RIO DE JANEIRO: Lionel Messi was looking at a glass half full after his penalty kept alive Argentina’s hopes of reaching the Copa America knock-out stages following a 1-1 draw with Paraguay. Five-time Ballon d’Or winner Messi’s 57th-minute penalty cancelled out a first-half opener from Paraguay’s Richard Sanchez on Wednesday
PYONGYANG: North Korean leader Kim Jong Un welcomed Chinese President Xi Jinping to Pyongyang yesterday on a historic visit to burnish an uneasy alliance, with the two men each facing challenges of their own with US President Donald Trump. Xi is the first Chinese president to visit North Korea in
WELLINGTON: New Zealand opened a gun buyback scheme yesterday aimed at ridding the country of semi-automatic weapons similar to those used in the Christchurch mosque attacks that killed 51 Muslim worshippers. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern vowed in the hours after the March 15 killings that New Zealand’s gun laws would
TOKYO: Japan yesterday flatly rejected as “unacceptable” a South Korean proposal to set up a joint fund to compensate wartime forced labourers, a bitter dispute that has bogged down bilateral ties. The proposed fund would not solve the issue, the top government spokesman told a regular press conference in Tokyo.
HONG KONG: Hong Kong opposition groups called for another major demonstration yesterday after the pro-Beijing government did not respond to demands of protesters who have shaken the city with massive rallies. Millions have marched this month to oppose a proposed law that would have allowed extraditions to the Chinese mainland,
BEIRUT: Fighting raged in north-west Syria yesterday with clashes between regime forces and jihadist-led fighters killing 130 combatants in two days, a war monitor said. The Idlib region, home to some three million people, is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce deal, but it has come under
SEOUL: More than 100,000 South Koreans are demanding the dismissal of a judge who reduced the prison sentence of a child rapist to three years. Lee, identified only by his surname, was jailed in November for eight years for raping a 10-year-old child after making her drink an alcoholic beverage
BEIJING: Premier Li Keqiang vowed Thursday to further open up China’s economy during a meeting with CEOs of top global companies amid simmering trade tensions with the United States. Washington and other trade partners have long complained about the uneven playing field foreign companies encounter in China, theft of intellectual
PARIS: The money transfer business is personal for Ismail Ahmed. It was cash wired by his family that allowed him to make the final leg of his journey from escaping fighting in his native Somaliland to London in 1988 to take up a university scholarship. Today, Ahmed leads WorldRemit, one
Hong Kong’s reputation as a stable financial hub has been shaken by a controversial extradition bill that prompted massive protests, and its loss might just be Singapore’s gain, experts say. The Chinese territory and the South Asian city-state have long vied for the title of Asia’s top financial destination, attracting
