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The report follows Donald Trump's claim on Friday that Shinzo Abe had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for opening talks and easing tensions with North Korea. Tokyo: Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe nominated US President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize last autumn after receiving a request from the U.S. government to do so, the Asahi newspaper reported on Sunday. The report follows Trump's claim on Friday that Abe had nominated him for the Nobel Peace Prize for opening talks and easing tensions with North Korea.

President Trump said Friday that he was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize by Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe because of his talks with North Korea, although Trump said he doesn't expect to win the prize in October. "I'll probably never get it. That's okay. They gave it to Obama and he didn't know what he got it for. With me, I probably will never get it," Trump said during a Rose Garden press conference. "We do a lot of good work. This administration does a tremendous job. We don't get credit for it." The Norwegian Nobel Committee received 304...

President Trump expressed optimism he’d reach a denuclearization deal with North Korea and said he’d announce the date of a second summit with Kim Jong-un likely by Tuesday’s State of the Union address. “I think North Korea wants to make a deal,” Trump told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday. Trump’s intelligence chiefs testified before lawmakers last week that it would be very unlikely that North Korea would give up its nuclear program. Trump, however, said that Kim Jong-un is “tired” and there’s a “good chance” of cementing a deal that could boost the North Korean...

His name is Touraj Esmaeeli, and you haven’t heard it before. And yet, he’s a big story. He worked as a top advisor to the Iranian intelligence service, as an expert on that country’s cyberwar against the United States and other Western countries. Several of his colleagues have been arrested since last spring, accused of spying, but the spybust hasn’t been widely covered. Esmaeeli scooted off to Istanbul, where he first checked in to a hotel and then barely escaped a combination of Iranian and Turkish agents who had come to arrest him. He has taken refuge in a Western...

TOKYO (Kyodo) -- Late-blooming sekiwake Tamawashi, who won his first title at the age of 34 in the just-ended New Year Grand Sumo Tournament, said Monday he does not intend to slow down his career despite taking his time to claim the Emperor's Cup. A day after winning the 15-day championship at Tokyo's Ryogoku Kokugikan with a 13-2 record, the Mongolian said he will shatter the young athlete ideal by fighting aging and working out to stay younger for longer. "I have to be young. I have to train as hard (as the younger wrestlers)," said Tamawashi, who became the...

Next-generation missile with improved stability and accuracy launched during military exercise Analyst says it’s a bid ‘to reinforce the notion that the PLA has the capability to sink US carriers and inflict unacceptable damage on American forces’ ========================================================================================= China has revealed footage of its next-generation Dongfeng-26 ballistic missile showing improved stability and accuracy, a move analysts say aims to send a message to the United States about its military strength. Footage of the missile was released for the first time in a report on state broadcaster CCTV, amid intensifying military rivalry between China and the US. Four fin-like flight control...

The wife of Meng Hongwei, the Interpol president held in China since September, has sought asylum in France for herself and her twin children. Grace Meng and the seven-year-olds live in Lyon, the international police agency's headquarters. Meng Hongwei disappeared during a visit to China. In October the Chinese authorities said Mr Meng was being investigated over suspected bribe-taking. His wife and children are under police protection, having received threats. Quoted by France Inter radio on Friday, she said, "I fear they will kidnap me."

MANILA, Philippines — The United States has remained the country most trusted by Filipinos, and Russia and China the least, according to the latest Pulse Asia survey. The poll, taken from Dec. 14 to 21 last year, showed 84 percent of Filipinos saying the Philippines should extend “a great deal/fair amount of trust” to the US. This was higher than the 79 percent recorded in March 2017. The US was followed by Japan and Australia with trust ratings of 75 percent and 72 percent, respectively. Great Britain/United Kingdom obtained 57 percent. Reacting to the survey result, Malacañang expressed optimism Filipinos’...

A high-profile Moscow economist has reportedly said the Russian government is looking to invest in Bitcoin next month. Australian crypto news website micky.com claims to have spoken with Vladislav Ginko, a lecturer at the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration in Moscow. “US sanctions may be mitigated only through Bitcoin use,” the site quoted Ginko as saying. “I believe that the Russia [government] will start diversifying its reserves with Bitcoin in February this year when US Congress will introduce… new sanctions against Russia,” he reportedly said. Ginko estimated that the first wave of Russian investment in crypto...

Shortlisted venues for a second summit between United States President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un are likely to include Singapore and Vietnam, South Korean media reported on Friday (Jan 11). “(The venues you should pay attention to) are those mentioned by media including Vietnam, Singapore and Hawaii,” a South Korean foreign affairs ministry official told the Korean Herald, speaking on condition of anonymity. “But Hawaii is said to be an unrealistic location as it doesn’t have a North Korean embassy there,” the report quoted another official as saying. Although the South Korean government hoped the truce...

In contrast to President Trump, President Moon Jae-in of South Korea has embraced a pro-labor program of higher wages and taxes. The early results have been discouraging. As President Trump leads a drive to slash taxes and pare back regulation, one major economy is taking a different approach. Under President Moon Jae-in, South Korea has raised taxes and the minimum wage in the name of economic growth. So far, it hasn’t worked out as planned. Growth has slowed, unemployment has risen and small-business owners like Moon Seung are complaining. Mr. Moon, founder of an auto parts maker called Dasung in...

The U.S. case against the chief financial officer of China’s Huawei Technologies, who was arrested in Canada last month, centers on the company’s suspected ties to two obscure companies. One is a telecom equipment seller that operated in Tehran; the other is that firm’s owner, a holding company registered in Mauritius. U.S. authorities allege CFO Meng Wanzhou deceived international banks into clearing transactions with Iran by claiming the two companies were independent of Huawei, when in fact Huawei controlled them. Huawei has maintained the two are independent: equipment seller Skycom Tech Co Ltd and shell company Canicula Holdings Ltd. But...

Japan began levying a 1,000 yen (US$9.24) departure tax on Monday, payable by anyone leaving the country by aircraft or ship, in a measure aimed at raising funds to further boost tourism. The International Tourist Tax covers everyone regardless of nationality, from businesspeople to holidaymakers older than two years of age. It will be tacked on to the price of an airline ticket, though those bought and issued before Monday are exempt. Japan’s government estimates that it will make an additional 50 billion yen (US$462 million) from the tax, which it wants to use to improve tourism infrastructure by making...

Self-described Japanese "Tuna King" Kiyoshi Kimura paid a record $3 million for a 612-pound (278-kilogram) bluefin tuna at the first new year's auction in Tokyo on Saturday. The winning sum for the prized and threatened species at the auction was more than double the previous record from the annual New Year auction, set in 2013. Kimura, the owner of Kiyomura Corp who also runs the Sushi Zanmai chain, is a regular winner of the annual auctions. He told Japanese broadcaster NHK that he was surprised by the price this year, but didn’t regret the purchase. “The quality of the tuna...

Nine people are hurt after a driver deliberately rammed his vehicle into pedestrians in the Shibuya Ward in Tokyo on New Year’s Day in what the suspect told law enforcement was an act of terror, according to Japanese media. 21-year-old Kazuhiro Kusakabe was reportedly arrested in Tokyo on suspicion of attempted murder after plowing his rental car, fitted with an Osaka license plate, into people on the Takeshita Street in the city’s Harajuku district, which was closed to vehicles for the first day of the year. One unnamed source revealed to Kyodo News that the suspect told police that he...

In its 10-year Defense Program Guidelines, Tokyo said it will buy 42 of the stealthy F-35Bs, which are designed for short-run take offs and vertical landings. Those planes will be available for deployment aboard two flat-top ships, the JS Izumo and JS Kaga, which at more than 800 feet long and displacing 27,000 tons are the largest ships in the Japanese fleet. The Izumo and Kaga have been carrying helicopters designed for anti-submarine warfare since entering service over the past three years. They will need to have their decks reinforced to accommodate the heavier F-35Bs, as well as the heat...

China appeared to intensify its punitive campaign against Canada over the arrest of a top Chinese technology executive as a second Canadian working here was detained by security officials and dropped out of contact with his government. The second case involves Michael Spavor, a writer and entrepreneur who operates a cultural organization that promotes trips into North Korea. A newspaper linked to the provincial government in Liaoning, along the border with North Korea, reported that he had been detained by security officials there on charges of “engaging in activities jeopardizing China’s national security.” Mr. Spavor gained prominence for helping arrange...

France’s foreign minister warned Friday that North Korea could have the capacity to deliver a nuclear strike on the United States and even Europe “within months”. Jean-Yves Le Drian called the situation following a string of missile tests by Pyongyang “extremely serious” and urged the reclusive state to turn to dialogue to ease spiralling tensions. “We see a North Korea whose objective is to have missiles capable of transporting a nuclear weapon tomorrow,” Le Drian told RTL radio. “In a few months, that will be a reality. At that moment, when it has the capability to hit the US, even...

US prosecutors have charged Huawei's chief financial officer with fraud, saying she had used at least seven passports in 11 years. - ...she was charged with conspiracy to defraud multiple financial institutions between 2009 and 2014. It is alleged she used Hong Kong company Skycom to access the Iranian market in deals that violated US sanctions. She allegedly assured US banks that Huawei and Skycom were different companies but prosecutors say they were one and the same. - Mr Gibb-Carsley said she had been aware of the US investigation and had avoided entering the country since March 2017, despite the...

David Attenborough’s climate change fearmongering makes him look a fool"by Andrew Bolt column in the Daily Telegraph (Australia) 5 Dec 2018 It’s embarrassing to see Sir David Attenborough make such a fool of himself after decades of brilliant filmmaking. Organisers of this week’s United Nations’ global warming conference, in Poland, asked the documentary superstar to make a speech that would wake the dead. And he gave it his best shot, trying to sound like an Old Testament prophet but so overdoing the fearmongering that he seemed deranged. “Right now, we are facing a man-made disaster of global scale,” he thundered....