China attacks international court after South China Sea ruling Read moreBlumenthal said he believed there was now ?broad bipartisan support for trying to stem this expansionism, which is leading to effective Chinese control over the South China Sea?. At his first question and answer session with the press on Monday, Spicer again hinted Trump?s administration would take a harder line on the South China Sea. At a press conference in Beijing on Tuesday, the foreign ministry spokesperson, Hua Chunying, urged Washington to tread carefully ?to avoid harming the peace and stability of the South China Sea?. ?I think the most dangerous scenario was the one we were heading towards: a lot of tough talk on the South China Sea, but China continuing to encroach and the United States not really putting a lot of muscle behind the statements it was making.? In July 2016, a judgment by an international tribunal in The Hague came down overwhelmingly in favour of claims by the Philippines to rocky outcrops in the South China Sea, a verdict disputed by Beijing.

Fairfax media reported that the Canterbury district in the South Island urgently needed 60 extra public toilets to meet demand. New Zealand hit by `weather bomb` bringing summer snow and flooding Read moreNew Zealand?s economy is heavily reliant on the tourist dollar but the surge in visitor numbers is putting a strain on public infrastructure around the country ? and in particular on public toilets. Facebook Twitter Pinterest The lone public convenience in South Taranaki. Chris Wilkes, a local resident, said more than 50 people each night used a toilet block in South Taranaki that contained a single toilet. In the tiny town of Glenorchy in the South Island, which is the gateway to Mt Aspiring National Park, visitor numbers average 150,000 a year.

?We have to spray gasoline on North Korea, and let the North Korean people set fire to it.?Thae, 54, has said publicly that dissatisfaction with Kim prompted him to flee his post. Thae has said more North Korean diplomats are waiting in Europe to defect to South Korea. North and South Korea are technically still at war as their 1950-53 conflict ended in a truce, not a peace treaty. North Korea?s elite is outwardly expressing its discontent towards Kim Jong-un and his government as more outside information trickles into the isolated nation, the country?s former deputy ambassador to London has said. Thae Yong-ho defected to South Korea in August last year and since December has been speaking to media and appearing on television to discuss his defection and his life as a North Korean envoy.

Samsung has emerged from the ashes of the Galaxy Note 7 debacle in pretty good shape. Related: Samsung blames batteries for Galaxy Note 7 firesOn Monday, the company took a major step toward moving on from the embarrassing affair. The bumper earnings highlight Samsung (SSNLF)`s ability to shrug off the $5 billion profit hit it took from killing off the fire-prone Note 7. Premium smartphone makers are also likely to be turning to Samsung as they shift to a new type of screen, known as OLED. Samsung is the world`s largest smartphone maker, but the majority of the company`s profits now come from selling components like semiconductors, memory chips and display screens.

?I am ready to give my all to uniting the divided country and making South Korea a first-rate nation,? Mr. Ban said. But another visitor, Kim Ki-tae, also a Ban fan, feared that Mr. Ban might not survive the thrust and parry of domestic politics. Critics called Mr. Ban a turncoat when he later appeared to align himself closely with conservatives, including Ms. Park. PhotoSince he has returned home, Mr. Ban has defined himself as a ?progressive conservative? who can mend an ideologically fractured country. One of the first things Mr. Ban did after his homecoming was support the deployment of an American missile defense system that has angered North Korea and China.

(North Korean diplomats are required to leave a child in the North, a measure intended to prevent their defection. Their English friends taunted them with questions, like why Mr. Kim had smoked a cigarette inside a nursery. Schooled for several years in Switzerland, Mr. Kim was expected to help modernize his impoverished country. While in London, his sons began asking questions, like why the North Korean government executed people in public without a proper trial, Mr. Thae said. Another sign of Mr. Kim?s weakening control, Mr. Thae said, is evident at the unofficial markets in North Korea where women trade goods, mostly smuggled from China.

PhotoSEOUL, South Korea ? A professor whose book about Japan?s World War II-era military brothels angered Korean women who once worked there was acquitted on Wednesday of defaming the women. In a case closely followed by the South Korean news media, a judge in the Eastern District Court in Seoul ruled that her academic freedom must be protected. She has since faced civil and criminal complaints from nine South Korean women who said they were forced to work at the brothels during the war. She also called Ms. Park a ?pro-Japanese traitor,? according to South Korean news reports. But on Wednesday, Ms. Park won the criminal case.

Police in Thailand are seeking two suspects, a South African and a Briton, in the killing of a British man in the Thai resort town of Pattaya. He said Bonito, from South Africa, is suspected of being the gunman and Briton Turner the driver who whisked him away on a motorcycle after Tuesday`s shooting. Jitti said both men have left Thailand but he declined to say to where. They have suggested the killing may have been related to a business dispute. Police said witnesses and surveillance cameras helped identify the suspects.

[Lotte Group has become the target of a boycott in China after THAAD move. " He stressed that China`s Lotte boycott is only a matter of time. We see it as an act of harming the friendship of China and South Korea. He added that the destructive power will be immense if the boycott is carried out, and that Lotte Group should take full responsibility for the future situation. But the THAAD deployment is totally against this justification.