Abyzemen

It is Christmastime. But in breathtakingly beautiful Budapest, it is no time for festivities as thousands of anti-government protesters took to the streets for a fourth consecutive day, defying freezing temperatures.  Protesters walked almost eight kilometers on Monday evening to Hungary's national television station to voice their anger about how the channel was reporting on the protests which were sparked by parliament's adoption of two controversial laws. One is about the extension of possible overtime working hours from 250 to 400 per year, and second creates new administrative courts, which protesters contend would not be impartial.  Political leaders addressed the crowd in front of the TV building. Andras Fekete-Gyor, president of the political party "Momentum", was among them. "In this very moment, Orban's propaganda is lying, paid for by our money," Andras Fekete-Gyor, president of  the Momentum political party, told cheering protester

The U.S. military said on Monday it had killed 62 al-Shabab militants in six airstrikes on Saturday and Sunday in the vicinity of Gandarsh in Somalia's south-central Banaadir province. In a statement issued on Monday, the U.S. military's Africa Command said it carried out four strikes on December 15 in which 34 people were killed. It carried out two further strikes on December 16 which killed 28 people.  "Africa Command and our Somali partners conducted these airstrikes to prevent terrorists from using remote areas as a safe haven to plot, direct, inspire and recruit for future attacks," said the Africa Command.  All six strikes were carried out in close coordination with Somalia's government, it said. According to the military, none of the casualties were civilians. The U.S. military has carried out at least 46 airstrikes so far this year against al-Shabab, which is allied to al-Qaida and is Africa's most active Islamic extremist group. U.S. airs

Turkey may launch a new military operation in northern Syria at any moment, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said on Monday.  On Friday, Erdogan spoke on the phone with U.S. President Donald Trump during which the pair agreed to ensure more effective coordination between their countries' operations in Syria.  The conversation followed threats from Erdogan last week to launch an offensive against the U.S.-backed Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) militia east of the Euphrates River within the next few days.  "I spoke with Trump. The terrorists must leave the east of the Euphrates. If they don't go, we will remove them," Erdogan promised during a televised speech in the central Turkish province of Konya. Turkey views the YPG as a terrorist offshoot of the outlawed Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), which has waged an insurgency against the Turkish state since 1984. Although Erdogan said that Turkey could start an operation at any moment, he

Yi Ok-seon lies on her bed in a small room at ROK's House of Healing. At 92 she is surrounded by photographs of meetings with President Moon Jae-in and other dignitaries, and a few of her as a young girl. But there is a gap in this photographic history. There is no trace of her time spent as a sex slave for the Japanese army during World War Two. Yi Ok-seon says she was dragged from her workplace at the age of 15, by two men, one Korean and one Japanese. She was sent to China where she was forced, through violence, to work in a Japanese military brothel. Yi was a fierce opponent of the compensation sent by Japan as part of a deal struck with ROK in 2015 and, like many former so-called "comfort women", applauded ROK's decision to disband the Japan-funded foundation set up to financially assist former wartime sex slaves. “Japan brought the money to Korea to reach an agreement. That money was given to us to shut our mouths up. That's wrong. I felt good w

An agreement was signed on Wednesday between the Chinese mainland and China's Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) on trade in goods under the framework of the Closer Economic Partnership Arrangement (CEPA), symbolizing the completion of comprehensively upgrading the CEPA. The agreement was signed by China's Vice Commerce Minister Fu Ziying and the Secretary for Economy and Finance of the Macao SAR government Leong Vai Tac. The signing of the agreement would promote the integration of the Macao SAR into the national development, and help the Macao SAR's business sectors explore the market in the Chinese mainland, Leong Vai Tac told reporters after the signing of the agreement. The agreement includes the general rules uniformly applicable to all products of the tariff code and the specific rules of origin for certain products, and defines origin criteria for more than 8,000 tariff code products. In addition, it also includes a chapter on trade facilitation me

Hong Kong and Macao hold unique positions, have exceptional strength and will play an irreplaceable role in reform and opening-up in the new era, President Xi Jinping stressed on Monday. Xi made the remarks while meeting with Carrie Lam, chief executive of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (SAR) and Chui Sai On, chief executive of the Macao SAR. Both of them were in Beijing to report the work of the SAR governments to the central government. Fully recognizing the contributions made by Hong Kong and Macao compatriots and extending sincere gratitude to them, Xi said the reform and opening-up over the past four decades was a cause that Hong Kong, Macao and the mainland complemented one another on and prospered together with, while the two regions integrated their own development into the overall development of the country. During the meeting with the chief executive of Hong Kong SAR, Xi fully endorsed the work of Carrie Lam and her government. Under the leadership o

British Prime Minister Theresa May will stress her opposition to a second Brexit referendum on Monday, telling parliament such a vote would “break faith” with British people and do “irreparable damage” to politics. With May facing deadlock in parliament over her deal to leave the European Union (EU) and the bloc offering little in the way of concessions to win lawmakers over, more politicians are calling for a second referendum to break the impasse. Former prime minister Tony Blair last week said a second Brexit referendum is now the most likely outcome. "The government is not in control – not of the agenda, not of the events and not of the outcome," he said in a speech in London. "What seemed a few months ago unlikely is now above the 50 percent likelihood. We will go back to the people.” May accused Blair of "undermining" her negotiations with the EU after he traveled to Brussels to urge member state leaders to make it more attractive for Britain t