Foreign

Terrorist attack in Libya kills 33, injures over 70 others

MOSCOW -- At least 33 people were killed, while 71 others were injured as a result of a car bombing in Libya's northern city of Benghazi, local media reported on Wednesday.Two car bombs have been detonated with an interval of 30 minutes, Al Arabiya broadcaster reported.The incident occurred near a... Read More

ASEAN set to conclude RCEP talks this year

NEW DELHI -- The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is committed to concluding talks on the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) this year, according to ASEAN Secretary-General Datuk Lim Jock Hoi.Hoi said the leaders of the regional bloc had mandated the RCEP talks'... Read More

Large ancient tomb groups found in China

SHENYANG -- Two sites of ancient tombs dating back 1,000 years were discovered in northeast China's Liaoning Province, local archaeological authorities said Wednesday.The Liao Dynasty ‎(916-1125) tombs were unearthed at a cultural relic site in Kangping County in Shenyang City, after an... Read More

2018 Andrei Stenin int’l photo contest opens

RUSSIA -- A little over three years ago, in August 2014, Rossiya Segodnya’s photojournalist Andrei Stenin was killed in Donbass while performing his professional duty. He would have turned 37 in 2017.Andrei was famous for his photographs from hotspots, such as Syria, Gaza , Egypt, Libya,... Read More

Indonesia's strong quake damages dozens of houses

JAKARTA -- Dozens of houses were destroyed after a 6.1-magnitude earthquake rocked Indonesia's capital and Banten province on Tuesday, officials said here.An official of the national disaster management agency told Xinhua by phone that a total of 13 houses were damaged in Serang district of the... Read More

48th World Economic Forum opens in Davos; Trump message much awaited

DAVOS -- The World Economic Forum, set to kick off in the Swiss Alpine resort of Davos on Tuesday, will be held amid the most impressive global economic growth over the past 10 years and a positive outlook.This year’s forum will be attended by a record high number of political leaders. More... Read More

Over 30K stranded in Japan due to heavy snow

TOKYO -- The heavy snowfall in Japan had resulted in cancellation and delay of dozens of flights that affected over 32,000 people, the Aviation Wire flights monitor said on Tuesday.According to the Aviation Wire, the Japan Airlines alone cancelled 124 domestic and 20 international flights on Monday,... Read More

Foreign exchange market to be stable in 2018: Vietnam bank

HÀ NỘI -- Commercial banks are optimistic about the foreign exchange market in 2018, noting that the market would be stable with the Vietnamese đồng devaluing slightly by some 0.5-1 percentage points to VNĐ22,710 to VNĐ22,950.According to the Bank for Investment and Development of... Read More

15 injured as Japan’s Mt. Kusatsu-Shirane erupts

TOKYO -- Mount Kusatsu-Shirane in Gunma Prefecture, northwest of Tokyo, erupted on Tuesday morning, the weather agency said, triggering a nearby avalanche.Around 15 people were injured as a result of the eruption, local firefighters said, with four people caught up in the neighboring avalanche at... Read More

UN strongly condemns terrorist attack on Kabul hotel

UNITED NATIONS -- UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the head of the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) Tadamichi Yamamoto have strongly condemned a terrorist attack on a hotel in Afghan capital, Kabul.In a statement released on Sunday, Guterres offered his deepest condolences to... Read More

Regional countries discuss maritime law

KHÁNH HOÀ -- Government officials and scholars from 22 countries and international organizations gathered in the central coastal city of Nha Trang on Thursday to kick off the first activity to implement the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) ministerial statement on cooperation among maritime... Read More

Flu kills 24 people in Ireland

DUBLIN -- A total of 24 people in Ireland have died from flu so far this season, local health officials said on Thursday.Dr. Kevin Kelleher, health officer of the Health Service Executive (HSE), a government-run body providing all public health services in the country, said that the majority of the... Read More

NoKor confirms Winter Olympics deal with SoKor

PYONGYANG -- North Korea on Wednesday confirmed an agreement had been reached with South Korea on "the scale and action programs" of its participation in the Pyeongchang Winter Olympics next month.The official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) said the working level talks between North Korea and... Read More

ISS orbit to be raised by 600 meters

MOSCOW -- The orbit of the International Space Station (ISS) would be raised by approximately 600 meters on Wednesday, a Russian Mission Control Center official said."Engines of the Zvezda service module will be switched on for 22 seconds, according to preliminary estimates, the average height of... Read More

Myanmar plans to extradite extremists from Bangladesh

YANGON-- Myanmar's foreign ministry has informed Bangladesh of its possible extradition of some members of the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA) extremist terrorists, media reports said Wednesday.According to the ministry, a list of more than 1,300 ARSA members had been sent to Bangladesh at the... Read More

Yellow fever threatens Brazil: WHO

RIO DE JANEIRO -- The World Health Organization (WHO) has issued a warning on Tuesday to foreign travelers headed to Sao Paulo state, the most populated area region in Brazil, cautioning the state was at risk for yellow fever.The warning was issued after an unusually large outbreak of the disease,... Read More

Winter storm knocks out power across Houston

HOUSTON -- Nearly 7,600 customers were without power in and around the U.S. city of Houston as major cold front dropped temperatures in southeast Texas on Tuesday, the CenterPoint Energy reported.The electric and natural gas utility, which is headquartered in Houston, Texas and is a domestic energy... Read More

Vietnam likely to raise retirement ages

HANOI -- The Vietnamese Ministry of Labor, Invalids and Social Affairs has proposed raising retirement ages from the current 60 to 62 for men and from 55 to 60 for women from 2021.Increasing retirement ages would ensure the balance of the timeframe, the social insurance employees' payment, and the... Read More

Hundreds of families affected by powerful quake in Peru

MEXICO CITY -- More than 100 people have been injured as a powerful 6.8-magnitude earthquake hit off the coast of Peru, the country's National Emergency Operations Center (COEN) said in a statement Monday, citing Peru's National Institute for Civil Defense."The number of injured increased to 104,... Read More

Bridge collapse kills 10 in central Colombia

BOGOTA -- At least 10 people were killed on Monday when a bridge under construction in central Colombia collapsed.Another two people were missing and four others were injured when the structure fell along a tract of a highway that linked the capital Bogota with the nearby city of Villavicencio,... Read More