Politics

  Banjul / AFP As The Gambia sees a surge in support for the opposition ahead of presidential polls days away, a spate of arrests in the run-up has shown the cost of dissent. President Yahya Jammeh seized power in a 1994 coup and has targeted opponents and several of his own ministers, while surviving multiple attempts to remove him from ...

  Istanbul / AFP Iraq’s parliament on Saturday voted to accord full legal status to government-sanctioned Shiite militias as a “back-up and reserve” force for the military and police and empower them to “deter” security and terror threats facing the country, like the IS group. The legislation, supported by 208 of the chamber’s 327 members, was promptly rejected by Sunni ...

  Istanbul / AP President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Saturday warned the European Union that Turkey could extend by at least another three months a state of emergency that has been in place since the failed July coup. In a a speech in Istanbul, Erdogan launched another stinging attack on the EU after the European Parliament voted on Thursday to back ...

  Hasakeh / AP A string of explosions on Saturday rocked a munitions storage site in northeastern Syria used by the US-led coalition battling the IS group, a monitor and a local official said. “At least five explosions occurred on Saturday morning at the arms and munitions depots in a base close to Tal Tamer” northwest of the city of Hasakeh, ...

  Seoul / AFP Up to 1.3 million protesters braved sleet and freezing temperatures in Seoul on Saturday to demand President Park Geun-Hye resign over a corruption scandal or face impeachment. People beat drums and chanted “Park get out now” as they walked towards the presidential Blue House that had been cordoned off by thousands of police deployed in the South ...

  Manila /AFP Up to 100 extremists from a group behind a deadly bombing in Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s home city were on Saturday under siege in a remote mountain town, officials said. Residents of Butig, which has a population of 17,000, have fled after the IS-linked militants holed themselves up in an abandoned government building, Philippine military spokesman Brigadier-General ...

  Teknaf / AFP Alam’s short life ended on Saturday in a dark, tattered tent in Bangladesh, the Rohingya child’s skeletal body succumbing to illness contracted while fleeing Myanmar where his stateless people are under attack. He was six-months-old. Alam died hours after arriving at makeshift refugee camp close to Teknaf, the gateway to Cox’s Bazar, a poor, densely populated coastal ...

  Islamabad/ AFP Pakistan on Saturday appointed General Qamar Javed Bajwa as its new military chief, the prime minister’s office said, in a surprise pick for arguably the most powerful role in the country. Bajwa will take over from the hugely popular General Raheel Sharif, who won the hearts of millions with his bruising campaign against Islamic militants. “President Mamnoon ...

  Havana / AFP Cuba’s historic revolutionary leader Fidel Castro died late Friday aged 90, after defying the United States during a half-century of iron-fisted rule and surviving the eclipse of global communism. One of the world’s longest-serving rulers and modern history’s most singular characters, Castro defied 11 US administrations and hundreds of assassination attempts. His younger brother, President Raul ...

  Buenos Aires / AFP Mass marches to condemn horrific violence against women swept Latin America, after a series of brutal murders stoked outrage over a long-smoldering problem in the region. Tens of thousands of demonstrators took to the streets in Buenos Aires, the latest in a series of massive protests organized by a burgeoning movement against domestic violence and a ...