'No response' yet from North Korea on talks with the US
South Korea says it has not received a response from Pyongyang on a summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US President Donald Trump.
In a surprise development, Mr Trump on Friday accepted North Korea's invitation to direct talks.
South Korean officials said Mr Kim was prepared to give up his nuclear weapons.
Details on the planned talks remain vague, with no agreement yet on the location or agenda.
Analysts are sceptical about what can be achieved through talks given the complexity of the issues involved.
'Shameless naysayers': Chinese media hits back at questions over Xi Jinping's power grab
State-run newspaper claims scrapping of term limits does not ‘imply lifetime tenure for any leader’
Beijing has hit out at the “shameless” and “malicious” western “naysayers” who have questioned Xi Jinping’s historic power grab, a move that sets the Communist party leader up to rule China for life.
On Monday, one day after Chinese lawmakers voted almost unanimously for a constitutional amendment abolishing presidential term limits, state-run newspapers turned on foreign critics of Xi’s move.
“It has already become a habit for some in the west to speak ill of China’s political system ... whenever it comes to China they choose to look at it through tainted glasses,” the China Daily, an English language broadsheet, complained in an editorial.
Yemen civil war: Saudi expulsion of Yemeni workers swells Houthi ranks
Exclusive: For Riyadh, economic reforms are needed to give jobs to Saudi nationals and cut domestic unemployment. But for Yemen's Houthi rebels and al-Qaeda, the influx of jobless young men is seen as a prime recruitment opportunity
“Welcome home to the labourers returning from Saudi Arabia. You still have a job: defending the nation on our military bases.”
So declared Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, the head of the Houthi rebels’ de facto government, in a recent al Thawra newspaper article published in Sanaa.
It barely seems possible, but Yemen – a country that has come apart at the seams since the outbreak of civil war three years ago – is facing a new crisis.
White House to help arm school staff
President Donald Trump's administration will step up aid to states that want to arm school employees under a plan to increase campus safety after the killing of 17 people in Florida, officials said Sunday.
The controversial idea to put weapons in schools, which has drawn little support from educators, is part of a "pragmatic plan to dramatically increase school safety and to take steps to do so right away," Education Secretary Betsy DeVos said in a conference call with reporters.
"We are committed to working quickly because there's no time to waste," said DeVos, who will chair a federal commission on school safety.
Civilians organise 'human shield' to protect Kurdish Afrin
People are planning to act as human shields in an effort to protect the Syrian city of Afrin as the Turkish military and its allied forces prepare to capture the Kurdish-controlled urban centre.
Turkey launched its cross-border operation on January 20 saying it needed to eliminate the Kurdish militia known as the People's Protection Units (YPG), which is backed by the United States, but which Turkey describes as a "terrorist" group.
After weeks of fighting, Turkish soldiers and allied Free Syrian Army (FSA) fighters are now on the outskirts of the city and poised to enter. A number of towns and villages were taken from the YPG on Sunday by Turkey's military and its allies in the north and south of the Kurdish district.
Finance Ministry admits altering land sale documents, removing name of Abe's wife
The Finance Ministry admitted Monday to having altered documents over a discounted state land sale at the center of cronyism allegations against Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, with references to Abe's wife, who was involved in a school project at the site, being deleted.
The admission in a report to the Diet raised pressure on Finance Minister Taro Aso to take responsibility for the alterations, but Aso, 77, told reporters he has "no intention" to resign. Aso, who also serves as deputy prime minister and is a key ally of Abe, offered a "deep apology" over the matter.
The original documents quoted school operator Moritomo Gakuen, which was planning to build an elementary school on the site in Osaka, as saying Akie Abe had recommended that the project "move forward because it is a good plot of land." The documents also said she inspected the school operator and gave a speech there in April 2014.
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