Asia Pacific Daily News - Focus on Asia-Pacific Development, Daily News Express, Scholar Creation Center

Every Saturday, Asia Pacific Daily will provide you with a run-down of the latest hot news.

This week, the following hot news you should know:

Top 1 | Germany coalition talks: SPD backs talks with Merkel

Germany's centre-left Social Democrats (SDP) have voted for coalition negotiations with Chancellor Angela Merkel's conservatives, their former coalition partners.

Earlier this month the two groupings agreed a blueprint for formal talks.

Mrs Merkel's centre-right CDU and its Bavarian CSU ally have been unable to form a government since September's inconclusive election.The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) won 94 seats in parliament.

Initially the SPD ruled out governing with Mrs Merkel in charge again. But leader Martin Schulz changed his mind after CDU/CSU coalition talks with the liberal Free Democrats (FDP) and Greens broke down.

Top 2 | US shutdown ends as Congress strikes deal

U.S. President Donald Trump claimed victory Monday after Democrats agreed to a stopgap deal to reopen US government offices and end a political crisis in Washington.

"I am pleased Democrats in Congress have come to their senses," Trump said in a defiant statement, as Senate lawmakers moved to get hundreds of thousands of federal government employees back to work.

Democrats decided to end the three-day "shutdown" after making progress with ruling Republicans toward securing the fate of hundreds of thousands of so-called "Dreamers" brought to America illegally as children.

Top 3 | Trump has replaced old international allies with new ones

"How to Win Friends and Influence People," a self-help book by Dale Carnegie, was first published in 1936. It has since sold more than 30 million copies worldwide.

A year in to his presidency, Donald Trump has shown the value of Carnegie's insights.Never before in the field of American foreign policy have so many of the nation's friends been lost with such speed by one man.

He began his days in the White House mired in controversy through his travel ban on people from several Muslim-majority countries that instantly spread suspicion among Islam's 1.6 billion faithful that he didn't like them.

Fast-forward to the closing days of his first year in office, and he was reportedly offending an entire continent.

Top 4 | IOC says DPRK, ROK to march together at PyeongChang Olympics ceremony

IOC President Thomas Bach Saturday announced that a delegation from the National Olympic Committee (NOC) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) would participate at the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018. Under the “Olympic Korean Peninsula Declaration,” the IOC will grant accreditations to the NOC of the DPRK for 22 athletes in three sports and five disciplines.

The meeting was chaired by Bach, with representatives of the PyeongChang 2018 Organizing Committee, delegations from the national Olympic committees (NOC) of the DPRK and the Republic of Korea (ROK), and high-ranking government officials and IOC members from both countries.

Following the meeting between the IOC and delegations from the NOC of the DPRK, the NOC of the ROK and the PyeongChang 2018 Organizing Committee at the IOC headquarters, President Bach presented the decisions of the “Olympic Korean Peninsula Declaration.”

Top 5 | Chinese scientists cloned monkeys in world first

China has successfully cloned the world’s first two macaques from somatic cells with the same method used in cloning Dolly, as published on the website of the scientific journal Cell on Thursday.

The technique can help researchers to “customize” monkey groups with exactly the same genes, and go further in human disease research.

Named “Zhong Zhong” and “Hua Hua” (“Zhonghua” stands for China), these two cloned macaques were born on November 27 and December 5, 2017, after five years’ of research by the scientists from Shanghai Institutes for Biological Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

Top 6 | Pence visits Western Wall amid tensions with Palestinians

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence placed his hand on the hallowed Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City on Tuesday as he wrapped up a four-day trip to the Mideast that ended with Palestinians still fuming over the Trump administration's decision to recognize the city as Israel's capital.

On a solemn visit to the holiest site where Jews can pray, Pence tucked a small white note of prayer in the wall's cracks after touring the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

During his first trip to the region as vice president, Pence sought to enlist the help of Arab leaders in Egypt and Jordan on the Mideast peace process and used a high-profile speech to the Knesset to reaffirm President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital and accelerate plans to open a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem.

Top 7 | DPRK: Abe aggravates 'sanctions and pressure campaign against Pyongyang'

The Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) has slammed Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe for aggravating "the sanctions and pressure campaign against Pyongyang" through rhetoric.

A spokesman for the Institute for Studies of Japan of the DPRK Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Jan. 18 that during Abe's visit to some European countries, he mentioned the DPRK's "nuclear and missile development" and "abduction issue" every time he discussed bilateral relations with these countries, according to the Korean Central News Agency.

Tokyo claims the DPRK abducted some Japanese citizens in the 1970s. Pyongyang has adamantly denied the accusation.

The spokesman also said that Japanese Foreign Minister Taro Kono claimed that the DPRK was trying to earn time to continue its nuclear and missile program by seeking an inter-Korean detente and staging "smiling diplomacy" elsewhere during his visit to Canada and the United Arab Emirates.

Top 8 | Trump seeks $25 bln for border wall; offers Dreamers citizenship

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday previewed his outline for an immigration bill that he will promote next week, saying he wants $25 billion to build a border wall and is open to granting citizenship to illegal immigrants who were brought to the United States as children.

Trump said he was optimistic he could come to an agreement with both Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. Congress that would appeal to hardliners seeking tougher rules for immigrants while also preventing the roughly 700,000 “Dreamers” from being deported.

“Tell them not to be concerned, ok? Tell them not to worry. We’re going to solve the problem. It’s up to the Democrats, but they (the Dreamers) should not be concerned,” Trump told reporters during an impromptu question-and-answer session at the White House.

Top 9 | Trump in Switzerland to play salesman at economic summit

Armed with his "America First" philosophy, President Donald Trump arrived in Switzerland on Thursday to tout his economic agenda at a global summit that stresses free trade and international cooperation.

Trump arrived in Zurich ahead of schedule and immediately boarded a U.S. helicopter for the flight to Davos, where the World Economic Forum is being held. The approximately 40-minute trip took Trump over a snowy countryside dotted with houses, frosted mountains and a glistening lake. As Trump got off the helicopter in Davos, he gestured to aides who held him by the arms as he walked across the snowy landing zone to his waiting car.

While the president is expected to declare that the United States is open for business, the protectionist-leaning president's attendance at the annual gathering for free-trade-loving political and business elites has raised eyebrows. His decision to sign new tariffs boosting American manufacturers this week has prompted fresh concerns about his nationalist tendencies.

Top 10 | latest | Kabul hotel attack toll at least 22: officials

At least 22 people are now known to have died when Taliban militants slaughtered guests at a luxury Kabul hotel, Afghan officials said Monday, as fears grew that the attackers may have had inside help.

Authorities warned they were still investigating how militants breached security, which was taken over by a private company three weeks ago, at the landmark Intercontinental Hotel late Saturday.

Guests cowered behind pillars and in rooms as gunmen sprayed bullets and set fire to parts of the six-storey building. Some people climbed over balconies, using bedsheets in a desperate attempt to escape.

The attack ended after more than 12 hours Sunday with all six militants killed by Afghan forces, aided by Norwegian troops.