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North Korea

S.Korea, US begin key annual military drills

South Korea and the US kicked off a major combined military exercise on Monday to reinforce deterrence against North Korea's nuclear and missile threats amid concern Pyongyang could use the manoeuvres as a pretext for provocations.

Kim-Putin ties

The Kremlin’s assertion that ties are flourishing in all areas, including “sensitive” ones, fuels speculation and invites scrutiny from global observers.

Japan’s Fatal Flu

For Japan’s longest-serving Prime Minister, this is the biggest test since returning to office in 2012. Shinzo Abe has been criticised for an initial lack of leadership and he abruptly took steps to close schools leaving parents and employers scrambling. It is rather unfortunate that instead of cooperating to tackle the new global menace, both the Asian nations, Japan and South Korea, continue to suffer from the shadow of history. Both nations have close economic ties and are also major US allies, with democracies and market economies faced with a rising China and nuclear-armed North Korea. It is clearly the wrong time to invoke the past to address the present.