Politics

  Washington / AFP With five days to go until the election and time running out to sway undecided voters, President Barack Obama is stumping for Hillary Clinton on Thursday in the bitterly contested must-win state of Florida. Republican Donald Trump will hold a rival rally in the city of Jacksonville just hours before Obama’s event, highlighting both candidates’ laser ...

  Manila / AFP An influential leader of the Philippines’ decades-long Muslim separatist insurgency voiced support on Thursday for peace efforts after rebellion charges against him were suspended and he held a surprise meeting with President Rodrigo Duterte. Moro National Liberation Front founder Nur Misuari was flown on a government-commissioned plane more than 900 kilometres (550 miles) from his southern ...

  Seoul / AFP A snowballing political scandal moved closer to embattled South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Thursday, with her newly nominated prime minister warning she could face a probe, hours after prosecutors detained a former presidential aide. Ahn Jong-Beom was taken into custody late Wednesday over suspicions he helped Park’s friend Choi Soon-Sil coerce companies into donating large sums ...

  Johannesburg/ AFP South African President Jacob Zuma on Thursday faced increasing calls to resign after a damaging probe unearthed further evidence of alleged corruption at the top of the ANC government. The country’s anti-graft watchdog ordered a judicial inquiry into possible criminal activity in Zuma’s relationship with the Guptas, a wealthy Indian family accused of wielding undue political influence. Zuma, ...

  Eau Claire / AFP Syrian rebels renewed their bid to break a government siege on eastern Aleppo on Thursday, shelling regime-held parts of the city, hours before a brief Russian-declared ceasefire was due to begin. State media said at least 12 people had been killed in rebel rocket and gunfire on western neighbourhoods, after an assault that began with a ...

  Riyadh / AFP Twelve people have been arrested in southern Saudi Arabia on suspicion of belonging to a Yemeni rebel group fighting the kingdom, a newspaper reported on Thursday. They were detained during a wide-ranging crackdown in the border region of Najran, Al-Riyadh newspaper said. “The campaign also resulted in the arrest of 12 Yemenis suspected of belonging to ...

  Riyadh / AFP Thousands of Yemenis protested on Thursday against a UN plan to end a 19-month conflict between rebels and the government, which the president rejected as “not a map for peace.” Protesters in Aden rallied against the plan following a call by authorities in the southern city, which is serving as a temporary capital as Sanaa remains ...

  Karachi / AFP At least 21 people have been killed and dozens more injured after two trains carrying hundreds of passengers collided in Pakistan’s southern port city of Karachi during morning rush hour on Thursday, officials said. Witnesses described watching in horror as one train sped into the city’s Quaidabad Railway Station and rammed into the second, which was stationary, ...

  Islamabad / AFP Pakistan on Thursday accused eight Indian embassy employees of involvement in spying and terrorism but stopped short of expelling them, in the latest apparent tit-for-tat move as relations between the two countries nosedive. The declaration came days after a similar move by New Delhi, which accused six Pakistani diplomats of being part of a spy network, ...

  Sydney /AFP The reclusive leader of the IS group broke a nearly year-long silence as Iraqi forces closed in on Mosul on Thursday, urging his extremists to hold their ground. It was Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s first statement since Iraqi forces launched a massive offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, where the IS chief declared the group’s “caliphate” two ...