Politics

  Peshawar / AFP The death toll from a Taliban suicide bomb attack on a mosque in northwest tribal Pakistan has risen to 36, including eight children, officials said on Sunday. The Friday attack targeted a mosque in the Mohmand tribal district bordering Afghanistan where the army has been fighting Taliban militants. “We have now compiled a list of victims ...

  New York / AFP An explosion rocked one of the most fashionable neighborhoods of New York on Saturday night, injuring 29 people, one seriously, a week after America’s financial capital marked the 15th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. Mayor Bill de Blasio indicated the blast was not accidental, even if there was no known link to terrorism. “We believe it ...

  Lagos / AFP Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has come under fire from critics after admitting part of his recent “Change Begins With Me” speech was copied from US President Barack Obama’s 2008 victory speech. Buhari announced the social initiative earlier this month urging Nigerians to stop bribing and littering in a programme that continues his “war against indiscipline” launched ...

  AWEIL / AFP South Sudan’s government is challenging a new report by a U.S.-based watchdog group that says the country’s leaders have amassed wealth abroad amid a conflict in which tens of thousands have been killed. A spokesman for President Salva Kiir says the allegations by The Sentry report “can only jeopardize the pursuit of peace and stability in my ...

  Moscow / AFP Russians went to the polls Sunday in parliamentary polls, with parties loyal to President Vladimir Putin set to maintain their dominance despite the longest economic crisis of his rule. The nationwide election follows a tumultuous few years that have seen the country seize the Crimea peninsula from Ukraine, plunge into its worst standoff with the West since ...

  Slavyansk / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Syrian rebels on Saturday of using a fragile ceasefire to regroup, as diplomatic tensions between Moscow and Washington simmered over a lack of humanitarian aid access. Fresh shelling and clashes were reported overnight in some areas of the war-torn country, but the US-Russia brokered truce which took effect on Monday appeared ...

  Washington / AFP After years of fuelling conspiracy theories, Republican White House nominee Donald Trump admitted that President Barack Obama is an American as he tried to neutralize damaging charges of racism. But he also stepped up attacks against his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton, accusing her of initiating the doubts about Obama and later raising the specter of violence ...

  Porlamar / AFP The Non-Aligned Movement opens a summit on Saturday in Venezuela, seeking relevance in a post-Cold War world as the crisis-torn host country seeks to lessen its growing isolation. Leaders from the 120-nation group will gather for two days on the Caribbean island of Margarita, where Venezuela will take over the movement’s rotating presidency from Iran. Venezuela, ...

  WASHINGTON / AP President Barack Obama will review military strategy against the IS group, press nations to admit more refugees and review progress around the world, despite new challenges, when he makes his final appearance at the UN General Assembly session in New York next week, the White House said. On the sidelines of the session, Obama has scheduled ...

United Nations / AFP A young Iraqi woman who survived rape and abuse as a sex slave of IS extremists became a UN goodwill ambassador for the dignity of survivors of human trafficking. Nadia Murad Basee Taha, a 23-year-old Yazidi woman, called for justice for the victims of the extremist group and argued that the 2014 attack on the Yazidis ...