HOUSTON (AFP) -- Americans were celebrating the 50th anniversary of the first Moon landing on Saturday, a generation-defining event watched by half a billion people globally, as the US seeks to pivot to a new era of crewed space exploration.At 4:18pm ET (2018 GMT) on July 20, 1969, the lunar module carrying astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down on the Sea of Tranquility, following a four-day journey.NASA replayed online the CBS broadcast that was seen around the world. "Hou

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Donald Trump said Friday he remained at the ready to help South Korea and Japan solve their lingering dispute over World War II-era forced labor that has blighted their trade ties.After South Korea's high court ordered Japanese firms that used forced labor to compensate victims, Tokyo in early July restricted exports of chemicals vital to Seoul's world-leading chip and smartphone industry in an escalation of their decades-old row.South Korean President Moon Jae-in

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Tensions in the Gulf region mounted Thursday as US President Donald Trump said an American naval vessel shot down an Iranian drone that threatened the ship as it was entering the Strait of Hormuz. It was the first US military engagement with Iran following a series of increasingly serious incidents.Trump announced that the USS Boxer, an amphibious assault ship, "took defensive action" against the Iranian drone as it was "threatening the safety of the ship and t

TOKYO (AFP) -- Thirteen people are believed to have died in a suspected arson attack at an animation company in the Japanese city of Kyoto on Thursday, a fire department official told AFP. "Twelve people were found in cardio-respiratory arrest in the ground and first floor," the official said, using a phrase commonly used in Japan to signify victims have died but their deaths have not yet been officially certified.The 12 victims were found after the fire department confirmed a first de

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States said Tuesday it hoped to hold denuclearization talks with North Korea, despite a warning from Pyongyang that US-South Korean military exercises could affect their planned resumption. The North had earlier Tuesday hinted that it could even reconsider its moratorium on nuclear testing over next month's drills, which have been held for years but were scaled down to facilitate dialogue with Pyongyang.It was the first statement from the North on the talks since U

TEHRAN (AFP) -- Iran on Monday urged the European parties to the 2015 nuclear deal "to take practical, effective and responsible decisions" to save the landmark agreement."We stress that the continued voluntary and goodwill based actions by the Islamic Republic of Iran are rooted in the principle of reciprocity of rights and duties" in the nuclear deal, the foreign ministry said in a statement.On Sunday the European parties to the deal -- Britain, France a

HONG KONG (AFP) - Riot police and protesters fought running battles in a Hong Kong shopping mall Sunday night as unrest caused by a widely loathed plan to allow extraditions to mainland China showed no sign of abating.Police used pepper spray and batons against small groups of protesters, who responded by hurling bottles and other projectiles, in a night of fresh violence in the international hub.Sunday's clashes took place at the end of another huge rally -- this time in Sha Tin a district that

An Australian student who was expelled from North Korea denied on Tuesday that he had been spying on the authoritarian state while he lived there.Alek Sigley, 29, was released last week after being detained for several days, with Pyongyang later accusing him of promoting propaganda against the country online.“The allegation that I am a spy is (pretty obviously) false,” he wrote on Twitter, adding that he was “well both mentally and physically”.“I am still very inter

A South Korean man who made a rare defection to North Korea was partly driven by the stigma and financial hardship that followed his parents' own high-profile flight to Pyongyang more than three decades ago, friends said Tuesday.Choe In-guk, 72, arrived in Pyongyang on Saturday and announced he would live there in a video published by North Korean media, following in the footsteps of his parents who made a switch of allegiance in 1986.Such a move is highly unusual and is more frequently seen in

A South Korean actress faces up to five years in a Thai jail for catching endangered giant clams in a reality TV stunt, an official said Saturday, despite the show's extensive apology.Lee Yeol-eum was filmed diving for giant clams at a Thai marine park for a June 30 episode of "Law of the Jungle" -- a popular South Korean reality show.After prising two giant clams from the coral-laid seabed, Lee pumped them in the air yelling "I caught it!"The creatures are listed as an endan

A 7.1-magnitude earthquake hit southern California on Friday at 8:19 pm (0319 GMT Saturday), the United States Geological Survey said.The latest quake is part of what geologists are calling an "earthquake sequence" and follows a 6.4-magnitude quake that struck the same area the day before. The USGS said the previous day's tremor was a "foreshock" to Friday's quake, with CNN reporting that the latest tremor was 11 times stronger. Residents on the ground said they were feeling

R&B singer Halle Bailey is to play Ariel in a live-action version of “The Little Mermaid,” she said Wednesday, in a rare casting of a black actress as a Disney princess.Bailey, 19, who rose to fame under the wing of pop queen Beyonce, said it was a “dream come true” to play the lead role. She tweeted a cartoon image of the princess in which the traditionally red-headed Ariel has dark skin, brown eyes and black hair. Director Rob Marshall said Bailey had been cast afte

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) -- Facebook acknowledged Wednesday an outage affecting users in various parts of the world and said it was working on a fix.Online monitoring service DownDetector reported earlier the outage began around 1200 GMT and affected Facebook as well as its Instagram and WhatsApp services.#Facebookdown and #instagramdown were trending on Twitter as users around the world reported these apps were not functioning. Facebook said in a tweet: "We're aware that some people are having

North Korea complained on Wednesday after the United States sent a letter urging countries to send back North Korean workers as President Donald Trump was inviting Kim Jong Un to hold talks.  The North Korean mission to the United Nations said the letter sent to all UN member-states showed that the United States is “practically more and more hell-bent on the hostile acts” against North Korea, even though it is seeking dialogue. The mission said the letter from the United States,

TOKYO (AP) -- Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan cannot give South Korean exports preferential treatment because the country is not abiding by an agreement regarding wartime issues that Japan insists have been resolved. Abe was objecting Wednesday to criticism over escalating tensions between the two neighbors amid disputes over Koreans forced to work as laborers during World War II.He was defending a decision announced Monday to impose restrictions on Japan’s exports of semiconduct

A rare total solar eclipse plunged a vast swath of Latin America's southern cone into darkness Tuesday, briefly turning day into night and enthralling huge crowds in much of Chile and Argentina.Hundreds of thousands of people -- including large crowds congregated in La Higuera in Chile, a country that hosts some of the world's most powerful astronomical telescopes -- looked to the skies captivated by the breathtaking spectacle.Thousands of people on beaches near the Chilean city of La Serena che

Chinese President Xi Jinping urged US President Donald Trump to "show flexibility" towards North Korea, including the "timely" easing of sanctions, at the G20 summit last week, China's foreign minister said Tuesday.Xi visited North Korea prior to meeting Trump at the G20 in Japan on Saturday, and analysts had said the Chinese leader could use the trip as leverage in his trade war talks with the US leader.Trump met North Korean leader Kim Jong Un the next day at the Demilitari

The Demilitarized Zone dividing the two Koreas was closed to tourists on the North's side on Sunday, a tour company said, amid speculation US President Donald Trump and Kim Jong -un would meet there."The DMZ is closed to tourists visiting from the North Korean side today," tweeted Koryo Tours, the market leader in western tourism to the isolated country. (AFP)

US President Donald Trump said Sunday that Kim Jong-un "very much wants" to meet him, a day after inviting the North Korean leader to "say hello" in the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula."We'll see. He very much wants to. We are trying to work it out," Trump told reporters about a possible third face-to-face meeting between the pair after summits in Singapore and Hanoi."It will be very short but that's OK. A handshake means a lot," he added, wi

OSAKA, Japan (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump said trade negotiations with China were "back on track" after "excellent" talks Saturday with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping in which Washington reportedly agreed to hold off on new tariffs.The crunch talks on the damaging trade war between the world's top two economies came on the sidelines of a meeting of the G20 in Japan's Osaka, with all eyes on whether the pair would agree a truce. "We had a very good meeting