Politics

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 ...

  Banjul / AFP Ansu Sanyang was ready. Sick of providing so little for his parents and sisters with any work he could find, the young Gambian resolved to take the migrant route through Libya to Europe. Then on Friday, December 1, he hesitated, hanging back to cast his vote in a presidential election that felt different to previous years. “I ...

  Daraga / AFP A powerful typhoon with gusts of up to 235 kilometres (146 miles) an hour hit the Philippines late Sunday, disrupting Christmas celebrations for tens of thousands who fled its approach, officials said. Typhoon Nock-Ten made landfall in the eastern island province of Catanduanes at 6:30 pm (1030 GMT), the state weather service said. There were no ...

  Tokyo / AFP Heavy snow in northern Japan caused transport chaos over the holiday weekend, with flights and train services cancelled and thousands of passengers forced to camp out at a regional airport for three straight nights. Sapporo on Hokkaido island had up to 96 centimetres (38 inches) of snow as of Friday night, the city’s heaviest snowfall in half ...

  Sydney / AFP A Sudanese refugee held at an Australian offshore detention camp has died after a “fall and seizure”, officials said, with the incident reportedly sparking a protest at the controversial facility. The 27-year-old, named by refugee advocates as Faysal Ishak Ahmed, died in a Brisbane hospital in eastern Australia after being flown to Queensland from Papua New Guinea’s ...

  Vatican City / AFP Pope Francis urged peace in the Middle East as tens of thousands gathered to hear his Christmas address on Sunday, while offering comfort to victims of terrorism after a year of bloody extremist attacks. The 80-year-old Argentine called for guns to fall silent in Syria, saying “far too much blood has been spilled” in the nearly ...