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Football: Nigeria qualification put on hold after draw

Agence France-PresseJune 12, 2013 18:31

Nigeria failed Wednesday to reach the final round of 2014 World Cup qualifiers in Africa after a 1-1 draw in Namibia. The African champions needed a win in Windhoek to take an unassailable four-point Group F lead with one game to spare. But the 'Super Eagles' had to settle for a point when Godfrey Oboabona equalised seven minutes from time at Sam Nujoma Stadium. Deon Hotto Kavendji had put the 'Brave Warriors' ahead on 77 minutes as they threatened to avenge a 1-0 loss in Calabar last June.

Myanmar readmitted to EU trade scheme

Agence France-PresseJune 12, 2013 17:37

The European Union on Wednesday readmitted Myanmar to its trade preference scheme, saying it wanted to support reform in the once pariah state through economic development. Myanmar's membership of the scheme was withdrawn in 1997 due to concerns over the use of forced labour under the then-military junta. But the EU said the International Labour Organisation had last year reported "necessary improvements" to labour practices in Myanmar, which was formerly known as Burma.

Korea immune from U.S. military budget cuts: Pentagon official

Yonhap News AgencyJune 12, 2013 16:33

By Lee Chi-dong WASHINGTON, June 12 (Yonhap) -- U.S. Deputy Secretary of Defense Ashton Carter made clear Wednesday the Pentagon will not cut its spending in Korea despite the so-called sequester, an automatic massive defense budget reduction that took effect on March 1. In a speech at the annual conference of the Center for a New American Security (CNAS), he said the Barack Obama administration will not apply sequester to a war in Afghanistan nor to the stationing of around 28,500 troops in South Korea.

Myanmar readmitted to EU trade scheme

Agence France-PresseJune 12, 2013 13:44

Myanmar readmitted to EU trade scheme

Agence France-PresseJune 12, 2013 12:34

Presidential office rejects criticism over cancellation of talks with N. Korea

Yonhap News AgencyJune 12, 2013 09:32

SEOUL, June 12 (Yonhap) -- The office of President Park Geun-hye bristled strongly at criticism Wednesday that not only North Korea but also the South is to blame for the cancellation of high-level inter-Korean talks. The two sides had been scheduled to open two days of talks in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss, among other issues, resuming joint economic projects, but the talks were called off at the last minute after they failed to reach agreement over the rank of top delegates from each side.

Korean talks: a familiar vanishing trick

Agence France-PresseJune 12, 2013 06:43

The abrupt cancellation of planned talks between North and South Korea underlines the huge challenges facing any "trust-building" process on the divided peninsula, 60 years after the Korean War. Right from the outset, the agreement to hold what would have been the first high-level dialogue for six years had looked vulnerable -- dogged by disagreement over the agenda and other issues.

No one's picking up in North Korea day after talks with South break down

Thomson ReutersJune 12, 2013 06:30

SEOUL (Reuters) - A day after snubbing Seoul by offering to send a junior official to hold the first supposedly high-level talks between the two Koreas in six years, North Korea appeared to be refusing to pick up a phone line it re-established just last Friday. The unpredictable North had called for talks between the two countries in order to try to reopen a money-spinning joint industrial park that it closed in April after threatening the South with nuclear annihilation.

S. Korea denies blame for scrapped talks with North

Agence France-PresseJune 12, 2013 05:32

South Korea rejected any blame Wednesday for the collapse of planned talks with the North, as businessmen from a closed joint industrial zone complained they were being ruined by politics. North Korea, meanwhile, offered no comment at all on the last-minute cancellation of the dialogue, and refused to answer routine calls from South on a newly-restored inter-government hotline.

Two Koreas should be on par to start talks: S. Korean PM

Yonhap News AgencyJune 12, 2013 03:33

SEOUL, June 12 (Yonhap) -- South Korean Prime Minister Chung Hong-won called Wednesday for "sincere talks" with North Korea based upon mutual understanding, a day after disputes over the ranks of lead delegates resulted in the cancellation of rare inter-Korean high-level talks. The two sides had been scheduled to open two-day meetings in Seoul on Wednesday to discuss resuming joint economic projects and other issues, but the talks were called off at the last minute after they failed to reach agreement over the ranks of officials to represent each side.