Senator Dela Rosa, who has a pending ICC warrant, has been in hiding since May

Beijing has told Brussels not to “fantasise” that pressure will extract concessions. This came after China made a goodwill gesture in the recent hybrid-car trade deal. The European Union responded by doubling down on a proposed trade “kill switch”. The instrument follows a Franco-German proposal. It would let the bloc swiftly restrict single-market access in response to economic coercion. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen says all 27 leaders back it. Chemicals and machinery are priority sectors....

MANILA, Philippines — Former Bangsamoro parliament member Edrieza Hadji Nasser Rimbang on Friday denied any involvement in the attempted smuggling of P3.5-billion worth of illegal drug shipment from Laos, lamenting that he was being implicated simply because he is a Duterte supporter. Rimbang issued the statement after Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla tagged the former parliament

China’s Communist Party convened an early monthly Politburo meeting on Friday to review a key internal inspection report, doubling down on its high-pressure anti-corruption campaign ahead of a major party conclave next week. Chaired by President Xi Jinping, the now 21-member Politburo met on Friday – earlier than its traditional end-of-month schedule – to discuss a comprehensive report on the seventh round of inspections by the 20th Central Committee. The latest inspection is a major internal...

Chinese President Xi Jinping sent a message to the 2026 Global Governance Forum (Xiongan) on Friday.

For Tanoé Akouba Leïla Olivia, modeling was the last thing on her mind when she came to Korea, because she was certain about her aspirations of working as an architect. Her professional training in interior design and 3D visualization in the U.K., Italy and Spain cemented her commitment to the field, until a career break in Korea made her rethink her path and eventually become a full-time model. Born in Cote d’Ivoire to an Ivorian father and Malian mother, Leïla spent her early childhood traveling between countries due to the nature of her parents’ work. Her childhood was filled with memories of the bright streets of Manchester, the antique avenues of Spain and the bustling roads of Italy. From time to time, she would find herself enjoying the flavorful food in Nigeria and exploring the historical and colorful streets of Togo and Senegal. This lifestyle led her to consider herself “un enfant du monde” — a French expression meaning “child of the world.” After completing her internship in Marbella and Valencia, she took a big leap and moved to China to work as a 3D visua

Of the roughly 70,000 adults reported missing in Korea every year, nearly all are found within weeks. But a small fraction vanish without a trace, and some stay missing for decades. According to data from the National Police Agency submitted in August to Rep. Chung Choon-saeng of the Rebuilding Korea Party, the share of missing adult cases resolved within 30 days has stayed near 99 percent over the past five years. It stood at 98.8 percent in 2022, 98.9 percent in 2023, 98.8 percent in 2024, 99 percent in 2025 and 99.4 percent through July 2026. For the slim remainder, however, investigators run out of leads. Here are some of Korea’s most baffling adult missing person cases that remain unsolved. Veterinary student Lee Yun-hee (2006) Lee Yun-hee, a veterinary student at Jeonbuk National University in Jeonju, North Jeolla Province, went missing 20 years ago and has never been found. On June 5, 2006, she attended an end-of-semester gathering with professors and classmates at a restaurant roughly 1.5 kilometers from her studio apartment. She returned home around 2:30 a.m. the next day. Lee

Na Joo-bong has spent 35 years searching for missing people. For him, the recent case of a Jeju police officer who prematurely closed multiple missing persons cases was no surprise. “Among 262 police stations in Korea, many lack missing persons investigation teams. It’s a department officers avoid, since the work spans missing children and adults, as well as runaways, with a heavy caseload and little to show for the effort,” said Na, 69, chief of the National Organization of Finding Missing Children and Family. The severity of the problem came to light in August, when the Jeju officer was found to have closed the case of Jang Mi-ran, a 37-year-old woman missing for months, without confirming her whereabouts. Jang’s remains were later found, and the officer admitted to closing multiple such cases to avoid the extra workload involved in keeping them open. The case has raised public awareness of missing adults, but the current Act on the Protection and Support of Missing Children only covers people who went missing before turning 18, along with people with intellectual disabilities

WASHINGTON — The prospects of a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in the near future remain slim, U.S. experts said, citing Pyongyang's demands for a shift in Washington's policy toward the North, including its approach to denuclearization. Jenny Town, a senior fellow at the Stimson Center, and Ankit Panda, a nuclear policy expert at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, offered their assessments during a podcast discussion hosted by Victor Cha, Korea chair at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, published Thursday. Town said the North has made clear that they reject the notion of any kind of denuclearization agenda. "The question isn't, 'Will North Korea come to the table?' The question is, 'Is the U.S. willing to do those things (change its North Korean policy)?'" she said, referring to North Korea's demands for changes in what it considers Washington's hostile policy. "I think the prospects of meeting, you know, I think are fairly low," she added, putting the likelihood of a meeting at less than 50 percent. Panda o

Chinese humanoid robot makers are accelerating efforts to gain a foothold in Korea, moving beyond dance performances and showroom displays to factory trials and other commercial applications as Seoul beefs up investment in physical artificial intelligence (AI). A string of Chinese robotics companies have flexed their muscles or announced projects in the country this year, including Hong Kong-listed Ubtech, startup Anyverse Dynamics, Shanghai-based Agibot and leading robot maker Unitree. “China’s new generation of robot companies has global DNA and naturally looks overseas, and Korea is one of the most important markets in Asia-Pacific,” said Ethan Qi, an associate director covering robotics at Counterpoint Research. The absence of locally built humanoids available at scale has created an opening for Chinese suppliers, he added. Early footprint Representatives of Galaxy Robot Park, a robot-themed entertainment venue in Seoul, agreed to buy Ubtech’s lifelike U1 model after attending its debut in Shenzhen in June, according to Sean Qin, overseas head of the company's commercial robo