12 September 2013 Last updated at 09:21 GMT
Southeast Asia
MANILA - As the Philippines prepares for a new defense agreement to enable an expanded US "rotational" military presence on its soil, bilateral relations with China have taken a turn for the worse. Amid uncertainties over a diplomatic resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, there is growing worry over how deteriorating Philippine-China relations could escalate.
Shortly after US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's high-profile visit to Manila in late August, a trip that signaled Washington's resolve to step-up its military footprint in the Philippines as part of its broader "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific region, China took the unprecedented decision to rescind its invitation to Philippine
President Benigno Aquino to the 10th ASEAN-China Expo (CAEXPO) in Nanning, China.
Syria crisis: Russia's Putin issues plea to US over Syria
Russian President Vladimir Putin has made a direct personal appeal to the American people over the Syrian crisis.
In an opinion article in the New York Times, he warns that a US military strike against Syria could unleash a new wave of terrorism.
He says millions of people see the US not as a model of democracy but as relying on brute force.
The US and Russia are due to hold talks in Geneva later over Syria's chemical weapons arsenal.
Moscow, an ally of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has proposed putting the weapons under international control before destroying them.
North Korea suspected of restarting Yongbyon nuclear reactor
Satellite imagery shows reactor capable of producing plutonium for weapons is likely to be operating, says US research institute
Satellite imagery suggests North Korea has restarted a research reactor capable of producing plutonium for weapons at its Yongbyon nuclear complex, a US research institute and a US official have said.
The US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies said a satellite image from 31 August showed white steam rising from a building near the hall that houses the plutonium production reactor's steam turbines and electric generators.
"The white colouration and volume are consistent with steam being vented because the electrical generating system is about to come online, indicating that the reactor is in or nearing operation," said the Washington-based institute.
Thousands of Catalans form ‘human chain’ as part of push for independence
Echoing chain organised by Baltic states seeking to break from Soviet Union in 1989, Catalan one stretches 400km
Guy Hedgecoe
Catalans demanding independence from Spain linked arms across their region yesterday in a “human chain” which they hope will advance their ambition of holding a referendum next year on home rule, despite opposition from the central government.
Echoing the human chain organised by Baltic states seeking to break from the Soviet Union in 1989, this one stretched 400km (250 miles) across the Catalan region, from Spain’s northern border with France down along the Mediterranean coast. Despite outbreaks of rain, the event brought several hundred thousand Catalans out on to the streets.
September 11th is known as the Diada, Catalonia’s national day, which marks the anniversary of the defeat of the region’s troops by Bourbon forces in 1714. Yesterday’s human chain, under the slogan “The Catalan way towards independence”, took place at the historically significant time of 17:14 (5.14pm).
Mali army, rebels clash for first time since peace deal
(Reuters) - Three Malian soldiers were wounded in clashes with separatist Tuareg rebels on Wednesday, the army said, the first clashes since the two sides signed a ceasefire deal in June.
The fighting took place near the western town of Lere and comes a week after President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita was sworn in, highlighting simmering tensions as he seeks to secure an end cycles of uprisings by northern rebels.
Last year's rebellion triggered a coup and was then hijacked by better-armed al Qaeda-linked Islamists, who seized northern Mali. France sent thousands of soldiers to its former colony in January to halt the Islamists' march southward.
Southeast Asia
Sep 12, '13
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MANILA - As the Philippines prepares for a new defense agreement to enable an expanded US "rotational" military presence on its soil, bilateral relations with China have taken a turn for the worse. Amid uncertainties over a diplomatic resolution of territorial disputes in the South China Sea, there is growing worry over how deteriorating Philippine-China relations could escalate.
Shortly after US Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel's high-profile visit to Manila in late August, a trip that signaled Washington's resolve to step-up its military footprint in the Philippines as part of its broader "pivot" to the Asia-Pacific region, China took the unprecedented decision to rescind its invitation to Philippine
President Benigno Aquino to the 10th ASEAN-China Expo (CAEXPO) in Nanning, China.
Venezuela says 'adios' to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
President Maduro said the decision to leave the court is 'fair and just,' despite claims that it violates the country's Constitution.
[Yesterday] the Venezuelan government officially exits the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, one year after denouncing it.
In July 2012, then-President Hugo Chávez decided to withdraw from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights after it ruled in favor of Raúl Díaz Peña, a Venezuelan citizen convicted of putting bombs in front of the Colombian and Spanish Embassies in Caracas in 2000, and ordered the government to pay him reparations.
Although Venezuela will remain subject to existing rulings, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) will still be able to receive complaints from Venezuelan citizens, the IACHR will no longer be able to bring cases regarding Venezuela to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, nor will Venezuelan citizens be able to directly address it.
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