Washington, UNITED STATES | AFP | Will the United States defeat the North Korean nuclear threat through “peaceful pressure” or “fire and fury”? This week US Secretary of State and diplomatic good cop Rex Tillerson was in southeast Asia, working with allies to isolate and cajole Kim Jong-Un’s regime. Meanwhile, back …

United Nations, United States | AFP | In slapping its seventh set of sanctions on North Korea, the United Nations has adopted its toughest measures yet against the regime — but how effective they will be in changing Pyongyang’s behavior is another matter. Days after the UN unanimously approved the US-drafted …

San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook is rolling out a new video service offering professionally produced shows in a challenge to rivals such as YouTube, and potentially to streaming providers like Netflix. The Facebook service called Watch will include a range of shows, from reality to comedy to live …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Nuclear-armed North Korea announced a detailed plan Thursday to send a salvo of four missiles over Japan and towards the US territory of Guam, raising the stakes in a stand-off with President Donald Trump and mocking him as “bereft of reason”. The scheme to target …

Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump has vented his anger against any number of political opponents on Twitter, but the latest target of US presidential scorn is the Senate leader of his own Republican Party, Mitch McConnell. The president took to Twitter early Thursday to denounce the Senate majority …

Dubai, United Arab Emirates | AFP | At least 56 people have drowned over the past 24 hours, and dozens remain missing, after human traffickers forced 300 African migrants off two Yemen-bound boats and into the sea. Survivors — all Ethiopian and Somali migrants — managed to make their way to …

Paris, France | AFP | An asteroid the size of a house will shave past Earth at a distance of some 44,000 kilometres (27,300 miles) in October, inside the Moon’s orbit, astronomers said Thursday. The space rock will zoom by at an eighth of the distance from the Earth to the …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Europe faces a growing scandal over the contamination of millions of eggs with the insecticide fipronil, which can be potentially harmful to humans. Here is what we know about a scare which has seen eggs pulled from supermarket shelves in eight countries and involves multiple criminal …

Washington, United States | AFP | A US warship on Thursday sailed close to an artificial island China has built up in the South China Sea, as part of a “freedom of navigation” operation, a US official said. The USS John S. McCain destroyer sailed within six nautical miles of Mischief …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Crystal Palace signed Manchester United defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah on a season-long loan on Thursday. Fosu-Mensah will link up with new Eagles boss and fellow Dutchman Frank de Boer ahead of the new Premier League season. The 19-year-old has made 21 appearances for United and still …