Politics

UN refugee agency urges EU not to return migrants to Hungary

  GENEVA / AP The UN refugee agency on Monday took the rare step of urging European Union members to suspend returns of asylum-seekers to their partner, Hungary, faulting its new policy of systematically placing migrants in containers and expelling any migrants not holding the proper papers. UNHCR says that since a tough new law took effect on March 28, ...

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Egypt on edge as Christians bury dead from church attacks

  CAIRO / AP Egyptian Christians were burying their dead on Monday after IS suicide bombers killed at least 45 people in attacks on Palm Sunday services in two cities, as a state of emergency went into effect amid fears of further violence. At least 17 people were killed at St. Mark’s Cathedral in Alexandria, the historic seat of Christendom ...

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Western leaders mull tougher sanctions on Syrians, Russians

  Bloomberg Western powers are weighing new sanctions on Russia and Syria for a deadly chemical attack last week, as leaders seek to present a united front ahead of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s visit to Moscow. “The game has now been changed and it’s important that message should be heard from the Americans to the Russians,” British Foreign Secretary ...

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Palm Sunday church bombings in Egypt kill 43, wound dozens

  TANTA / AP Bombs exploded at two Coptic churches in different cities in northern Egypt as worshippers were celebrating Palm Sunday, killing at least 43 people and wounding about 100 in an assault claimed by the IS group. The blasts came at the start of Holy Week leading up to Easter, and just weeks before Pope Francis is due ...

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Tillerson says missile strikes carry a message for others

  WASHINGTON / AP Secretary of State Rex Tillerson says the US missile strikes against a Syrian air base in retaliation for a chemical weapon attack carries a message for any nation operating outside of international norms. He didn’t specify North Korea, but the context was clear enough. “If you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to ...

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5 killed in anti-India protests on Kashmir by-election day

  SRINAGAR / AP Security forces in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir opened fire on Sunday on crowds of people who attacked polling stations where voting for a by-election was taking place, killing five and injuring at least a dozen, officials said. Protesters tried to snatch or damage electronic voting machines in at least a dozen places in the districts ...

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US missile strike ‘cosmetic’ if Assad stays in power: Turkey

  BEIRUT / AP Turkey described the US missile attack on an air base as a “cosmetic intervention” unless it removes President Bashar Assad from power, while the Syrian leader’s strong ally Iran called on Saturday for the formation of an international fact-finding committee to investigate the chemical weapons attack in a northern Syrian town that killed scores of people ...

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Sweden identifies truck attack suspect as Uzbek native, 39

  STOCKHOLM / AP The suspect in Stockholm’s deadly truck attack is a 39-year-old native of Uzbekistan who had been on authorities’ radar previously, Swedish officials said on Saturday. The prime minister urged citizens to “get through this” and strolled through the streets of the capital to chat with residents. Swedes flew flags at half-staff on Saturday to commemorate the ...

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Indonesia police kill 6 militants in gun battle

  Tuban, Indonesia / AP Indonesian police say they killed six suspected militants in a gun battle on Saturday that followed a failed attack in East Java. National police spokesman Martinus Sitompul said the men were cornered in a village of Tuban district after attempting a drive-by shooting of a police officer who was patrolling a busy road in the ...

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Russia bashes Trump as Syria gas attack hits detente hopes

  Bloomberg Russia accused President Donald Trump of rushing to judgement after an apparent poison-gas attack in Syria prompted the harshest US criticism of the Kremlin under the new administration, further denting hopes of a breakthrough in relations. “We would welcome a more considered approach,” President Vladimir Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on a conference call on Thursday. “This ...

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