South Korean President Moon Jae-in and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un plan to visit a volcano sacred to the North on the last day of Moon’s visit. Moon’s office said Wednesday that Moon accepted Kim’s offer to visit Mount Paektu on Thursday.   The volcano topped with a deep crater lake is at the heart of North Korea’s foundation ...

Pakistan’s new prime minister, former cricket player Imran Khan, is in Saudi Arabia as part of his first official overseas trip. Khan arrived in the kingdom on Tuesday and will later travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates.   While in Saudi Arabia, Khan traveled to Medina and visited the Prophet’s Mosque. He then flew to ...

The death toll in the Philippines from Typhoon Mangkhut has climbed to 81 and could hit triple digits as searchers dig through a landslide where dozens are presumed dead, authorities said Wednesday. Mangkhut swamped farm fields in the nation’s agricultural north and smashed houses when it tore through at the weekend with violent winds and heavy rains.   Since then ...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in and the North’s leader Kim Jong Un opened a new round of talks at a summit in Pyongyang on Wednesday with the North Korean nuclear arsenal high on the agenda, but Seoul warned they may not reach an agreement. Moon is on a three-day trip to the North Korean capital for his third summit with ...

 New Zealand plans to increase the number of refugees it takes each year from 1,000 to 1,500. Liberal Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Wednesday that the new quota will take effect from 2020.   The country has previously been criticized for not taking enough refugees after the annual quota remained at 750 for three decades before it was raised ...

The EU’s negotiator wants to de-dramatise the issue of the border The EU is “ready to improve” its offer on the Irish border, Michel Barnier has said as he warned the “moment of truth” was nearing for Brexit negotiations. The EU’s negotiator said he wanted to “de-dramatise” the issue of physical checks and ensure goods arriving in Northern Ireland from ...

Here is an easy-to-understand guide to Brexit – beginning with the basics, then a look at the negotiations, followed by a selection of answers to questions we’ve been sent. What does Brexit mean?   It is a word that is used as a shorthand way of saying the UK leaving the EU – merging the words Britain and exit to ...

Coca-Cola said Monday it is studying the use of a key ingredient in marijuana in “wellness beverages,” as a growing number of mainstream companies develop cannabis-infused drinks.   “We have no interest in marijuana or cannabis,” Coca-Cola said in a statement. But iconic soft drink producer is “closely watching the growth of non-psychoactive CBD (cannabidiol) as an ingredient in functional ...

An Afghan official says at least nine members of the local police force were killed when another policeman opened fire and shot them at a checkpoint in northern Balkh province, the latest in so-called “insider” attacks in Afghanistan. Mohammadudin Khanjer, a police official in the district of Char Boldak, says one policeman was wounded and three others were missing after ...

Iranian media are reporting that at least 21 people died in a road accident when a bus overturned following a collision with a tanker on a road in central Iran. Tuesday’s report by the semi-official Tasnim news agency says the accident happened late on Monday on the road linking the cities of Kashan and Natanz, about some 250 kilometers, or ...