Beijing / AP Kenyan police will deport 45 Taiwanese to mainland China where they face investigation for fraud, Chinese state media said on Wednesday after Taipei blasted Beijing for “abducting” its citizens. Taipei said this week that Beijing had “illegally” pressured authorities in Nairobi to deport eight of its citizens to the mainland after they had been cleared of ...
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Exit polls predict S. Korean ruling party losing majority
SEOUL / AP Exit polls from South Korea’s parliamentary election on Wednesday indicated that President Park Geun-hye’s conservative party would not regain its majority in the National Assembly. Such an outcome would jeopardize Park’s plans to push ahead with controversial economic reforms, and would blow open next year’s presidential race. Pollsters had predicted that the ruling Saenuri Party would crush ...
Read More »Afghan Taliban announce start of annual ‘spring offensive’
Kabul / AFP The Afghan Taliban announced on Tuesday the start of their “spring offensive” even as the government in Kabul tries to bring the insurgents back to the negotiating table to end their drawn-out conflict. The Taliban said in a statement they would “employ large-scale attacks on enemy positions across the country” during the offensive they have dubbed “Operation ...
Read More »Italian FM arrives in Libya in boost to UN-backed govt
TRIOPLI / AP Italy’s foreign minister has arrived in Tripoli, marking the first visit by a European official to Libya since a UN-backed government convened in the capital. Libyan officials say Paolo Gentiloni was received at Matiga airport on Tuesday by deputies of Fayez Serraj, the head of a unity government that Western countries hope can unite Libya and combat ...
Read More »UN Syria envoy in Iran ahead of Geneva peace talks
Tehran / AFP UN Syria envoy Staffan de Mistura arrived in Tehran on Tuesday for talks with a key backer of President Bashar Al Assad on the eve of fresh peace negotiations in Geneva. De Mistura will meet Iran’s deputy foreign minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian, Iranian media reported, ahead of the latest effort to end five years of fighting that ...
Read More »Turkey strikes at IS targets after rockets hit border town
ANKARA / AP Turkish artillery units on Tuesday shelled IS group targets across the border in Syria, officials said, hours after rockets fired from Syria struck a Turkish border town, wounding eight people. Two rockets hit the town of Kilis early in the day in the third such cross-border incident at the town in the past five days. One rocket ...
Read More »USA, India agree to boost maritime coop as concerns grow over Beijing
New Delhi / AFP US Defense Secretary Ashton Carter and his Indian counterpart agreed on Tuesday to strengthen their cooperation on maritime security, as concerns grow in Washington over Beijing’s growing military ambitions. Carter is in New Delhi to bolster a strategic relationship Washington considers crucial in the face of what it sees as China’s rising assertiveness, particularly in the ...
Read More »Syrian government launches attacks in Aleppo’s south
BEIRUT / AP Pro-government forces in Syria launched an offensive on Tuesday to retake a strategic hilltop village south of Aleppo from insurgents, including Al-Qaida’s local affiliate. Al-Manar TV, run by Lebanon’s Hezbollah militant group, which is fighting alongside Syrian government forces, reported the offensive to retake Tel Al Ais. The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, an activist-run monitoring group, ...
Read More »Alarming rise in Boko Haram’s child suicide bombers: UN
Libreville / AFP The number of children used by Nigeria’s Boko Haram to stage suicide bombings has risen more than 10-fold in one of the most “horrific” aspects of the insurgency, the United Nations said on Tuesday. Experts said the group, which has been weakened by a multinational military offensive, is now trying to spread terror by using children for ...
Read More »Govt charges 2 new suspects over deadly Brussels attacks
Brussels / AFP Belgium has charged two new suspects over last month’s deadly Brussels airport and metro attacks, as police pursue the investigation “night and day”, the federal prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. A statement said Smail F and Ibrahim F were “charged with participation in the activities of a terrorist group, terrorist murders and attempts to commit terrorist murders, ...
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