North Korea's deputy United Nations ambassador has accused the United States of turning the Korean Peninsula into "the world's biggest hotspot" and creating "a dangerous situation in which a thermonuclear war may break out at any moment".

Donald Trump is looking forward to his first meeting with his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has said.

US secretary of state Rex Tillerson has pushed for closer Chinese-US co-operation in dealing with North Korea's nuclear programme, in his first face-to-face talks with senior Chinese diplomats.

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has arrived in Beijing for his first face-to-face talks with Chinese leaders expected to focus on North Korea’s nuclear programme and trade.

Negotiators at the Iran nuclear talks plan to announce today that they have reached a historic deal capping nearly a decade of diplomacy that would curb Iran’s atomic programme in return for sanctions relief, two diplomats said yesterday.

Iran nuclear talks passed their second deadline in a week yesterday, casting new questions about the ability of world powers to cut off all Iranian pathways to a bomb through diplomacy. But the parties agreed to continue their talks.

China’s ties with the United States remain stable, Chinese president Xi Jinping said yesterday, as he sought to defuse tension over a territorial dispute in the South China Sea that has raised fears of confrontation.

The foreign ministers of Iran and six world powers met in a final push for a preliminary nuclear accord before their deadline today as Tehran showed signs of backing away from previous compromise offers.

Hong Kong police have warned of serious consequences if pro-democracy protesters try to occupy government buildings, as they have threatened to do if the territory’s leader does not resign by today.

Chinese officials have warned of “chaos” and thrown their weight behind Hong Kong’s embattled leader in his face-off with pro-democracy protesters who have threatened to occupy government offices unless he steps down today.

The five permanent members of the divided Security Council appear to have reached agreement on a resolution to require Syria to dismantle its chemical weapons stockpiles, UN diplomats said.

China has welcomed the Russia-US agreement on securing and destroying Syria’s chemical weapons, saying it was a peaceful solution to the stockpile issue.

China deplored tension on the Korean peninsula yesterday and, in an apparent reference to North Korea, said no country should be allowed to plunge the region into chaos after the US postponed a missile test to ease talk of war.

IRISH cyclists Padraic Moran and Gay Shelly set new national records in their respective events on a day of contrasting emotions in the 2008 Paralympic Games in Beijing yesterday.

A UN envoy began a second day of talks today to push China to do more to get Burma’s military junta to stop its crackdown on pro-democracy protests.

Chinese authorities have blocked a pro-democracy weblog after it was nominated for a freedom of expression award by a German radio station, a press freedom group said today.

Six-nation talks on Washington’s demand for North Korea to give up its nuclear ambitions ended today with no breakthrough, but envoys promised to discuss the ”first steps for de-nuclearisation” of the North before meeting again by the end of September.

CHINA said yesterday that the six-nation talks over North Korea’s nuclear programme had encountered “differences, difficulties and contradictions” and no date had been set for their conclusion.

High-level talks on North Korea’s nuclear programme will end on Saturday after encountering “differences” and “difficulties” and will be continued by the six nations involved through lower-level working groups, news reports and Chinese officials said.

China said today that the six-nation talks over North Korea’s nuclear programme had encountered “differences, difficulties and contradictions,” and that no date had been set for their conclusion.

North Korea has expressed a “readiness” to abolish its nuclear programme, a Japanese official said today.

After months of diplomacy, the United States, North Korea and four other countries convened an extraordinary six-way meeting today to resolve a dispute over the North’s nuclear programme that has alarmed the entire region.

Fifty years after Washington forged an armistice with North Korea and China to end the Korean War, the three states were today trying to resolve a new regional crisis amid US claims the North wants to build nuclear arms.

China and South Korea today agreed to work together to help defuse tensions created by North Korea’s nuclear programme, a senior official in Seoul said.