Kim Jong Un says the nuclear button is always on his desk
Updated 0838 GMT (1638 HKT) January 1, 2018
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has warned the United States that his country's nuclear capabilities are now complete and the nuclear launch button is always on his desk.
"The entire mainland of the US is within the range of our nuclear weapons and the nuclear button is always on the desk of my office. They should accurately be aware that this is not a threat but a reality," said Kim during his annual New Year's Day address, according to a CNN translation of the speech.
North Korea casts nuclear shadow over Asia's 2018
Its missile tests have dominated the region in the past year and, with little to suggest any diplomatic aces from Trump, this is likely to continue
North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic missile programmes dominated Asia-Pacific’s geopolitical landscape in 2017, and will loom large throughout the year ahead.
Pyongyang is enjoying better returns on each test, with the rest of the world seemingly helpless to resist its self-sponsored application to join the global nuclear club.
Its most recent launch involved a powerful intercontinental ballistic missile that, in theory, puts all of America’s major cities within range. Evidence that the regime is mastering the technology needed to guide a missile back into Earth’s atmosphere could emerge in the first few months of 2018.
Prison football: Inside the World Cup 2018 city whose sporting history is intrinsically linked to the Gulag
Mordovia, and the city of Saransk, are an unusual choice to host games in the tournament
By any count, Mordovia is a strange choice to host an international football tournament. And work on the Mordovia Arena, in the Russian region’s capital Saransk, is behind schedule. Metal on metal reverberates around the stadium, as an army of 1,500 migrant workers works away in the biting cold – with construction accelerating to meet the deadline of next June’s World Cup.
Saransk, population 330,000, is a not altogether unpleasant provincial backwater. But it hardly has a football team to speak of, and the legacy effect will be questionable. Until this year, FC Mordovia – who will inherit the stadium – played in the third tier of Russian football, with average attendances hovering just above 2,000. There were more obvious picks. Krasnodar already has its own stadium and a rich fanbase. Yaroslavl also has a new stadium and is on the touristic Golden ring of ancient Russian cities.
Ten amateur images that marked the past decade (2)
2013 – The Central African Republic descends into chaos – documented by our Observers
On March 24, rebels from the Seleka coalition seized control of the capital Bangui, just three months after they began their offensive from the northeast of the country. President François Bozizé fled and the head of the Seleka, Michel Djotodia, declared himself president of the republic.
However, Djotodia was unable to re-establish order in the country, and the Seleka rebels frequently looted homes and carried out acts of extreme violence on the population. Some Central Africans, especially people living in Bangui, began to rise up against the violence.
However, Djotodia was unable to re-establish order in the country, and the Seleka rebels frequently looted homes and carried out acts of extreme violence on the population. Some Central Africans, especially people living in Bangui, began to rise up against the violence.
Chinese paper warns Australia on 'interference' in South China Sea
Lindsay Murdoch
A Chinese Communist Party-owned newspaper has published an article warning that Australia's "interference" in the flashpoint waters of the South China Sea may prompt China to "adopt strong countermeasures which will seriously impact Australian economic development".
Zhang Ye, a researcher at the Chinese Naval Research Institute in Beijing, wrote in the hawkish Global Times that Australia's "kissing up to the United States" will "poison its relations with China and shake up [the] foundation for its strategic balance between China and the US".
Five things you need to know about protests in Iran
There are growing tensions in Iran after anti-government protests erupted over the country's economic policies across different cities.
At least two people have been killed in the demonstrations, which continued for a third day on Saturday.
Here are five things you need to know:
What's happening?
Iranians began protesting on Thursday in the second-largest city of Masshad, rallying against high prices.
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