Beijing / AFP Beijing is installing radar facilities on its artificial islands in the disputed South China Sea, an American think tank has said, in a move analysts warned would “exponentially improve” the country’s monitoring capacities. Satellite imagery of Cuarteron reef in the Spratlys released by the Washington-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) showed what appeared to be ...

Jakarta / AFP Singapore has deported four suspected Indonesian extremists allegedly heading to Syria to fight with the IS group, authorities said on Tuesday. The four, who included a 15-year-old boy, were arrested on Sunday in the city-state when officials became suspicious after checking their documents and finding one of them had previously spent time in Syria, Indonesian police said. ...

New Delhi / AP Engineers were working to restore New Delhi’s full water supply on Tuesday after protesters damaged a key canal in a neighboring state and disrupted supplies over the weekend — highlighting the extreme water vulnerability faced by the Indian capital’s 18 million residents. Some supplies resumed to northern and central parts of New Delhi, and will hopefully ...

Seoul / AFP China’s ambassador to South Korea warned on Tuesday that the planned deployment of a US missile defence system in the country could damage Beijing-Seoul ties, possibly irreparably. Once damaged, it would be “hard” to normalise relations between the two former Cold War enemies, ambassador Qiu Guohong said, according to a spokesman for South Korea’s main opposition Minju ...

Kiev / AFP Germany and France on Tuesday urged Kiev to root out corruption and quickly adopt a law on elections in the pro-Russian east that may help resolve Ukraine’s separatist war. French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault and his German counterpart Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived in Kiev amid political chaos that has seen ministers in the pro-EU government trade accusations of ...

Riyadh / AFP The leader of Africa’s number one oil producer was in Saudi Arabia on Tuesday, with analysts forecasting his country’s eventual support for an output freeze to stabilise prices. Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari is to meet King Salman before travelling on to Qatar. The official Saudi Press Agency reported late Monday that Buhari had landed in Riyadh, where ...

Bujumbura / AFP A dozen people were injured in at least 10 grenade blasts overnight in Bujumbura, police said on Tuesday, as UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited Burundi. “Last night, ten grenades exploded in several districts of Bujumbura, leaving a dozen people wounded,” a senior police officer said. The officer said two soldiers were among the injured as well ...

Damascus / AFP Syria’s regime agreed on Tuesday to a ceasefire deal announced by the United States and Russia, but there were widespread doubts it could take effect by the weekend as hoped. The agreement, announced on Monday, does not apply to extremists like the IS group and Al-Nusra Front, putting up major hurdles to how it can be implemented ...

Moscow / AFP A ruthless and corrupt leader with his own private army who has carved out de facto independence for his restive region: Russia’s opposition on Tuesday lashed out at Chechen strongman leader Ramzan Kadyrov in a new report. The report—authored by prominent opposition figure Ilya Yashin and entitled “National security threat”—alleges that Kadyrov has been allowed by President ...

KUWAIT CITY / AFP The scene US forces encountered as they pushed into Kuwait in 1991 to end the Iraqi occupation could only be described as a hellscape. Hundreds of burning oil wells set ablaze by Iraq’s army had left sand sodden in an oily sludge and the skies overhead choked with thick black smoke. As they fled, Saddam Hussein’s ...