Aden / AFP A suicide bomber targeted the police chief of Yemen’s second city Aden on Thursday in the latest attack against senior officials in the base of the Saudi-backed government, a security official said. The bombing came after loyalist forces backed by a Saudi-led military coalition seized the key southeastern port city of Mukalla and the nearby airport ...
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Israel nuclear reactor defects spark secrecy dilemma
Jerusalem / AFP Growing safety fears surrounding Israel’s largest but ageing atomic research centre have provoked fresh questions over its future and a dilemma over the secrecy of the country’s alleged nuclear arsenal. Israel, believed to be the Middle East’s sole nuclear power, has long refused to confirm or deny that it has such weapons. The Haaretz newspaper reported ...
Read More »Trump’s ‘woman’s card’ comment sparks uproar
ATLANTA / AP Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump’s claim that Hillary Clinton is playing “the woman’s card†has drawn intense backlash, from the Democratic front-runner herself as well as tens of thousands of critics on social media. “If fighting for women’s health care and paid family leave and equal pay is playing the ‘woman card,’ then deal me in,†...
Read More »India asks Britain to deport biz tycoon
New Delhi / AP India’s foreign ministry said on Thursday it has asked Britain to deport the embattled former airline boss Vijay Mallya, who faces a money laundering investigation. Mallya, a part-owner of the Force India Formula 1 team who used to run a liquor empire, left India on March 2 owing more than $1 billion and is believed ...
Read More »Serbia poll results on hold after PM, oppn complain
Belgrade / AFP Serbia’s electoral commission has asked some voters to recast their ballots after both opposition groups and powerful Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic, who won by a landside, disputed the regularity of the weekend polls. The repeat votes at 15 polling stations, likely to take place next week, mean the final results of Sunday’s general election will not ...
Read More »Indonesia to host ‘security talks’
Jakarta / AFP Indonesia hopes next week to secure an agreement with Malaysia and the Philippines on conducting joint military patrols on the high seas where militants have been on a kidnapping spree, an official said on Thursday. The plight of hostages held by the Abu Sayyaf militant group could also be on the agenda when the foreign ministers ...
Read More »South Korea: North failed again with mid-range missile test
Seoul / AFP North Korea on Thursday tried and failed in what appeared to be its second attempt in two weeks to test a powerful, new medium-range ballistic missile, South Korea’s defence ministry said. A ministry official said the North had fired what was understood to be a Musudan missile at around 6:40 am (2140 GMT Wednesday) from Wonsan ...
Read More »Putin hails first rocket launch from new cosmodrome
Vostochny / AFP Russia launched the first rocket from its new Vostochny cosmodrome on Thursday, with President Vladimir Putin hailing the event after dressing down officials over a delay caused by a technical glitch. The launch is a major milestone for Russia’s beleaguered space sector, with the new spaceport in the far east of the country touted to mark ...
Read More »India cancelled visa, says Chinese dissident
New Delhi / AFP Chinese dissident Lu Jinghua said Thursday New Delhi cancelled her visa to travel to India to meet the Dalai Lama, just days after another Chinese activist was blocked after protest from Beijing. Lu, who fled China following the Tiananmen Square crackdown in 1989, said she had been granted a tourist visa to travel from her ...
Read More »Austria mulls rejecting most migrants amid far-right surge
Vienna/ AFP The Austrian parliament voted on Wednesday on adopting some of Europe’s toughest asylum laws, as the country’s political leaders struggle to halt the surging far-right which triumphed in a weekend presidential poll. The hotly-disputed bill would let the government declare a “state of emergency” over the migrant crisis and reject most asylum-seekers, including from war-torn countries like ...
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