The Fiji Times

North Korean defectors see uncertain future in Korean reconciliation

SEOUL (Reuters) – Thae Yong Ho, one of the highest profile North Koreans to defect in recent years, had hoped to visit New York last month to speak on a United Nations panel, meet U.S. envoys, and discuss human rights in the reclusive Asian nation. Only a year ago, Thae testified before a congressional committee,...

Sri Lanka has no PM or cabinet after no-confidence vote – parliament’s Speaker

COLOMBO (Reuters) – The Speaker of Sri Lanka’s parliament, Karu Jayasuriya, on Thursday said that in his view the country did not have a prime minister or cabinet after Wednesday’s no-confidence vote. The parliament passed the no-confidence motion against recently appointed prime minister Mahinda Rajapaksa and his government, with the backing of 122 lawmakers from...

At least 56 killed, 130 missing in California’s deadliest wildfire

PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) – National Guard troops joined the grim search on Wednesday for more victims in the ruins of an incinerated northern California town while the death toll climbed to 56 in the most deadly and destructive wildfire in the state’s history. The latest fatality count was announced as authorities released a revised list...

American Airlines ‘unaware’ of some Boeing 737 MAX functions until last week – spokesman

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – American Airlines Group Inc <AAL.O> said on Wednesday it was “unaware” of some functions of an anti-stall system on Boeing Co’s <BA.N> 737 MAX until last week. Boeing and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) issued guidance on the system last week after a Lion Air jet crashed in Indonesia on Oct....

Pence says ’empire and aggression’ have no place in Indo-Pacific

SINGAPORE (Reuters) – U.S. Vice President Mike Pence told leaders of Southeast Asian nations on Thursday that there is no place for “empire and aggression” in the Indo-Pacific region, a comment that may be widely interpreted as a reference to China’s rise. Pence did not mention China in his remarks at the opening of a...

Japan cybersecurity and Olympics minister: “I’ve never used a computer”

TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan’s recently appointed cybersecurity and Olympics minister has told parliament he has never used a computer in his life, though he is responsible for overseeing cybersecurity preparations for the 2020 Tokyo Summer Games. Yoshitaka Sakurada, 68, was named to the two posts last month by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, having never held...

From fugitive to governor, a Peruvian mining foe rises again

LIMA (Reuters) – For most of this year, Walter Aduviri, the governor-elect of Peru’s Andean region of Puno, had been a fugitive. The indigenous activist, 38, went into hiding after losing a sedition trial last year over deadly protests he led against Canadian mining company Bear Creek in 2011. All that changed in October. His...

‘Not enough room’ – migrant flows strain Mexican border shelters

TIJUANA, Mexico (Reuters) – The arrival in the Mexican border city of Tijuana of the first few hundred travellers from migrant caravans is stretching to the limit shelters already overflowing with other people, and sparking signs of friction among the population. Lugging heavy bundles and small children, an unprecedented caravan of thousands of mostly Honduran...

Michael Avenatti arrested in Los Angeles on suspicion of domestic violence

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Attorney Michael Avenatti, who represents adult film star Stormy Daniels in her legal battles with U.S. President Donald Trump, was arrested in Los Angeles on Wednesday on suspicion of domestic violence, a police spokesman said. Los Angeles Police Department spokesman Jeff Lee said no further details were immediately available, but he...

British PM May suffers severe blow over Brexit as ministers quit

LONDON (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit secretary and other ministers quit one by one on Thursday, striking at the heart of a draft divorce deal with the European Union she is struggling to save. Just over 12 hours after May announced that her team of top ministers had agreed to the terms...

Marie-Antoinette jewels soar at ‘once in a lifetime’ sale: Sotheby’s

GENEVA (Reuters) – A royal treasure trove including jewels that belonged to French Queen Marie-Antoinette fetched 53.5 million Swiss francs ($53.2 million) on Wednesday, as collectors snapped up rare historic gems fresh to the market, Sotheby’s said. Held in private European collections for more than 200 years, 10 royal jewels that belonged to the ill-fated...

Pubic hair and eight-pack abs: it’s got to be Michelangelo

LONDON (Reuters) – A team of researchers led by Fitzwilliam Museum at Cambridge University has collected what they say is clear evidence to confirm a claim that two bronze sculptures of muscular men riding panthers were the only surviving bronzes by Michelangelo. The proof, they say, is all in some fairly precise anatomical detail. The...

At least 56 killed, more than 100 missing in California wildfire

PARADISE, Calif. (Reuters) – The remains of eight more victims were found on Wednesday in and around a northern California town overrun by flames last week, raising the death toll to 56 in a wildfire disaster that ranks as the most lethal and destructive in the state’s history. (Deadly California fires: https://tmsnrt.rs/2Plpuui) The latest fatality...

Archaeologists discover 15th century indigenous tombs in Bolivia

LA PAZ (Reuters) – A team of archaeologists in Bolivia said they have discovered tombs containing over a hundred bundles of artefacts and human remains dating more than 500 years old that belonged to an indigenous civilization that once inhabited the region. Bolivia’s Ministry of Cultures and Tourism authorized the dig more than three months...

Frigid planet detected orbiting nearby star

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – A frozen and dimly lit planet, dubbed a “Super-Earth,” may be orbiting the closest single star to our solar system, astronomers said on Wednesday, based on two decades of scientific observations. The planet, estimated to be at least 3.2 times more massive than Earth, was spotted circling Barnard’s Star, a type of...

Trump’s baseless voter fraud allegations could hurt U.S. faith in elections

(Reuters) – More than a dozen times in the past seven days, President Donald Trump has alleged, contrary to evidence, that the recount of Florida’s elections for governor and the U.S. Senate has been marred by fraud. “Many ballots are missing or forged,” he tweeted on Monday. “Ballots massively infected.” The unsubstantiated allegations could help...

California wildfire victims sue utility PG&E alleging negligence

(Reuters) – Victims of California’s deadliest wildfire have filed a lawsuit against PG&E Corp <PCG.N> alleging negligence and health and safety code violations by the utility company in the blaze that has killed at least 48 people. The lawsuit seeking damages against California’s largest public utility was filed on Tuesday in San Francisco County Superior...

Jury clears J&J of liability in California talc cancer case

(Reuters) – A California jury on Wednesday cleared Johnson & Johnson <JNJ.N> of liability in a case involving a woman who alleged that the company’s talc-based products, including its baby powder, contain asbestos and caused her cancer, the company said. The jury in Humboldt County Superior Court in Eureka, California rejected claims by Carla Allen...

CEO of Walmart’s India venture resigns after sexual assault accusation: source

(Reuters) – The chief executive of Flipkart Group, Walmart Inc’s <WMT.N> Indian e-commerce business, resigned following an internal probe into accusations of “serious personal misconduct,” Walmart said Tuesday. The misconduct accusations followed an allegation of sexual assault, two people familiar with the matter said. The departure of Binny Bansal, 37, one of the co-founders of...

U.N. Security Council removes Eritrea sanctions after years

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) – The U.N. Security Council unanimously voted on Wednesday to lift a nearly decade-old arms embargo and targeted sanctions on Eritrea after a rapprochement with Ethiopia and thawing of relations with Djibouti. The British-drafted resolution also urged Eritrea and Djibouti to work towards normalizing ties and settling a border dispute. It asks...

After aborted mission, NASA astronaut confident about December launch

(Reuters) – The American astronaut who will hitch the first ride on a Russian rocket since last month’s aborted launch and dramatic emergency landing is confident that her scheduled trip in December on a rocket that she calls a “workhorse” will go smoothly. Astronaut Anne McClain, along with a Russian cosmonaut and a Canadian astronaut,...

UK forced to accelerate planned reform to gambling regulations

LONDON (Reuters) – The British government bowed to increasing pressure from lawmakers on Wednesday by bringing forward a planned reform of gambling regulations by six months. Culture minister Jeremy Wright said a previously announced cut to the maximum stake on fixed-odds betting terminals (FOBTs) would now take place next April. Last month, the government announced...

Thousands flee as Taliban attack Afghanistan’s ‘safe’ districts

GHAZNI, Afghanistan/KABUL (Reuters) – Thousands of members of Afghanistan’s mainly Shi’ite Hazara ethnic minority have fled their homes in the central province of Ghazni as the Taliban have pressed into two previously safe districts, officials and witnesses said on Wednesday. In heavy fighting over recent days, hundreds of Taliban fighters have seized large areas of...

U.S. safety board holds hearing on fatal Southwest engine explosion

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board opened an investigative hearing on Wednesday into the fatal engine explosion on a Southwest Airlines <LUV.N> Boeing 737 that killed one passenger. Dallas-based Southwest has been under scrutiny since an engine on a flight headed from New York to Dallas blew apart in mid-air over Pennsylvania,...

British queen pays tribute to son Prince Charles as he turns 70

LONDON (Reuters) – Britain’s Queen Elizabeth paid tribute to her “duchy original” son Prince Charles as he celebrated his 70th birthday on Wednesday at a party at Buckingham Palace. “It is a privilege for any mother to be able to propose a toast to her son on his 70th birthday,” the queen said at the...

Bangladesh police break up opposition protest as election nears

DHAKA (Reuters) – Bangladesh police fired rubber bullets and tear gas at opposition party supporters in the capital Dhaka on Wednesday as tension soared weeks before a general election. Activists of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party (BNP) set fire to police vans, cars and motorbikes, according to police and media. “Our force was attacked without any...

Calls for end to Yemen war offer little hope for hungry children

TAIZ, Yemen (Reuters) – Lying on a dust-covered bed in a hospital ward in the Yemeni city of Taiz, 10-year-old Ghazi Mohammed barely has enough energy to watch doctors and nurses examine his emaciated body. The boy weighs 8.5 kg (18 lb), less than a third of the average weight of a child his age....

Turkish court sentences journalist to 19 years jail over Gulen links

ISTANBUL (Reuters) – A court sentenced Turkish journalist Ali Unal to 19 years in jail on Wednesday on a charge of being a leader in the network accused of carrying out a failed coup in July 2016, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported. The ruling followed a sustained crackdown in the wake of the coup attempt,...

Austria says it will not expel any Russians over spy case

VIENNA (Reuters) – Austria will not unilaterally expel any Russian diplomats in response to a case in which an Austrian army colonel is suspected of having spied for Moscow for 26 years, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday. The case, which was made public on Friday and is being investigated by prosecutors, is an embarrassment...

World

16th November

Japanese, South Korean trawlers collide in Sea of Japan, 13 rescued