NK defectors rebuke Pyongyang's nukes, rights violations and other top stories.

• NK defectors rebuke Pyongyang's nukes, rights violations

  

  SEOUL, April 29 (Yonhap) -- Around 100 North Korean defectors in South Korea and foreign nations held their first gathering on Friday in Seoul, condemning the North's grave human rights violations and nuclear weapons program. The participants said that only when North Korea gives up its nuclear weapons and the two Koreas move to achieve peaceful unification can the division on the Korean Peninsula come to an end. "We will do our best to make North Korea a country where individuals' dignity ..

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• British family attacked in Thailand say they're never going back

  

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• China Passes Law Restricting Foreign NGOs

  

  China passed a law on Thursday subjecting foreign nongovernmental organizations to increased regulation and police supervision, according to Chinese and international media reports. The law, which requires foreign NGOs to register their activities with police and public security agencies, has attracted widespread concerns that it will further constrain the activities of civil society organizations in China and inhibit international cooperation in any number of areas, including science and academ..

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• Tsunami warning cancelled as magnitude-7.0 earthquake strikes Vanuatu

  

  Tsunami warning cancelled as magnitude-7.0 earthquake strikes Vanuatu Updated April 29, 2016 08:43:21 A tsunami warning issued after a shallow magnitude-7.0 earthquake struck the Vanuatu island of Malekula, 64 kilometres south south-east of Luganville, has been cancelled.But the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) has warned that minor sea level fluctuations of up to 0.3 metres above and below the normal tide may continue over the next few hours.The sparsely populated..

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• Federal government shakes up vocational education

  

  Senator Scott Ryan Photo: Alex Ellinghausen The scandal-plagued vocational education sector is set for a radical shake-up under a proposal from the federal government which could see a ban on brokers promoting courses to students, enforcing minimum student completion rates, and only funding courses that meet industry demand. The discussion paper, released on Friday, comes after hundreds of millions of dollars have been wiped from the public purse through all..

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• 4800-Year-Old Remains of Mother and Child Found in Taiwan

  

  A team of archaeological researchers in Taiwan have uncovered a massive array of ancient remains dating to at least 4,800 years old – including a mother cradling an infant child, possibly her own, in her arms. Found in central Taiwan in the Taichung region, these remains, which were discovered in excavated graves, are the oldest ever discovered within the area. The most startling discovery by far was the skeleton of the woman, as she seemed to be gazing down lovingly at the child wrapped in her..

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• Bali Nine duo remembered on anniversary

  

  Bali Nine duo families to mark anniversaryBy Sarah McPhee and Gemma NajemAAPAustralian artist Ben Quilty has paid tribute to his friend and student, Myuran Sukumaran, on the one-year anniversary of the Bali Nine ringleader's execution.Sukumaran, 34, and fellow convicted drug smuggler, Andrew Chan, 31, were executed by firing squad on Indonesia's Nusakambangan island on April 29, 2015.The pair spent a decade in Kerobokan Prison after attempting to smuggle heroin out of Bali in 2005.Quilty was int..

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