moscow cut off supplies to Ukraine over a price dispute.
Concerns rise over China’s detention of Uighur scholar
BEIJING (Reuters) – Concerns about the prolonged detention in China of prominent Uighur academic Ilham Tohti are rising amid a crackdown by Beijing on Islamist separatists it says are seeking to establish an independent state in the far west.
‘Cyberattack’ threatens online vote on Hong Kong reforms, organizer says
HONG KONG (Reuters) – A cyberattack on a voting website threatens to derail an unofficial referendum on democratic reform in Hong Kong, seen as a gauge of the desire for change in the former British colony that reverted to Chinese rule in 1997, an orga…
Egypt swears in new government to tackle economic woes
CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt’s Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb was sworn in on Tuesday at the head of a new government that retained key economic and security ministers but created a new investment post to attract funds to an economy racked by years of politi…
China’s army eases curbs to draw more educated recruits: paper
SHANGHAI (Reuters) – China’s military is setting its sights on better educated entrants, relaxing height, weight and vision requirements while cutting back on candidates without high school diplomas, the China Daily said on Tuesday.
