Politics

  BANGKOK / AP At least 25 people have died in severe flooding in southern Thailand since New Year’s Day, leaving businesses paralyzed, schools closed and thousands of tourists stranded, the government said on Tuesday. Twelve provinces have been hit by unseasonal rains and surface runoff since January 1, affecting more than 1 million people, the Interior Ministry said, adding ...

  WASHINGTON / AP President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for attorney general, Sen. Jeff Sessions, is set to be questioned by his peers in a high-visibility Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing. Sessions is likely to stress his conservative legal credentials even as he works to persuade Democrats on the panel that he can be fair and even-handed as the country’s top ...

  SEOUL / AP Disgraced South Korean President Park Geun-hye’s longtime friend at the center of a massive corruption scandal refused to testify at Park’s impeachment trial on Tuesday, with lawmakers alleging that it was a stalling tactic. The Constitutional Court had expected to hear from Choi Soon-sil, a confidante of Park who’s currently jailed and on trial herself for ...

  MANILA / AP Eight Filipino fishermen were fatally shot by at least five suspected pirates who boarded their boat in the southern Philippines, officials said Tuesday. Seven other crewmembers survived the attack Monday night in waters near Zamboanga City by jumping off the boat and swimming away when the attackers began tying up their colleagues, said Commodore Joel Garcia, ...

  ATLANTA / AP Congressional Republicans’ drive to repeal the 2010 health care law has financial and political repercussions for GOP leaders in the states and gives Democrats potential openings as they struggle to reclaim power lost during President Barack Obama’s tenure. Some Republican governors, in particular, are wary about what their Washington colleagues might do with Obama’s signature law, ...

  GENEVA / AP The rival leaders of ethnically divided Cyprus are meeting in Geneva for a summit aiming at reunifying the Mediterranean island. Greek Cypriot President Nicos Anastasiades and Turkish Cypriot leader Mustafa Akinci on Monday were kicking off three days of talks to clear up outstanding issues including the pivotal matter of how much territory each side will ...

  VIENNA / AP Two senior diplomats say that the six world powers that negotiated a nuclear deal with Iran have approved a large shipment of natural uranium to the country as compensation after Tehran exported tons of heavy water. The diplomats say that the agreement foresees delivery of 116 metric tons (nearly 130 tons) of natural uranium from Russia. ...

  WASHINGTON / AP A US military official says a US Navy warship fired multiple warning shots at Iranian patrol boats in the Persian Gulf after the Iranian vessels ignored other warnings. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss an incident not yet publicly announced, said a US destroyer, the USS Mahan, was transiting the Strait of ...

  BEIRUT / AP Syrian President Bashar Assad said in remarks published on Monday that he was prepared “to negotiate everything” at talks set to begin in later this month in Kazakhstan, seeking to cast himself as a peacemaker after his forces’ recapture of Aleppo last month. However the upcoming talks, brokered by Ankara and Moscow, are still in doubt ...

  SINGAPORE / AP Singapore’s defense minister said on Monday that nine armored personnel carriers that are being held in Hong Kong should be returned immediately under sovereign immunity laws. Customs authorities in Hong Kong, a Chinese territory, seized the eight-wheeled Terrex infantry carriers in November. The vehicles were being shipped back to Singapore following military training exercises in Taiwan. ...