Politics

  United Nations / AFP The United Nations, African Union, European Union and a fourth international organization made a joint appeal on Saturday to the government and opposition in the Democratic Republic of Congo to exercise restraint amid violent political unrest. The three main international bodies were joined by the 57 International Organization of La Francophonie, which held a high-profile ...

  Libreville / AFP Libreville’s nearly empty streets were under the watch of a heavy police and military presence on Saturday after Gabon’s top court upheld President Ali Bongo’s re-election in bitterly disputed polls. Security force checkpoints dotted routes into the capital’s centre, helicopters hovered overhead and elite troops protected the presidential palace, but no violence had been reported. The ...

  Aden / AFP An apparent US drone strike has killed five suspected Al-Qaeda members in Yemen in the third such attack this week, a security official said on Saturday. Washington is the only government to operate drones over Yemen but only sporadically releases statements on its long-running bombing campaign against the country’s powerful Al-Qaeda branch. The Friday evening strike ...

  Los Angeles / AFP Police were searching on Saturday for a gunman who killed five people during a shooting at a mall in the US state of Washington, amid a raging national debate over gun control. Four women and one man were killed, police said in an updated toll. The man had been taken to hospital with life-threatening injuries, ...

  Cairo / AFP An Egyptian court on Saturday sentenced seven men to hang for killing a police general in the unrest following the 2013 military overthrow of president Mohamed Morsi. It was the defendants’ second trial, after having won an appeal against an initial sentencing. They can appeal one last time. General Nabil Farag was shot dead in September 2013 ...

  Wonsan / AFP Just weeks after carrying out its fifth nuclear test, North Korea put on an unprecedented civilian and military air force display on Saturday at the country’s first ever public aviation show. The two-day Wonsan International Friendship Air Festival was held at the newly refurbished Kalma Airport — previously a military airfield — completed last year to boost ...

  Washington / AFP President Barack Obama vetoed a bill allowing 9/11 families to sue Saudi Arabia, risking a fierce public backlash and rare congressional rebuke. While expressing “deep sympathy” for the families of the victims, Obama said the law would be “detrimental to US national interests.” The White House tried and failed to have the legislation — which was unanimously ...

  Vienna / AFP German Chancellor Angela Merkel, stung by several setbacks at the ballot box over her refugees policy, was due in Vienna on Saturday for potentially tense talks with the leaders of countries along the Balkan migrant route. They include Prime Minister Victor Orban of Hungary who has been sharply critical of Merkel’s “open-door” policy, Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras ...

  Aleppo / AFP Huge blazes erupted in Syria’s Aleppo as the city was rocked by fighting and air strikes on Thursday, ahead of last-ditch efforts by world powers to salvage a failed ceasefire. The truce deal brokered by Moscow and Washington fell apart earlier this week, ushering in a surge of fighting on all major fronts of Syria’s five-year ...

  Beirut/ AFP A “minister” in Syria’s opposition government was among at least 12 people killed in a car bomb attack in the south of the country on Thursday, the body’s spokesman said. “Twelve people, including the (opposition) provisional government’s local administration minister, Yaacoub al-Ammar, were killed” and dozens more were wounded, Shadi al-Jundi said by telephone. The attack targeted ...