Bursa / DPA Ercan Aksakal carefully picks up the coloured shadow puppet and examines the workmanship with an expert’s eye. It is a model for Karagoz, or “Black-Eye,” the protagonist and crowd-pleaser in Turkish shadow theatre. A coarse, crafty and forthright exemplar of the common people, Karagoz was also a favourite target of Ottoman censors in centuries past. Now ...
Read More »Smog pushes them to innovate for world!
BEIJING / AP Beijing residents concerned about breathing the capital’s thick gray air are adapting, inventing and even creating businesses to protect the health of their families and others. Some of their efforts could help people around the world. Already this year, the smog-shrouded capital has suffered particularly hazardous bouts of pollution caused mainly by coal burning and vehicle ...
Read More »Trump’s immigration actions mark sharp shift in US policy
WASHINGTON / AP President Donald Trump’s wide-ranging executive actions tightening border security— and the prospect of additional measures restricting refugee flows — mark a sharp shift away from Washington’s elusive efforts to forge comprehensive immigration legislation. “We do not need new laws,†Trump said Wednesday during remarks at the Department of Homeland Security. “We will work within the existing ...
Read More »Yemeni army captures air defence base from rebels
AL MOKHA / WAM With the support of the Arab Coalition, Yemen’s national army, has captured the air defence camp and continued its push in Al-Muhajir area, east of Al Mokha city, west of Taiz Governorate. Yemen’s official news agency quoted a military source as saying, “The army launched a major offensive on Al Houthi militia and Saleh group’s air ...
Read More »Austrian police arrest 8 over alleged IS links
VIENNA/ AP Austrian police arrested eight suspected terrorists on Thursday in a series of early-morning raids in the country’s two largest cities that mobilized heavily armed SWAT teams and hundreds of officers supporting them. A statement from the public prosecutor’s office in Graz, one of the cities involved, said those detained were suspected of involvement with the IS extremist ...
Read More »Somalia says presidential election on Feb. 8, after delays
MOGADISHU / AP Somalia’s electoral commission says the presidential election will be Feb. 8, after four delays and amid allegations of bribery, fraud and voter intimidation. Opposition candidates have accused the government of monopolizing the electoral process. The electoral commission said late Wednesday that registration of presidential candidates starts Thursday. The development comes shortly after this Horn of Africa ...
Read More »US President seeks probe into unproven voter fraud claim
WASHINGTON / AP President Donald Trump declared on Wednesday that he is ordering a “major investigation†into widespread voter fraud, raising the prospect of a federal government probe into a widely debunked claim and sparking alarm among experts and Democrats. Trump announced in a pair of tweets early Wednesday that the investigation will look at those registered to vote ...
Read More »China releases new list of items banned for export to NKorea
BEIJING / AP China has released a new list of items banned for export to North Korea, ranging from wind tunnels to plutonium, following a new round of United Nations sanctions and complaints from U.S. President Donald Trump that Beijing was not doing enough to pressure its communist neighbor. The step was seen by one leading expert on North ...
Read More »Humanitarian groups seek halt to war between Myanmar govt, rebels
Yangon / AP Twenty-two humanitarian and development groups have called for a halt to fighting between Myanmar’s government and ethnic rebels in the country’s north and for the protection of civilians affected by the conflict. The groups signing the statement, circulated Thursday, include the International Rescue Committee, Oxfam, Plan International and Save the Children. “We are alarmed about incidents ...
Read More »Trump revives auto efficiency debate with vow to ease rules
Bloomberg President Donald Trump’s pledge to ease environmental regulations hands automakers a second chance to amend the US vehicle efficiency standards that the Obama administration sought to finalize in its final days. In a White House meeting, with the chief executives of General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co. and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles NV, Trump called environmental regulations “out of ...
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