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The reactor at North Korea's Yongbyon nuclear complex continues to show signs of operation, suggesting that the country may be resuming the production of weapons-grade plutonium, a U.S. institute monitoring the site said Monday. Steam vapor plumes were seen emanating from the 5 megawatt reactor facility and nearby river ice was melting, based on commercial satellite imagery from Feb. 25, the U.S.-Korea Institute of Johns Hopkins University said on its 38 North website. (Photo supplied by Airbus Defense & Space/38 North) The findings could overshadow a recent diplomatic thaw between the two Koreas. "While vapor plumes have been noted a...

Japan's Coast Guard says 4 Chinese patrol ships temporarily entered Japanese territorial waters near the Senkaku Islands in the East China Sea on Friday. Coast Guard officials said the ships breached the territorial waters off Uotsuri Island in Okinawa Prefecture shortly after 10 AM. Foreign Ministry officials lodged a protest with the Chinese Embassy in Tokyo. They said intrusions into Japan's waters are an infringement of its sovereignty, and demanded that the vessels leave the area at once. The 4 ships stayed in Japan's waters for about 90 minutes before moving away. Japan controls the Senkaku Islands. The Japanese government...

South Korean President Moon Jae-in urged Tokyo on Thursday to act on the basis of remorse and reconciliation when managing bilateral ties and acknowledge the historical truth about women forced to provide sex for Japanese troops before and during World War II. Amid tension between Seoul and Tokyo over the future of a 2015 bilateral agreement on the “comfort women” issue, Moon described the women’s treatment as an inhumane crime and said that Japan, “the perpetrator, must not declare (that the issue) is over.” Moon made the remarks in a speech at an annual ceremony commemorating a movement for Korean...

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and his late father Kim Jong Il used fraudulently obtained Brazilian passports to apply for visas to visit Western countries in the 1990s, five senior Western European security sources told Reuters. While North Korea’s ruling family is known to have used travel documents obtained under false pretences, there are few specific examples. The photocopies of the Brazilian passports seen by Reuters have not been published before. “They used these Brazilian passports, which clearly show the photographs of Kim Jong Un and Kim Jong Il, to attempt to obtain visas from foreign embassies,” one senior...

Japanese Ministry of Defense executives have outright admitted that despite the Japanese government's past denials that the Izumo class "helicopter destroyers" were not designed to accommodate fixed-wing short takeoff and vertical landing (STOVL) tactical jets, they actually were designed with exactly that in mind. The Asahi Shimbun quoted Maritime Self Defense Force sources stating the following: “It is only reasonable to design (the Izumo) with the prospect of possible changes of the circumstances in the decades ahead... We viewed that whether the Izumo should be actually refitted could be decided by the government.” When the Izumo first entered service, the...

President Donald Trump ripped Russia on Monday by accusing Moscow of undermining U.S. and international sanctions on North Korea. Addressing a gathering of state governors at the White House, Trump lauded China for its efforts to curb North Korea’s economic activity but said "Russia is sending in what China is taking out". The Trump administration has been leading international efforts to curb Pyongyang's ballistic missile and nuclear programs through robust UN and Washington-imposed sanctions regimes.

Japan suspects yet another North Korea sanctions breach at sea Reuters Staff 2 Min Read TOKYO (Reuters) - Japan has discovered another North Korean tanker it suspects of transferring goods with a vessel in defiance of U.N. Security Council resolutions, the Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday. It was the fourth time Japan has suspected such an illegal transfer in recent weeks and comes as the Trump administration and key Asian allies prepare to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating sanctions on North Korea. North Korea last year conducted dozens of missile launches and its sixth and largest nuclear test...

One dose of the medication, called Xofluza, cripples influenza by interfering with an enzyme critical for viral replication. Health authorities in Japan on Friday (February 23) approved a new flu medication, called baloxavir marboxil (Xofluza), that aims to stop the virus within one day, according to The Wall Street Journal. The drug works by blocking the flu virus’s ability to use the host cell for replication. That’s a different mechanism from oseltamivir (Tamiflu), an anti-influenza medication available in the U.S. that works by blocking the virus’s neuraminidase enzyme, preventing its escape from the host cell. “The data that we’ve seen...

Exclusive: U.S. prepares high-seas crackdown on North Korea sanctions evaders - sources Matt Spetalnick, Phil Stewart, David Brunnstrom WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Trump administration and key Asian allies are preparing to expand interceptions of ships suspected of violating sanctions on North Korea, a plan that could include deploying U.S. Coast Guard forces to stop and search vessels in Asia-Pacific waters, senior U.S. officials said. Washington has been talking to regional partners, including Japan, South Korea, Australia and Singapore, about coordinating a stepped-up crackdown that would go further than ever before in an attempt to squeeze Pyongyang’s use of seagoing trade...

In a Nov. 25, 2017 article marking the 100th anniversary of the Balfour Declaration, published in the London-based daily Al-Hayat, Lebanese journalist Karam Al-Hilu compared the meager accomplishments of the Arab world in the past century with those of the rest of the countries, particularly Israel. He noted that Israel’s supremacy in the areas of science, economy, society and politics is the source of its strength, as well as the source of Arab failure in confronting it. The following are excerpts from his article:[1] “A century after the Balfour Declaration . . . the Arabs have not managed to build...

A system glitch at a cryptocurrency exchange site run by an Osaka-based firm enabled users to obtain digital money for free, with one apparently “purchasing” Bitcoin valued at 2,200 trillion yen ($20 trillion) and then attempting to cash in on it. Tech Bureau Corp., a registered cryptocurrency exchange operator, is now subject to a Financial Services Agency investigation into the safety of the system and other business practices. The company announced Feb. 20 that the incident on its Zaif exchange website occurred four days earlier, when seven users obtained quantities of cryptocurrencies. Tech Bureau later invalidated the transactions and corrected...

Japan plans to buy at least 20 additional F-35A stealth fighters over the next six years, some or all of which it may purchase directly from Lockheed Martin Corp (LMT.N) in the United States rather than assemble locally, three sources said.

The government is considering operating F-35B fighter jets from about fiscal 2026, in an effort to utilize airports on remote islands and thereby improve the nation’s capability to defend the isles, The Yomiuri Shimbun has learned. Considered the most advanced stealth fighters, F-35Bs are currently operated by the U.S. military based in Japan. The Japanese government is also eyeing the operation of the fighters on Izumo, the Maritime Self-Defense Force’s largest-class destroyer and which Tokyo is considering remodeling into an aircraft carrier, according to government sources. The government has decided to introduce 42 F-35A fighter jets — which are capable...

Taipei, Feb. 13 (CNA) Taiwan's Air Force sidestepped speculation Tuesday that it is looking to purchase F-15 or F-18 fighter aircraft from the U.S., saying only that plans to bolster defense capabilities will depend on present combat needs and perceived future threats. On Sunday, Taiwanese news website Up Media reported that the Air Force is planning to purchase the McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle and the McDonnell Douglas F/A-18 Hornet to strengthen its defense capabilities and counter China's Russia-made Sukhoi Su-30 fighter aircraft. The report said Taiwan and the U.S. have had preliminary discussions about the purchase, and retired models such...

Don’t worry too much about this story. I’m sure Barack Obama would have waited for Japan's apology for Pearl Harbor, the Rape of Nanking, the Bataan Death March, the treatment of American POWs … The cable indicates the Japanese government was then effectively discouraging Obama from visiting Hiroshima despite growing expectations over it following his call for a world free from nuclear weapons in a speech in Prague in April 2009.The cable, dated Sept. 3, 2009, and sent to U.S. State Secretary Hillary Clinton, reported Japan’s then Vice Foreign Minister Mitoji Yabunaka telling Ambassador John Roos on Aug. 28 that...

WASHINGTON—The U.S. Navy is investigating at least a dozen U.S. sailors based in Japan, some serving aboard the USS Ronald Reagan aircraft carrier, for suspicion of buying, selling, and using LSD, ecstasy and other drugs, U.S. Navy officials said Friday. The Navy also is probing whether U.S. sailors were using the internet to buy or sell drugs or were distributing them to local Japanese residents. The Navy first learned about allegations of widespread drug sales on Feb. 6, when it received a tip about a petty officer third class using drugs, the officials said. He was subsequently detained and released,...

Police have diffused two AN-M65 model 450kg bombs left over from World War II which were discovered by Hong Kong's railway agency MTR Corporation. The bombs were found stuck int he mud at a Wan Chai construction site where MTR is constructing a rail link for the Sha Tin-Central line. Five thousand people in the area were evacuated overnight so police bomb disposal officers could cut through the bombs' casing and burn off the explosives inside.

Fascinating pictures of America's famous WW2 Black Sheep Squadron whose efforts helped win the war in the Pacific have been released in vibrant color. The series shows the squadron's commanding officer, Colonel Gregory 'Pappy' Boyington who received the Medal of Honour and the Navy Cross, briefing his men on strategy and tactics before the 17 October 1943 attack on Kahili airdrome at Bougainville island, Papua New Guinea. In this raid 'Pappy' and 24 fighters circled the field where 60 enemy aircraft were based to goad them into sending a large force. In the ensuing air battle, 20 enemy aircraft were...

Japan has a new robot cafe where customers can enjoy coffee brewed and served by a robot barista. The robot named Sawyer debuted this week at Henna Cafe in Tokyo's downtown business and shopping district of Shibuya. The shop's name in Japanese means "strange cafe."

Japan has conveyed its concern to the U.S. government that a statement made by Secretary of State Rex Tillerson could contradict an agreement with South Korea over the “comfort women,” sources close to the matter said. “It’s one that only they can resolve,” Tillerson told reporters this month after a 20-nation ministerial meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia. “And we know that there’s more that needs to be done,” he said, referring to the issue of the Korean girls and women who were forced into Japan’s military brothels before and during the war. Tokyo has told Washington that Tillerson’s words could...