Politics

  Tokyo / AFP Prime Minister Shinzo Abe departed on Monday for Hawaii where he will visit Pearl Harbour with US President Barack Obama as the two countries highlight decades of post-World War II reconciliation. Abe’s visit to the site, which was bombed by Japan in a surprise attack in December 1941 that drew the United States into World World II, ...

  Bangkok / AFP Thai authorities have detained at least nine people on suspicion of hacking, a senior junta official said on Monday, following days of disruption to government websites sparked by the passing of a controversial cyber censorship law. Earlier this month Thailand’s rubber-stamp parliament unanimously approved a new security law that will make it much easier for the junta ...

  Kiev / AFP A new indefinite truce in Ukraine held by a thread for a third day Monday as both pro-Russian insurgents and Kiev reported clashes near a prized railroad hub but no deaths. Ukraine and Russia—two ex-Soviet neighbours that are now sworn foes—agreed to the armistice Wednesday with the help of mediation from the Organization for Security and Co-operation ...

  LIGAO / AFP A powerful typhoon left at least four people dead and eight missing as it crossed the Philippine archipelago on Monday, spoiling the Christmas holidays with strong winds, heavy rains and destructive flooding. Nock-Ten made landfall on the eastern island province of Catanduanes with gusts of 235 kilometres (146 miles) an hour on Christmas Day, ravaging the Bicol ...

  Belgrade / AFP Illegal deportations of migrants seeking to reach western Europe along the so-called Balkans route have been on the rise, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) warned on Monday. Some 1,000 people from the Middle East, Asia and Africa “were expelled in November alone along the Balkans route… more than before”, the UNHCR spokeswoman in Serbia, Mirjana Milenkovska, said. ...

Moscow / AFP A Russian military plane crashed on its way to Syria on Sunday, with no sign of survivors among the 92 onboard, who included dozens of Red Army Choir members heading to celebrate the New Year with troops. The Tu-154 plane crashed in the Black Sea shortly after taking off from the southern city of Adler where it had ...

  Riyadh / AFP A Saudi soldier was killed in a cross-border firefight with Yemeni rebels, the interior ministry said on Sunday. A border post was attacked overnight by Houthi rebels, a spokesman said, adding that one soldier wounded in the exchange died before reaching hospital. He was the latest of at least 111 Saudi soldiers and civilians to die in ...

  Jakarta / AFP Indonesian police on Sunday shot dead two terror suspects and arrested two more, only days after foiling separate plans by an IS-linked group for a Christmas-time suicide bombing near the capital. The pair were fatally shot at a house in Purwakarta 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of the capital Jakarta after allegedly resisting arrest. “We ordered them ...

  Jerusalem / AFP Israel was defiant on Sunday over a UN vote demanding it halt settlements in Palestinian territory, after lashing out at US President Barack Obama over the “shameful” resolution. The Security Council passed the measure Friday after the United States abstained, enabling the adoption of the first UN resolution since 1979 to condemn Israel over its settlement policy. ...

  Tunis / AFP Tunisia’s security forces called on the government on Sunday to take “exceptional measures” to combat the return of extremists fighting for extremist groups abroad. Tunisia has witnessed a wave of extremist attacks since its 2011 revolution, including on foreign tourists, and the United Nations estimates that their are more than 5,000 Tunisians fighting for extremist outfits, mainly ...