by Amir Havasi TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran warned Sunday that the fate of a UK-flagged tanker it seized in the Gulf depends on an investigation, as Britain prepared for an emergency security meeting on Tehran’s action. Iranian authorities impounded the Stena Impero with 23 crew members aboard off the port of Bandar Abbas after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps seized it Friday in the highly sensitive Strait of Hormuz. Video footage released by Iran […]
Asia
Tear gas and rubber bullets fired as Hong Kong returns to chaos
by Jerome TAYLOR / Elaine YU HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong descended into chaos Sunday night as riot police fired tear gas and rubber bullets at anti-government protesters hours after China’s office in the city was daubed with eggs and graffiti in a vivid rebuke to Beijing’s rule. Acrid clouds of tear gas wafted through the city’s densely packed commercial district as police battled masked protesters after another huge protest march, with seemingly […]
Death toll climbs to 15 after China gas plant blast
BEIJING, China (AFP) — The death toll from a huge explosion that rocked a gas plant in central China has risen to 15, state media said Saturday. Friday’s blast at the Henan Coal Gas Group factory left another 15 people seriously wounded and more with light injuries, said the state-run People’s Daily. The blast shattered windows and doors of buildings in a three-kilometre (1.9-mile) radius. It occurred in the air separation unit of Henan […]
Japan police identify suspect in Kyoto anime studio ‘arson attack’
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — The horrifying fire at a renowned anime firm which killed dozens in Kyoto is being treated as arson and murder, Japanese police have said, with scores of detectives investigating the deadliest violent crime for decades in the famously safe country. The blaze on Thursday killed 34 people and wounded dozens more at Kyoto Animation — well known among fans across the world for its animations of popular manga works — […]
Shock and grief as details come out on Japan fire that killed dozens at anime company
by Quentin TYBERGHIEN Agence France Presse KYOTO, Japan (AFP) — Details emerged Friday of the horrifying blaze that ripped through a Japanese anime firm, killing dozens including people who tried in vain to reach the roof, but the motive for the suspected arson remained unclear. Eyewitnesses described a fire that was like “looking at hell”, after a man apparently doused the production company office in the city of Kyoto with flammable liquid and set […]
Deadly Kyoto fire: What we know
by Kyoko HASEGAWA TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Police are investigating a suspected arson attack at an animation production firm in the Japanese city of Kyoto that killed 33 people and injured dozens more. One suspect is in custody but the motive for the apparent attack remains unclear. Here is what we know: How did the fire break out? Local fire stations began receiving emergency calls around 10:30am local time on Thursday morning, with people describing […]
Israel battles wildfires after record heatwave
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel sent teams of firefighters and planes Thursday to contain a blaze near Jerusalem as record temperatures fuelled wildfires across the country. Some 100 fires have been reported in Israel in recent days and “at least three or four areas had to be evacuated,” a public security ministry spokeswoman told AFP. The Israel Meteorological Service reported record high temperatures Wednesday, saying Sodom, near the Dead Sea, had experienced a high of […]
33 dead in suspected arson attack on Japan animation studio
by Shingo ITO Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A suspected arson attack at an animation production company in Japan killed 33 people and injured dozens more on Thursday, after a man reportedly doused the building with flammable liquid and shouted “drop dead.” A motive for the apparent attack remained unclear hours after the blaze. If arson is confirmed, the attack will be among the deadliest criminal acts in decades in Japan, where […]
Hong Kong’s expat police become focus of protester rage
by Jerome Taylor HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A peculiar legacy of Hong Kong’s colonial past has emerged as a focal point of rage for anti-government protesters: a dwindling band of expat police officers now vilified for doing the bidding of the city’s pro-Beijing leaders. Hong Kong’s 32,000-strong police force have found themselves fighting unprecedented running battles with protesters for the past five weeks following a huge backlash to a now-suspended plan to […]
Australia calls on China to let Uighur mother and son leave
by Holly Robertson SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s government on Wednesday called on China to allow an Australian child and his Uighur mother to leave the country, stepping up pressure on Beijing days after Canberra co-signed a letter denouncing its treatment of the Muslim minority. China has rounded up an estimated one million Uighurs and other mostly Muslim Turkic-speaking minorities into re-education camps in the tightly-controlled region of Xinjiang in the country’s northwest. Canberra […]
US hopes N.Korea talks go ahead despite Pyongyang threat
by Kang Jin-kyu WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States said Tuesday it hoped to hold denuclearization talks with North Korea, despite a warning from Pyongyang that US-South Korean military exercises could affect their planned resumption. The North had earlier Tuesday hinted that it could even reconsider its moratorium on nuclear testing over next month’s drills, which have been held for years but were scaled down to facilitate dialogue with Pyongyang. It […]
Monsoon rains wreaking flood havoc across South Asia
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Torrential monsoon rains swept away homes and triggered landslides across South Asia, affecting millions of people and claiming at least 180 lives, officials said Tuesday. The monsoon is crucial for irrigation and groundwater supplies in the impoverished region — home to a fifth of the world’s population — and brings relief after the unforgiving summers. But the downpours — which stretch from June to September — can turn deadly and […]





