North Korea willing to start direct talks with US, says South Korea
Announcement comes as controversial North Korean general mobbed on visit to Winter Olympics
North Korea has said it is willing to start direct talks with the US, with the move coming as a high-level delegation from Pyongyang, headed by a controversial general, arrived for the Winter Olympics closing ceremony.
Pyongyang also said the relationship between the two Koreas and US-North Korean ties should advance in tandem, according to South Korea’s presidential Blue House. The announcement on Sunday comes after president Moon Jae-in met the head of the North Korean delegation, Kim Yong-chol, vice-chair of the ruling Workers’ party’s central committee.
The eight-person team from North Korea includes officials responsible for its nuclear programme and, in a rare move, diplomats in charge of US issues.
Iraq sentences 16 Turkish women to death over IS ties
Despite condemnation from rights groups, Iraq has been fast-tracking trials for women who were involved in "Islamic State's" reign of terror. The women have one month to appeal their sentences.
A court in Iraq sentenced 16 Turkish women to death on Sunday after they were found guilty of belonging to the "Islamic State" (IS) terror group. Baghdad is in the midst of a huge push to bring hundreds of foreign women to trial after IS strongholds in the country crumbled last year.
Some of the women, between the ages of 20 and 50, were accompanied by young children.
The women told the court that they had entered Iraq illegally to be with their husbands who had left to join IS, which at the time was gaining significant ground in Iraq and Syria. One woman told the judge that she had actively taken part in the fighting.
The technocrat and the Europhobe: Siena race is test of Italy's future
Siena, home of the world's oldest bank, has been left-wing terrain since the fall of Mussolini. But as Italy heads to the polls, the bank’s tribulations have bolstered a right-wing economist who plans to oust the finance minister and ditch the euro.
A week from Italy's March 4 general election, the woes of a bank founded back in 1472 are high on the minds of voters in this picturesque town, nestled in the rolling hills of Tuscany. On paper, Siena is a safe seat for the ruling Democratic Party (PD), located at the heart of a “red” region that has voted communist for decades and is now governed by the centre-left. But many here are furious at the way politicians have run the city’s more than five-century-old bank into the ground.
President, or Emperor? Xi Jinping pushes China back to one-man rule
Updated 0852 GMT (1652 HKT) February 26, 2018
The announcement Sunday that China will drop term limits on the presidency clears the way for Xi Jinping to rule the country indefinitely.
However, analysts warned that what initially seems like a demonstration of absolute power could actually be a sign of weakness, with Xi apparently unwillingly to allow the rise of a potential political rival.
This could lead to future instability in the world's most populous country as wannabe successors jockey for power within a Communist Party (CCP) completely dominated by the 64-year-old Xi.
And his absolute authority will also leave him vulnerable to absolute blame in the instance of an economic shock or foreign policy crisis.
Black History Month: The black game changers of US sport
From Muhammad Ali to Serena Williams, we examine the African American athletes who have challenged the racial barriers.by Saba Aziz
Nearly two years ago, National Football League (NFL) player Colin Kaepernick sparked a wave of protests in the US against racial injustice when he refused to stand during the pre-game US national anthem.
The former San Francisco 49ers quarterback silently took a knee during the Star-Spangled Banner to condemn police brutality, including the killings of unarmed African Americans.
"I am not going to stand up to show pride in a flag for a country that oppresses black people and people of colour," the biracial athlete from Wisconsin, said at the time.
Florida school shooting: NRA 'doesn't back any ban'
The US National Rifle Association (NRA) has said it does not support any gun ban following a shooting in a Florida school that left 17 people dead.
The NRA's comments appear to go against President Donald Trump's proposals to tighten gun controls.
Since the 14 February attack on the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School the NRA has become a target of a campaign for tougher gun laws.
On Sunday, some students returned to the school for the first time.
Accompanied by their parents, they were back for what the authorities in Parkland described as "orientation". A variety of support services were available at the campus.
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