Archive for the ‘Asia’ Category

China has successfully tested its advanced air defence capabilities, intercepting a missile in mid-flight within its territory, state media reported. "The test has achieved the expected objective," the official Xinhua news agency quoted the foreign ministry as saying on Tuesday. The report on the "ground-based mid-course missile interception technology" comes amid tensions over US arms sales to Taiwan. Last week ... Full story

The man accused of masterminding last November's massacre in the southern Philippines has had his request for bail rejected by a court in the capital, Manila. Andal Ampatuan Jr is facing 41 counts of murder for allegedly leading the attack on a convoy of political rivals and a group of accompanying journalists in Maguindanao province. According to prosecutors, at least 10 ... Full story

A North Korean diplomat has said that his country will resume talks on its nuclear programme only when all international sanctions have been lifted. Choe Jin-su, the North Korean envoy to China, said the sanctions were "an expression of distrust" between Pyongyang and Washington, and cautioned that the US must also agree to peace treaty talks. "Only concluding a peace treaty can ... Full story

Mongolia's president has imposed a moratorium on the death penalty, although changing the law to implement a permanent ban on executions will still have to pass Mongolia's opposition-dominated parliament. Rights groups welcomed the remarks by Elbegdorj Tsakhia on Thursday, hailing the move as a step toward outlawing executions. Citing two recent cases Elbegdorj said "the state would have killed innocent citizens" ... Full story

Lawyers for Malaysia's Catholic Church have said their offices were ransacked in the latest attack apparently linked to a dispute over the use of the word "Allah" to describe God. The reported break-in follows a series of attacks on churches in the wake of a court ruling that overturned the government's ban on non-Muslims using the word "Allah". A church in southern ... Full story

The US government has backed a move by Google to end its support for China's censoring of internet searches after a spate of cyber attacks on the internet giant's email accounts. In a statement the White House said it supported the search giant's threat to possibly pull out of the country, saying the issue was important both from a point of view ... Full story