Politics

Iraqi troops push deeper into western Mosul

  BAGHDAD / AP Iraqi federal police units pushed deeper into western Mosul on Monday, gaining control of a neighborhood along the Tigris River and the foot of one of the city’s five bridges amid intense clashes with IS militants, a senior Iraqi police commander said. According to Maj. Gen Thamir al-Hussaini, who commands the federal rapid response force, the ...

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Bomb targets bus in Bahrain, wounding 5 police officers

  DUBAI / AP Authorities in Bahrain say five police officers have been wounded in a bomb attack that targeted a bus in the island nation. An Interior Ministry statement says two of those wounded have since been discharged from the hospital while the three others are in stable condition. The attack on Sunday came ahead of a court hearing ...

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Moscow workers demolish opposition leader’s memorial

  MOSCOW/ AP Moscow municipal workers have demolished the impromptu memorial to Russian opposition leader Boris Nemtsov on the day he was killed two years ago. Nemtsov, a former deputy prime minister, was shot dead late on Feb. 27, 2015, just outside the Kremlin wall in an apparent contract killing. Thousands of mourners marched across Moscow on Sunday and brought ...

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EU boosts North Korea sanctions in line with UN

  BRUSSELS / AP The European Union is boosting its sanctions against North Korea in line with a U.N. Security Council Resolution following another nuclear test in September last year. The EU member states said in a statement on Monday they will restrict trade in coal and iron and ban imports of several other metals. The EU also imposed a ...

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France’s left-wing ‘candidates’ refuse to unite

  PARIS / AP The two main left-leaning candidates in France’s presidential election won’t join forces after all. Socialist Benoit Hamon and far-left candidate Jean-Luc Melenchon, a former member of the Socialist Party who is supported by the Communists, both announced over the weekend that they are staying in the race, putting the Left at risk of disappearing after the ...

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Indonesia police shoot dead suspected militant

  BANDUNG / AP Indonesian police said they shot and killed a suspected militant in the West Java capital of Bandung on Monday after his bomb exploded in a vacant lot and he fled into a municipal building and set it alight. National police chief Tito Karnavian said the man was a member of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, which was designated ...

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South Korea’s opposition threatens to impeach acting leader

  SEOUL / AP South Korea’s main opposition parties threatened on Monday to impeach the country’s acting leader after he refused to extend a special investigation into the huge corruption scandal that toppled conservative President Park Geun-hye. If successful, the impeachment of Prime Minister Hwang Kyo-ahn would rile an already tumultuous political landscape, putting another interim leader in power while ...

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North Korea executes 5 security officials: Seoul

  SEOUL / AP North Korea executed five senior security officials with anti-aircraft guns because they made false reports that “enraged” leader Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s spy agency said on Monday. The comments by the National Intelligence Service in a private briefing to lawmakers come as Malaysia investigates the poisoning death of Kim’s estranged elder half brother, Kim Jong ...

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Malaysia: Poisoning of Kim caused paralysis, quick death

  KUALA LUMPUR / AP Malaysia’s health minister said on Sunday that the dose of nerve agent given to North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un’s exiled half brother was so high that it killed him within 20 minutes and caused “very serious paralysis.” Kim Jong Nam died February 13 at Kuala Lumpur’s airport in what Malaysian police say was a well-planned ...

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Saudi king begins multi-nation tour of Asia

  RIYADH / AP Saudi King Salman has arrived in Malaysia to kick off a multi-nation tour aimed at boosting economic ties with Asia.The official Saudi Press Agency reported on Sunday that the monarch’s tour will also take in Indonesia, Brunei, Japan, China and the Maldives. Salman will also visit Saudi Arabia’s neighbor Jordan before returning home. OPEC kingpin Saudi Arabia ...

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