Vanuatu tsunami threat cancelled after 7.3 strong quake hits islands and other top stories.

• Vanuatu tsunami threat cancelled after 7.3 strong quake hits islands

  

  A major earthquake hit the Pacific nation of Vanuatu early on Friday, briefly prompting a tsunami warning that was cancelled after locals reported no significant damage. The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the 7.0-magnitude quake ...

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• Biden to See Pope Francis, Discuss Cancer Cures at Vatican

  

  ROME — Having pushed to accelerate cancer research at home, Vice President Joe Biden is working to focus the global community's attention on the devastating disease at the Vatican.In his speech Friday to a conference on regenerative medicine, Biden plans to draw connections between medical research and broader societal and moral issues that Pope Francis has shined a light on. While in Vatican City, Biden is expected to see the pontiff, who will also speak at the conference, but it is unclear w..

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• Labour 'must improve' battle against anti-Semitism

  

  Media captionJeremy Corbyn tells John Pienaar: There is no crisis Labour deputy leader Tom Watson has said the party will "get a grip" on anti-Semitism following the suspension of Ken Livingstone on Thursday.Labour was considering changes to its rules to send "a clear signal" of its "zero tolerance" towards anti-Semitism.Mr Livingstone was suspended after claiming Hitler supported Zionism "before he went mad",Shadow home secretary Andy Burnham said allegations must be dealt with "much more ..

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• Mallya says willing to reach "reasonable" debt settlement - FT

  Embattled tycoon Vijay Mallya wants a "reasonable" settlement with creditor banks to his defunct airline, he said in an interview in London published by the Financial Times on Friday.Mallya, 60, flew first class from Delhi to London on March 2 at a time when the Indian government and mainly state-controlled banks are trying to recover $1.4 billion owed by his collapsed Kingfisher Airlines Ltd."We have always been in dialogue with banks saying: 'We wish to settle'. But we wish to settle at a re..

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• China says it will not permit war in the Korean Peninsula. Why now?

  

  Chinese President Xi Jinping said Thursday that his country will "absolutely not permit war or chaos" to break out on the Korean peninsula.Addressing a group of Asian foreign ministers, the comments were made in the context of a wider exploration of China's foreign policy. President Xi also expressed commitment to "comprehensively and fully" implement sanctions targeting North Korea's missile and nuclear programs, as mandated by the United Nations.The remarks come amid a growing wave of activit..

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• Clampdown in China Restricts 7000 Foreign Organizations

  

  The prospect of the new law caused considerable anxiety among foreign and Chinese nongovernment organizations here after an early draft began circulating last year.Countries including the United States began campaigning for Beijing to scrap or drastically change the proposed law. Universities also weighed in, since vague wording in early drafts indicated that educational institutions could be affected. Business associations raised objections as well.On Thursday afternoon, the Standing Committee..

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• Kerry expresses outrage after 50 killed in strike on Syrian hospital

  

  The U.N. special envoy to Syria, Staffan de Mistura, told reporters in Geneva on Thursday that Syria's nationwide "cessation of hostilities" is under serious threat of collapse, and that a humanitarian disaster is unfolding as violence increases in Aleppo and three other locations.The airstrike killed at least 50 people, according to Pablo Marco, operations manager for Doctors Without Borders in the Middle East.Marco told CNN that at least six of the dead were hospital staff: Two doctors, two nu..

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• China and Russia Urge US to Abandon Korea Missile Defense Plans

  

  China and Russia urged the United States on Friday not to install a new anti-missile system in South Korea, after Washington said it was in talks with Seoul in the wake of nuclear arms and missile tests by North Korea. The United States and South Korea have begun talks on possible deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system after North Korea tested its fourth nuclear bomb on January 6 and conducted missile tests. The nuclear test and missile launches are in violation of..

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