Politics

  Caracas / AFP Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro vowed to jail opposition leaders if they incite violence during upcoming protests seeking a referendum on removing him from power. Maduro, blamed by opponents for a devastating economic crisis, accused opposition leaders of plotting a “terrorist coup” against him before Thursday’s nationwide protests. “We must defeat the coup d’etat without impunity,” he told ...

  Washington / AFP The United States rebuked Israel on Wednesday over what it said was its accelerated building of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank in the face of mounting international concern. “We are deeply concerned by the government of Israel’s announcement today to advance plans for over 500 new settlement units in the West Bank,” a senior ...

  Tokyo / AFP Surging flood water and mud brought by a devastating typhoon killed nine people in an elderly care home in northern Japan, officials said on Wednesday, after the third storm in two weeks ripped through the country. The bodies were discovered in a riverside care complex half buried in mud, uprooted trees and rubble after Typhoon Lionrock tore ...

  Washington / AFP Donald Trump announced he will travel to Mexico on Wednesday to meet with the country’s president just hours ahead of his much-anticipated Arizona speech on immigration. The Republican presidential nominee’s surprise trip south of the border comes as debate about his immigration policies is reaching fever pitch. Although his visit holds potential political peril, Trump could ...

  Beirut / AFP Top IS group strategist Abu Mohamed Al Adnani has been killed in Syria, the group said, robbing the extremists of their propaganda chief and a key architect of attacks in the West. The United States said coalition forces had targeted Adnani, who had a $5 million bounty on his head, in an air strike in Aleppo ...

  Tehran / AFP Key Damascus supporter Tehran urged Ankara on Wednesday to quickly wrap up its week-old military intervention in Syria, saying it was an “unacceptable” violation of Syrian sovereignty. Turkey’s cross-border offensive, which it says is aimed against US-backed Kurdish militia as well as the IS extremist group, marks the first major ground intervention by a foreign power carried ...

  Astana / AFP Kazakhstan said on Wednesday it had arrested 21 members of radical groups plotting terror attacks in public places, after two deadly attacks that fuelled fears of rising extremism. The security service of mainly Muslim Kazakhstan said in a statement that it had arrested 21 people from three groups after detaining them in two western regions bordering Russia. ...

  Istanbul / AFP Turkey on Wednesday denied agreeing to a US-brokered truce with Kurdish-led forces in northern Syria, saying it would not compromise with a “terrorist” group a week into an unprecedented cross-border offensive. Washington said on Tuesday the two sides—both US allies—had agreed to a cessation of hostilities between their forces in Syria after deadly clashes at the ...

  New Delhi / AFP The United States is united with its allies in upholding freedom of navigation rights in the South China Sea following a tribunal’s decision on the contested waters, Secretary of State John Kerry said on Wednesday. Speaking on a visit to New Delhi, Kerry called on China and the Philippines to abide by the arbitration tribunal’s ...

  Tripoli / AFP Thousands of migrants are “racing against the clock” to make the perilous crossing from Libya to Europe before summer ends, with authorities in the conflict-torn country at a loss to stem the flow. Abdel Hamid Al Souei of Libya’s Red Crescent said improved weather triggered this week’s mass outflow that has seen more than 10,000 migrants rescued ...