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Having unveiled the Galaxy Note 8 officially, Samsung can now get down to the business of selling its new flagship smartphone. The company’s carrier and retail partners in several markets across the globe started  taking pre-orders for the handset on August 24 . Samsung is going to release the Galaxy Note 8 in markets like North America and parts of Europe on September 15. Samsung’s regional arms will confirm pricing and availability details for their respective markets. According to a new report, the Galaxy Note 8 launch date in India is likely to be September 11. The report also mentions that the 64GB variant of the handset will be priced at Rs. 74,900 or $1,170. Amazon India is reportedly going to be the exclusive online retailer for the Galaxy Note 8. Customers will also be able to purchase it from Samsung’s retail locations as well as the company’s offline retail partners. Samsung will apparently only start taking pre-orders for the Galaxy Note 8 f...

.   An F-35B begins its short takeoff from the USS America with an external weapons load.Lockheed Martin While North Korea  feverishly works to perfect intercontinental ballistic missile technology , the US and its allies are putting the finishing touches on the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that will soon be patrolling the Pacific. Japan and South Korea, the US's principal allies the region, will both deploy over 100 F-35s by 2021,  according to Aviation Week . This follows the US choosing Japan as the site of its first-ever deployment of operational F-35Bs, which are  particularly well-suited  to combat in the Pacific region. The F-35, with its stealth characteristics and ability to improve the performance of the legacy jets it flies with, presents technical challenges that even the world's best air forces can't yet overcome. Against North Korea's rudimentary air force and air defenses, the F-35 would dominate and lead South Korean, Japanese, and US legacy fi...

U.S. Army soldiers install their missile defense system called Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense, or THAAD, at a golf course in Seongju, South Korea,  The  second North Korean test launch  of an ICBM within four weeks should convince South Korea to allow deployment of a full THAAD anti-missile battery, the Pentagon said Monday. South Korea has permitted the U.S.  Army  to install two Terminal High Altitude Area Defense launchers on a former golf course south of Seoul, but South Korean President Moon Jae-in has delayed placement  of a full battery of six launchers pending an environmental study that has no timeline. The Pentagon maintained that North Korea’s test launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile last Friday, following on a similar test launch July 4, had altered the security calculus on the peninsula and made the case for immediate deployment of the full THAAD battery. “A lot of people question the need for THAAD; they question the requ...

  After  another North Korean missile launch  on Friday, the US and South Korean military responded by holding a joint missile exercise "to exercise assets countering North Korea's missile launch," a joint statement read. The exercise utilized the Army's Tactical Missile System (ATACMS) and South Korea's Hyunmoo Missile II - which were said to be capable of rapidly deploying in order to provide "deep-strike precision capability." The missiles were also said to have been  fired  into the East Sea, where North Korea's latest missile was also rumored to have landed. ATACMS missiles can carry a 500-pound high-explosive warhead and can travel up to a distance of 186 miles. The newest provocation from North Korea appeared to demonstrate the country's advances in its missile program, given that the latest missile was estimated to be capable of reaching major US cities, such as New York and Washington, D.C.,  according to experts . President Donald...

Russian President Vladimir Putin (R) and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe give a press conference following their meeting at the Kremlin in Moscow on April 27, 2017. (Photos by AFP) Leaders of Russia and Japan have called for an urgent resumption of multi-party talks to find a solution to the current crisis in the Korean Peninsula. Russian President Vladimir Putin and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Thursday that they were seeking de-escalation in the Korean conflict, admitting that the situation had seriously deteriorated over the past weeks. Putin urged all sides of the crisis to refrain from any provocation that could further deteriorate the situation. He also said the surge in hostilities had made it necessary for all stakeholders to embark on renewed efforts to find a solution to the conflict.  Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a joint press conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe following their meeting at the Kremlin in Mos...

KCNA/REUTERSKim Jong Un at the test of a strategic submarine ballistic missile in an undated photo released by North Korea's Korean Central News Agency in 2015. As tensions reach a boiling point between North Korea, the US, and the North's neighbors, Japan's government has issued a guide for its citizens on how to survive a missile attack that would take less than 10 minutes to hit Japan,  The Washington Post reports . The guide  warns specifically of nuclear ballistic-missile attacks, as North Korea continues both nuclear and ballistic-missile programs. The guide instructs people to keep calm, keep roads clear, and maintain communication with the outside world through radio or TV in the event of a nuclear, chemical, or biological attack. It recommends that in the event of a nuclear explosion, people not look at the flash, which could be blinding, and have the least possible amount of skin exposed to the blast of radiation. Paranoia or real concern? North Korea  stu...

China Image captionChinese state media released a picture of the launch showing the carrier bedecked in giant colourful streamers China has launched a new aircraft carrier, boosting its military presence amid rising tensions in the region. It is the country's second aircraft carrier, after the Liaoning, and the first to be made domestically. State media said the unnamed ship was "transferred from dry dock into the water" in the north-eastern port of Dalian. Previous reports said it would be operational by 2020. It comes amid heated rhetoric between the US and North Korea in recent days. China has had only one operational aircraft carrier, the Liaoning, which it bought from Ukraine and refitted. The US has deployed  warships and a submarine  to the Korean peninsula, prompting an angry reaction from North Korea. China has urged calm. There is also the ongoing issue of  competing territorial claims in the South China Sea . The new carrier will deploy Shenyang J-1...

This US Navy photo obtained on March 31, 2017 shows the aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson and other vessels as they participate in an exercise with Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force destroyers in the Philippine Sea on March 28, 2017. (Via AFP) North Korea is reportedly engaged in a large-scale live-fire artillery exercise, in what is apparently intended to signal to a hostile United States that Pyongyang is combat-ready. On Tuesday, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported that the North appeared to have deployed a large number of long-range artillery units in the region of Wonsan on its east coast for the drill. The day coincides with the anniversary of the establishment of the North’s military. The United States, North Korea’s archenemy, and regional adversaries South Korea and Japan have harbored fears that the occasion might witness another nuclear test by Pyongyang. North Korea has so far conducted five confirmed nuclear tests and numerous missile test-launches. Pyongyang...

Merely weeks after  cautioning residents  that bitcoin companies weren’t authorized or licensed to operate in the country, India’s central bank is reportedly not including bitcoin under the purview of regulations for digital payments. In essence, the cryptocurrency will not be legitimized as a legal form of payment or settlement in an economy which is the world’s largest receiver of remittances, anytime soon. Claim Your $500 worth of Bitcoin  Digital payments and financial technology (Fintech) solutions have caught on rampantly amongst the Indian society in recent times, particularly after a sweeping, unprecedented  cash crunch  brought on by the government’s demonetization drive. In light of these new innovations, the  Payments and Settlement Systems Act of 2007  [PDF], the code by which payment systems are regulated, was amended to include digital payment gateways and platforms. The amended regulations will look to deem physical cash and d...

Lee Jae-yong (C), the vice chairman of Samsung Electronics, arrives to be questioned as a suspect in a corruption scandal at the office of the independent counsel in Seoul, South Korea, February 13, 2017. (Photo by AFP) Samsung Group remains a target for prosecution as the office of South Korea's special prosecutor reiterates that it will seek a warrant for the arrest of the company's chief amid a probe into a corruption scandal that led to the impeachment of President Park Geun-hye. The office made the announcement in a statement released on Tuesday, a day after Lee Jae-yong, Samsung's vice chairman and the son of the group's boss, Lee Kun-hee, was questioned for more than 15 hours by the special prosecutor on Monday. The prosecutor is also seeking the arrest of Park Sang-jin, the company's executive, in the graft investigation. "We have filed for an arrest warrant for Vice Chairman Lee Jae-yong and President Park Sang-jin today," the statement read....

A member of Indonesia's conservative Islamic organization Hizbut Tahrir holds a placard during an anti-Valentine's Day protest outside a school in Surabaya city, eastern Java island on February 13, 2015. Muslim clerics across Indonesia have warned against celebrating Valentine's Day, which they regard as Western celebration that promotes sex, drinking alcohol and drug use. AFP PHOTO / JUNI KRISWANTO The mayor of a city on Indonesia’s Sulawesi Island on Tuesday raided convenience stores selling condoms on the eve of Valentine’s Day. According to local media the mayor of Makassar, Mohammad Pomanto, complained during snap inspections of minimarts that stores were selling condoms “like they were candy.’’ “Valentine’s Day is a day of love but it doesn’t mean people can do anything in the name of love. “It’s not about Valentine’s Day but it’s about moral degradation,’’ he said, adding that stores that sol...

Japan’s largest banks Mitsubishi UFJ, Mizuho and SMBC are now investors in bitFlyer, Japan’s largest bitcoin exchange. Samburaj Das Less than a year after  raising ¥3 billion ($27 million)  in a record funding round by a bitcoin and Fintech company in Japan, Tokyo-based bitFlyer now sees all three of Japan’s ‘mega-banks’ as investors in the bitcoin exchange. In an announcement today, bitFlyer, Japan’s largest bitcoin exchange and blockchain services company, revealed fresh funding from Mizuho Capital and SMBC Venture Capital, both of which are the investment arms of the Mizuho Banking Corporation and the Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation respectively. The two banking corporations join Mitsubishi UFJ as investors in bitFlyer. Mitsubishi UFJ Capital  participated in a ¥510 million ($4.5 million) round  of funding in August 2015. Altogether, all three of Japan’s megabanks have now invested in the country’s leading bitcoin exchange. Interest in Bitc...

The leader of North Korea, Kim Jong-un, in an undated photo. Military experts in the region say that the country is still years away from achieving capabilities that it has claimed, like striking the continental United States, as well as its military bases in the Pacific. KOREAN CENTRAL NEWS AGENCY, VIA AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE — GETTY IMAGES SEOUL, South Korea —  North Korea  said on Monday that it had successfully tested a new nuclear-capable intermediate-range ballistic missile, claiming important progress in being able to strike its enemies with long-range missiles tipped with nuclear warheads. Confirming  the missile test  detected by the United States and South Korean authorities on Sunday, the North’s official Korean Central News Agency said it had launched an intermediate-range surface-to-surface ballistic missile named Pukguksong-2, or Polaris-2. North Korea’s leader,  Kim Jong-un , inspected the test, the news agency said. ...

South Korean President Park Geun-hye speaks during an emergency cabinet meeting at the Presidential Blue House in Seoul, South Korea, December 9, 2016. Yonhap/ via REUTERS (Reuters) - Lawyers for South Korean President Park Geun-hye have rejected a plan by a special prosecutor investigating a graft scandal to question her, citing a media leak, a spokesman for the prosecutor's office said on Thursday. The plan was to question Park on Thursday at an undisclosed location, Lee Kyu-chul, spokesman for the prosecutor's office, told a media briefing. But Park's office had notified the prosecutor that it was scrapping an agreement on the questioning, Lee said. "There is no change to the position that a face-to-face questioning of the president is necessary but there has been no decision specifically on the schedule from this point on," he said. Lee said Park's lawyers had notified the prosecutor's office of the decision after a television station said in a ...

Culture Minister Cho Yoon-sun arrives at the Seoul Central District court in Seoul, South Korea, January 20, 2017. Yoo Seung-kwan/News1 via REUTERS South Korea's special prosecutor has indicted a former culture minister and a former top aide to President Park Geun-hye on charges of abuse of power, coercion and perjury for their role in drafting a blacklist of dissenting artists, a spokesman said. The indictments are the latest twist in a corruption scandal that has gripped the country for months and led to the impeachment of Park by parliament in December. A Constitutional Court is reviewing the impeachment vote. If it is upheld, Park will have to leave office and a presidential election will be called. Lee Kyu-chul, spokesman for the special prosecutor's office investigating the scandal, told a briefing on Tuesday former culture minister Cho Yoon-sun, and a former presidential chief of staff, Kim Ki-choon, had been indicted. "The special prosecutor's office has...

China has become the world’s biggest producer of solar energy by installing projects that are already generating 77.42 gigawatts of electricity. Reports say China has become the world’s biggest producer of solar energy by installing projects that are already generating 77.42 gigawatts of electricity per year.    A report by digitaltrends.com emphasized that China officially claimed the title after doubling its installed photovoltaic capacity last year. “By the end of 2016, China’s capacity hit 77.42 gigawatts, and while this is great in terms of raw numbers, it’s a lot less impressive relative to the country’s massive population,” the report added. Solar energy represents only one percent of the China’s energy output. However, speculations are rising that this may soon change as China devotes more and more of its attention towards clean energy. The country’s National Energy Administration (NEA) has already announced that plans are underway to add more than 110 gigawatts...

Rohingya Muslims from Myanmar, who tried to cross the Naf River into Bangladesh to escape sectarian violence, are kept under watch by Bangladeshi security officials in Teknaf, December 25, 2016. (Photo by AFP) Bangladesh is pressing ahead with a controversial plan to relocate refugees from the persecuted Muslim Rohingya community in neighboring Myanmar to a secluded island despite international concern. Bangladeshi officials have for some time been intending to relocate tens of thousands of Rohingya refugees to a remote island in the Bay of Bengal in eastern Bangladesh. According to a government statement late on Sunday, Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali has sought help from foreign countries and organizations with the relocation plan. Ali briefed representatives from diplomatic missions and several United Nations agencies to take “meaningful measures” to resettle the refugees. Sixty ambassadors, high commissioners, heads of various diplomatic missions, and officials from UN agencie...

An Afghan man fills a container from rainwater during the snowfall on the outskirts of Mazar-i- Sharif, Afghanistan, February 4, 2017. (Photo by AFP) At least 50 people have been killed after their homes were buried under a massive avalanche in a remote village in eastern Afghanistan, officials say. The tragic incident occurred in Hafsi village in Barg-e-Matal district of Nuristan province, which is bordered on the east by Pakistan. According to Mohammad Omar Mohammadi, a spokesman for the Afghanistan Natural Disaster Management Authority (ANDMA), “50 bodies” have so far been recovered. Mohammadi said a separate huge avalanche had almost entirely covered another village in the area and rescue teams were trying to reach it despite deep snow and freezing weather. Meanwhile, the provincial governor, Hafiz Abdul Qayoum, confirmed that at least 16 other people had been injured in the incident, warning that the death toll could rise as a rescue operation was on Sunday ev...