Asia

Iran accuses West of fuelling Islamophobia after New Zealand massacre

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iranian President Hassan Rouhani accused Western governments of encouraging Islamophobia on Friday, after the attacks on two mosques in New Zealand that killed 49 worshippers and wounded dozens. In a statement carried by the official government website Rouhani said the shootings showed the need for “all out confrontation against… the Islamophobia pervasive in the West which is unfortunately encouraged by some Western governments.” Rouhani promised Iran’s foreign ministry would “diligently” follow […]

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North Korea considering suspending nuclear talks with US

  by Kang Jin-kyu Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea is considering suspending denuclearization talks with Washington after the Hanoi summit between leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump ended without agreement, one of its top diplomats said Friday. The warning came amid concerns over the North’s satellite rocket launch site, where some rebuilding activity has been observed in recent weeks, triggering international alarm that Pyongyang might be preparing […]

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Turkey’s Erdogan ‘strongly condemns’ New Zealand mosque killings

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Friday “strongly condemned” the attack on two mosques in New Zealand that left at least 40 people dead. “I strongly condemn the terror attack against the Al Noor Mosque in #NewZealand and Muslim worshippers. May Allah have mercy on the victims and grant a speedy recovery to the wounded,” the Turkish leader wrote on Twitter in English. His spokesman Ibrahim Kalin had earlier called it a […]

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Israel strikes Gaza in response to rocket fire

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — The Israeli military carried out reprisal strikes against Hamas in Gaza early Friday, hours after rockets were fired from the Palestinian enclave, sources said. Around 30 strikes targeted positions held by the military wing of Hamas, which governs Gaza, and their ally Islamic Jihad, causing significant damage, a Gazan security source told AFP. No injuries or deaths have been reported, the source added. “We have just started striking terror sites in […]

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Negligence case over deadly Mumbai bridge collapse

MUMBAI, India (AFP) — Indian police said Friday they had filed a negligence case against Mumbai’s civic and railway authorities after a footbridge collapsed killing six people and injuring dozens more. The bridge, which was under repair, gave away around 7.30 pm (1400 GMT) on Thursday as rush hour commuters made their way into Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus, the city’s main train station. It was the latest accident to highlight creaking infrastructure in India’s financial capital […]

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Mumbai bridge collapse kills six: officials

MUMBAI, India (AFP) — Six people were killed and dozens injured when a footbridge collapsed near Mumbai’s main train station on Thursday, the latest accident to highlight creaking infrastructure in India’s financial capital. The bridge, which was under repair according to multiple Indian media reports, gave way around 7:30 pm (1400 GMT) as rush hour commuters made their way into Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus. Officials from the local disaster management office said six people had died […]

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Mumbai bridge collapse kills four

  (AFP) — Four people were killed and dozens injured when a footbridge collapsed near Mumbai’s main train station on Thursday, the latest accident to highlight creaking infrastructure in India’s financial capital. The bridge, which was under repair according to multiple Indian media reports, gave way around 7.30 pm (1400 GMT) as rush hour commuters made their way into Chhatrapati Shivaji terminus. “Twenty-eight people were injured when the bridge collapsed. Four of those taken to […]

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China delays UN bid to blacklist JeM leader as terrorist

by Carole LANDRY UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — China on Wednesday put on hold a request by Britain, France and the United States to add the leader of a Pakistan-based Islamist group behind a suicide attack in Kashmir to the UN terror blacklist, diplomats said. It was the fourth time that the UN Security Council was considering a request to put Masood Azhar, leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), on the UN sanctions blacklist, which would […]

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3,000 IS members surrender to Syria force in 24 hours: spokesman

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Three thousand Islamic State members have surrendered in the last 24 hours as US-backed forces close in on their last holdout in eastern Syria a spokesman said late Tuesday. “Number of Daesh (IS) members surrendered to us since yesterday (Monday) evening has risen to 3,000,” Syrian Democratic Forces spokesman Mustefa Bali wrote in English on Twitter Three women and four children of the Yazidi minority were also rescued, he added. © […]

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Australia, Singapore ban Boeing 737 MAX jets, more airlines ground plane

by Sam Reeves Agence France Presse SINGAPORE (AFP) — Australia and Singapore on Tuesday banned Boeing 737 MAX planes from their airspace and airlines around the world grounded the jets following a second deadly accident in just five months. On Sunday a new Ethiopian Airlines 737 MAX 8 went down minutes into a flight to Nairobi, killing all 157 people on board. It came after a Lion Air jet of the same model crashed in […]

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US, China negotiators talk but no date for Trump-Xi trade summit

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Top US and Chinese officials held phone talks Tuesday to discuss the next steps in trade negotiations, Chinese state media said, as the White House said no date has been set for a summit. US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin and Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer spoke with Beijing’s top economic official Liu He over the phone to discuss “key issues” on trade, the official news agency Xinhua reported. The top negotiators also […]

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Oil tanker and fishing boat collide off Hong Kong

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — An oil tanker and a fishing boat collided Tuesday morning off Hong Kong’s Lamma Island, police said, sinking the fishing vessel. Thirteen people on the oil tanker — thought to be everyone on board — were found safe, a police spokeswoman told AFP. Police said they were still looking for possible missing people from the fishing boat. The size of the vessels involved in the collision — which took place […]

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