Politics

  SEOUL / AFP South Korea, the United States and Japan will hold their first joint military training next month focused on cooperating to detect signs of missile launches from North Korea and trace missile trajectories, a Seoul defense official said on Monday. The drills, set for around June 28, will be held on the sidelines of biennial multinational naval ...

  Dhaka / AFP Bangladesh police have arrested a senior official from the main opposition party and accused him of plotting against the state following his meeting with an Israeli political adviser, an official said on Monday. Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s government is stepping up a crackdown on political opponents in Muslim-majority Bangladesh, which is also reeling from a wave ...

  Berlin / AFP With a spoon and spatula in hand, Zaid, a 23-year-old Iraqi refugee, lifts the lid on a large pot filled with goulash and potatoes as he begins his shift. From 6:30 to 8 pm, he is employed by the city of Berlin to dish out dinner to 152 other Syrian, Iraqi, Afghan and Moldovan refugees in ...

  WASHINGTON / AP President Barack Obama cast Donald Trump’s positions on immigration, trade and Muslims as part of an ignorance-and-isolation philosophy that the president says will lead the US down the path of decline. Obama used his commencement speech Sunday at Rutgers University to tear into the presumptive Republican nominee, without ever mentioning his name. Time and again the ...

LONDON / AP Presidential candidate Donald Trump says he may have a poor relationship with British Prime Minister David Cameron in light of his criticism of Trump’s call for all Muslims to be temporarily banned from entering the United States. Trump’s comments, broadcast on Monday on ITV’s “Good Morning Britain,” are certain to cause unease in Britain, where America is seen ...

  LONDON / AP Greater Manchester’s mayor has called for an inquiry into a security alert triggered by a fake bomb left behind at a sports stadium after a training exercise. The discovery of the dummy bomb on Sunday prompted the evacuation of Manchester United’s stadium, Old Trafford. Police say the device discovered in a toilet just before kickoff had ...

  Amman / AFP Human Rights Watch urged Jordan on Monday to lift recent “restrictions” on transit through its territory of Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, but the authorities in Amman denied any policy change. Since August 2015, “Palestinians from Gaza have found it increasingly difficult to get permission to transit through Jordan to travel abroad, without any explanation for the ...

  Yangon / AFP Myanmar police on Monday said they have begun legal action against five protesters over a weekend rally intended to promote religious tolerance. The move came as rights groups raise concerns about efforts by the new pro-democracy government to amend draconian laws on demonstrations. Dozens of activists and students marched through Yangon in a rare gesture of religious ...

  Davao / AFP Philippine president-elect Rodrigo Duterte vowed on Monday to introduce executions by hanging as part of a ruthless law-and-order crackdown that would also include ordering military snipers to kill suspected criminals. In back-to-back press conferences since his landslide victory in May 9 elections, the tough-talking mayor of southern Davao city said security forces would be given “shoot-to-kill” ...

  Lagos / AFP Nigeria’s government will meet union leaders to try to prevent a planned national strike over a 67 percent hike in the price of petrol, the labour ministry said on Monday. Ministry spokesman Samuel Olowookere said the talks would take place in Abuja at 3:00 pm (1400 GMT) and involve government officials, the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) ...