North Korea shattered a two-month period of relative quiet by test-firing a missile that analysts say may put the US east coast in range.Japan said the intercontinental ballistic missile flew for 53 minutes on a lofted trajectory and may have reached an altitude of more than 4,000 kilometers (2,500 miles) before landing in waters about 250 kilometers from its northwest coast.
In the face of widespread "atrocities" against ethnic Rohingya people in Myanmar, the United States has been cautiously stepping up pressure on that country's army, while taking care to avoid endangering the civilian government of Aung San Suu Kyi.
Myanmar must grant citizenship to the Rohingya to allow hundreds of thousands of people from the Muslim minority to return to Rakhine state from where they were driven by an army campaign, the UN refugee chief said Thursday."These people cannot remain stateless because this statelessness exposes them to discrimination and abuse, as has been the case in the past," said Filippo Grandi, the UN high commission for refugees.More than 600,000 Rohingya have fled Rakhine since late August d
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urged Myanmar's army chief Thursday to help end the violence in Rakhine state that has forced hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims to flee.In a phone call with Min Aung Hlaing, Tillerson expressed "concern about the continuing humanitarian crisis and reported atrocities in Rakhine", according to a statement by State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert.
US President Donald Trump said Saturday that diplomatic efforts with North Korea have consistently failed, adding that "only one thing will work."Trump has engaged in an escalating war of words with North Korean strongman Kim Jong-Un, trading insults amid rising tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals."Presidents and their administrations have been talking to North Korea for 25 years, agreements made and massive amounts of money paid," Trump tweeted.It "hasn
The US (United States) will continue to play an active role in ensuring peace and prosperity within Southeast Asia despite growing geopolitical shifts in the region.Speaking at the sixth Maritime Institute of Malaysia South China Sea Conference, Senior Advisor and Senior Director of the Asia Pacific Security Programme at CNAS (Centre for New American Studies), Patrick Cronin highlighted five key elements which would likely underpin the Trump administration’s approach towards this region.
Pentagon chief Jim Mattis tried to clear up doubts about the US administration's North Korea strategy Tuesday, backing Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's effort to find a diplomatic solution to the nuclear standoff.Defence Secretary Mattis was speaking two days after President Donald Trump appeared to undermine his top diplomat by saying Tillerson was "wasting his time" by maintaining contacts with Kim Jong-Un's regime.State Department officials insist Trump was not c
Now is not the time to talk to North Korea, the White House declared Monday, as President Donald Trump appeared to undermine efforts to force Pyongyang to the table.Until this weekend, Washington's plan to counter Kim Jong-Un's increasingly sophisticated nuclear arsenal seemed to be to employ sanctions and diplomatic pressure to convince him to talk.Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed this on Saturday in Beijing when he told reporters Washington is using diplomatic channels t
Washington has opened channels to North Korea to find out if the regime is ready to talk about giving up its nuclear weapons, Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said Saturday.His office in Washington quickly clarified that North Korea has shown no interest in such discussions.Speaking after a day of talks with China's President Xi Jinping and top diplomats, Tillerson told reporters that US officials are in touch with Pyongyang.The disclosure follows an escalating war of words between US Pr
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson met with China's foreign minister in Beijing on Saturday to discuss efforts to curb North Korea's nuclear ambitions and prepare President Donald Trump's November visit.Tillerson, whose arrival was delayed due to technical problems with his plane in Tokyo, was greeted by Foreign Minister Wang Yi at the Great Hall of the People at Tiananmen Square.Tillerson told Wang that he looked forward to an exchange "on issues important to us and in p
The often difficult relations between the world's greatest powers, China and the United States, appear to be improving again as the pair work to resolve the North Korea nuclear stand-off.Washington, and in particular US President Donald Trump, have until very recently been critical of Beijing's cautious approach to its belligerent and nuclear-armed neighbour.But, with a new round of UN-backed sanctions in place, the mood has improved, and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson set off
