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North Korea will gain “nothing” by making threats, US President Barack Obama said on Friday, warning it of sanctions with “more bite” if it went ahead with a fourth nuclear test.

Speaking in South Korea as satellite images revealed the North could be preparing for another test, Obama stressed that Washington and Seoul stood “shoulder to shoulder” in their refusal to accept a nuclear North Korea.

Even China, the North’s only major ally, was becoming alienated by its provocative behaviour, he said on the second leg of his Asian tour.

Declaring that she was “bullish” on India-US ties, a senior US official says the two countries will play a key role in advancing prosperity and stability in Asia.

Asia, “a region with tremendous promise and potential” faces many challenges ranging from economic development to defeating terrorism and counter violent extremism, Nisha Desai Biswal, assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asian Affairs, said Friday.

A white and black cat spotted in Ramsgate, Kent, has become a dead ringer for late Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.

According to the Daily Star, the cat has a white face with a black mark above its lip, which looks like a small moustache, and also has a black patch that cover a part of its forehead, which looks like a side-parting.

A resident of the area, Keith Ross, who was the one to notice the cat and take its picture, said that he always believed cats to be evil, but this one’s resemblance to the late dictator confirms it. (ANI)

China Friday expressed grave concerns over a joint statement released by the US and Japan, urging the two countries to discard their “Cold War mindset” and respect the interests and concerns of other countries in the region.

A senior official of China’s foreign ministry met US Ambassador to China and Japanese Ambassador to China respectively to lodge solemn representations over the joint statement, Xinhua quoted ministry’s spokesperson Qin Gang saying in a press release Friday night.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will visit the European Union (EU) May 7, a day before the Victory in Europe Day of the World War II, the EU announced Friday.

During his one-day visit, Abe will meet the President of the European Council Herman Van Rompuy and the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso, Xinhua reported.

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On the fourth and final day of the Global Oceans Action Summit here Friday, the delegates agreed that action on a global scale is needed to tackle overfishing, climate change and pollution of the oceans.

Global leaders, ocean practitioners, scientists, and representatives from government, business, civil society and international organisations from around 80 countries and regions came together to discuss solutions for a cleaner ocean and food security from April 22-25 in The Hague, Xinhua reported.

On the last day of the conference they issued a joint statement.

British Prime Minister David Cameron Friday discussed the ongoing crisis in Ukraine with US President Barack Obama, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, French President Francois Hollande and Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi in a phone call, a Downing Street spokesperson said.

The death toll in the South Korea ferry sinking disaster rose to 187 Saturday morning, but search operations slowed amid faster tidal currents and worse weather conditions.

Only two more bodies were recovered from the sunken vessel overnight, raising the death toll to 187. A total of 115 people are still missing, with the number of those rescued remaining unchanged at 174 since the first day of the sinking disaster, Xinhua reported.