Politics

  Seoul/ AFP South Korea warned on Sunday of possible North Korean assassinations and kidnappings in revenge for recent high-profile defections to the South. With tensions also high before a large-scale South Korea-US military exercise starting on Monday, the Unification Ministry in Seoul said Pyongyang was bent on provocation. A ministry official told reporters the defection to Seoul of North Korea’s ...

  Bangkok / AFP Two Chinese nationals will go on trial this week for their alleged roles in a deadly bombing at a Bangkok shrine one year ago, an attack whose motive remains clouded in mystery following a murky and at times surreal investigation. The trial, which starts on Tuesday, is being held at a military court in Bangkok and ...

  Srinagar / AFP Indian soldiers killed three suspected rebels in a gun battle on Sunday in Indian-administered Kashmir, the army said, as the region reels from weeks of deadly violence between protesters and security forces. The rebels were killed in Tangdhar north of the main city of Srinagar after crossing over from the Pakistani side of the heavily militarised border ...

  Hasakeh / AFP Syrian government warplanes were in the air again on Saturday over the flashpoint northeastern city of Hasakeh, despite a US warning against new strikes that might endanger its military advisers. In another escalation of the five-year war, regime planes this week bombarded positions held by US-backed Kurdish forces in the city fighting the IS extremist group. ...

  Kunduz / AFP Taliban militants on Saturday captured a district in northeastern Kunduz province, near the provincial capital where militants scored their biggest victory in 14 years last September. The militants, waging a bloody insurgency to topple the Western-backed Kabul government, have intensified their attacks nationwide and tightened their grip on the besieged capital of Helmand province southwest of Kunduz ...

  Washington / AFP US Vice President Joe Biden and Ukraine’s President Petro Poroshenko in a phonecall urged a speedy resolution to the conflict with pro-Russian separatists amid a spike in tensions with Moscow, the White House said. Biden and Poroshenko “expressed concern over the recent surge in fighting in eastern Ukraine, where ceasefire violations by combined Russian-separatist forces are at ...

  Ankara/ AFP Donald Trump sought to reboot his flagging presidential bid, dismissing his tainted campaign chairman and seeking to broaden his shrinking support base by appealing to black voters and visiting flood-ravaged Louisiana. The resignation of the seasoned Republican strategist Paul Manafort—under fire for his pro-Kremlin ties and role in a Ukrainian corruption scandal—represents the Republican nominee’s latest effort to ...

  Manila / AFP The Philippine government and communist guerrillas have agreed to ceasefires from Sunday, both sides said, ahead of crucial peace talks next week to end one of Asia’s longest insurgencies. Both sides said a break from the fighting will create a conducive environment at the negotiations next week in Norway, which are aimed at reaching a political ...

Istanbul / AFP Prime Minister Binali Yildirim on Saturday insisted the United States was Turkey’s “strategic partner, not our enemy” despite Ankara’s anger at Washington for failing to extradite Fethullah Gulen, whom it blames for last month’s failed coup. “There can be ups and downs in the two countries’ relations (but) we need to remove elements that harm our relations,” Yildirim ...

  California / AFP Weary firefighters on Thursday battled a raging inferno that was threatening the homes of more than 82,000 people in southern California and sent flaming “firenadoes” tearing across the brush. Nearly 1,600 firefighters were fighting the giant blaze, but had only contained four percent of it, according to a fire service official. Dramatic local TV news footage ...