Politics

  Vladivostok / AFP Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday urged both sides on the Korean peninsula to calm tensions after meeting South Korean leader Park Geun-hye. “Obviously we need to avoid any provocations or enflaming the situation,” Putin said at a statement to the press in the far eastern city of Vladivostok. “It is necessary to lower the level of ...

  Samarkand / AFP Uzbekistan laid strongman President Islam Karimov to rest on Saturday amid tight security, after his death triggered the deepest period of uncertainty in the country’s post-Soviet history with no clear successor in view. Karimov, 78, was pronounced dead late Friday after suffering a stroke last weekend and falling into a coma, authorities said, following days of speculation ...

  Hangzhou/ AFP The United States and China on Saturday formally joined the Paris climate deal, with President Barack Obama hailing the accord as the “moment we finally decided to save our planet”. The move by the world’s two biggest polluters is a major step forward for the 180-nation accord, which sets ambitious goals for capping global warming and funnelling trillions ...

  Lagos / AP Gunmen have kidnapped 15 oil workers on a road near Nigeria’s oil hub of Port Harcourt, police said on Saturday, in the latest unrest in the restive region. “Fifteen oil workers, including their driver, were abducted yesterday (Friday) by unknown gunmen who hijacked their vehicle on Omoku/Elele road after shooting into the air to scare passersby,” ...

  New Delhi / AFP Police rescued 22 Nepali women from a hotel in New Delhi who were allegedly being trafficked from the impoverished Himalayan nation to the Middle East, and are searching for two suspects, officers said on Saturday. Officers from the force’s serious crimes branch raided a hotel near the capital’s international airport on Thursday morning after receiving ...

  Bloomberg Hong Kong begins voting on Sunday in a legislative election that will test the appeal of a new wave of anti-China activists and set the stage for future political fights over Beijing’s control over the city. The Legislative Council election is the first since police clashes with student protesters two years ago thrust the former British colony’s struggle ...

  Sirte / AFP Forces loyal to Libya’s Government of National Accord (GNA) said on Saturday they have launched a new attack on diehards of the IS group in the coastal city of Sirte. Backed by weeks of US air strikes, the pro-GNA forces have recaptured nearly all of what had been the extremists’ main stronghold in North Africa. “We ...

Detroit /AFP Donald Trump visits Detroit on Saturday insisting he is the change agent that America’s blackest big city needs in the White House, but residents have a message for the Republican presidential nominee: Not buying it. Many here acknowledge that Barack Obama, the nation’s first black president, has fallen short in improving conditions in blighted communities. But in interviews ...

  Kuala Lumpur / AFP Malaysia reported its first locally transmitted case of the mosquito-borne Zika virus on Saturday, news likely to add to fears of a full-blown outbreak in the tropical nation. The patient was a 61-year-old male resident of the eastern Malaysian state of Sabah, the Ministry of Health said. It said local transmission was highly likely because ...

  Libreville / AFP Police arrested 1,000 people as security forces fanned out across Gabon’s capital on Thursday after a night of riots and looting that erupted when President Ali Bongo was declared winner of disputed polls. Thousands of angry protesters poured onto the streets of Libreville late Wednesday, accusing the government of stealing the election after Bongo won a second ...