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18 March, 2016 North Korea has fired a ballistic missile into the sea, South Korean and US officials say. They say the missile, launched off the east coast, flew about 800km (500 miles) and fell into the water. North Korea has not commented on the report. A US defence spokesperson later said a second missile was launched. US President Barack ...

US president Barack Obama signed an order Wednesday implementing UN-backed sanctions on North Korea, amid a series of reprisals from Pyongyang. The White House said Obama had signed an executive order targeting the volatile hermit state’s energy, financial and shipping assets. The measures were agreed to at the United Nations in response to a January 6 nuclear test and February ...

Seoul, Republic of Korea – A flurry of anticipation filled the room of over 1,000 internationally-renowned figures including heads of state, legal representatives, and media who convened at the Coex Auditorium on March 14 for the Proclamation Ceremony of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War. Since its official inauguration in September 2015, the HWPL International Law Peace Committee ...

 Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Monday he was instructing his armed forces to start pulling out of Syria, over five months after he ordered the launch of a military operation that shored up his ally, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Putin, at a meeting in the Kremlin with his defence and foreign ministers, said Russian military forces in Syria had ...

Militant Islamist group al-Shabab has dismissed as exaggerated US claims that more than 150 of its fighters were killed in an air strike in Somalia. The militants do not meet in such large numbers in “one spot” because of the threat of an attack, a spokesman said. He did not give details of casualties. A resident said that al-Shabab had ...

Malaysia and Australia say they remain “hopeful” that flight MH370 will eventually be found, two years on from its disappearance. The aircraft disappeared between Kuala Lumpur and Beijing on 8 March 2014 with 239 people on board. Australian-led search teams are combing a 120,000 sq km (46,330 sq mile) area of the southern Indian Ocean. Only one confirmed piece of ...

The UN has expressed concern over a radical EU-Turkey plan to ease the migrant crisis, saying it could contravene international law. Under the plan, all migrants arriving in Greece from Turkey would be returned and for each Syrian sent back, a Syrian in Turkey would be resettled in the EU. The UN’s refugee agency said any collective expulsion of foreigners ...

India’s air force will induct its first female fighter pilots in June, the country’s air force chief said. Arup Raha told the Press Trust of India news agency that three female pilots will complete their training and be inducted into the force on 18 June. Last month President Pranab Mukherjee announced that women will be allowed in all combat roles ...

Iran has launched several ballistic missiles from silos across the country as part of a military exercise, state media say, defying US pressure. The Revolutionary Guards said in a statement that the tests demonstrated the country’s “deterrent power” and “ability to confront any threat”. In January, the US imposed sanctions targeting Iran’s missile programme in response to the last round ...

The White House’s first black first lady will depart next year. Two commentators consider Michelle Obama’s legacy as she prepares to leave office. Peter Slevin, author of Michelle Obama: A Life We are not likely to see another American first lady do the hula hoop on the White House lawn, practise kickboxing on an official video, dance in public to ...