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TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — A 5.7-magnitude earthquake struck off the western coast of Taiwan Monday, the US Geological Survey said, and was felt hundreds of kilometres away in Hong Kong. The quake hit around 100 kilometres (60 miles) off the island of Penghu in the Taiwan Strait on Monday morning, at a depth of 13 kilometres. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage from the quake, which the USGS had initially reported at […]
by Amir Havasi Agence France Presse TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — A strong 6.4-magnitude earthquake hit Iran’s western province of Kermanshah late Sunday, the country’s institute of geophysics said, with local officials reporting some 260 people injured. The epicentre of the quake was 17 kilometres southwest of the city of Sarpol-e Zahab, according to the institute, which said it struck at a depth of 7 kilometres. At least 260 people were injured in Sarpol-e Zahab and […]
by Rim Haddad with Tony Gamal-Gabriel in Beirut Agence France Presse DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — Syria’s regime has accused armed groups of carrying out a “toxic gas” attack that left dozens of people struggling to breathe and prompted government ally Russia to launch retaliatory air strikes on Sunday. Around 100 Syrians were hospitalised with breathing difficulties after the alleged chemical attack in the regime-held city of Aleppo on Saturday, state media and a monitor said. […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — At least 28 people, many of them children, drowned Saturday after their bus plunged into a canal in India, police said, in the latest tragedy on the world’s deadliest roads. Police said they retrieved 28 bodies from the private passenger bus after it veered off the road and fell into the canal in the Mandya district of the southern state of Karnataka. A police officer at the scene told […]
PESHAWAR, Pakistan (AFP) — At least 20 people were killed and 50 wounded when a bomb hidden in a carton of vegetables ripped through a crowded marketplace in Pakistan’s restive northwestern tribal region Friday, officials said. The attack took place during the regular Friday bazaar in Kalaya, a town in a Shiite-dominated area of Orakzai tribal district, senior local official Khalid Iqbal told AFP. “According to our initial investigation, it was an improvised explosive device hidden […]
KARACHI, Pakistan (AFP) — Two policemen were killed on Friday when gunmen stormed the Chinese consulate in the Pakistani city of Karachi, officials said, with the attack claimed by a separatist group which branded Beijing “an oppressor”. Pakistani authorities said that security forces had secured the area after the attack, the latest in a series of assaults on Chinese nationals, including workers involved in a multi-billion dollar infrastructure project in the country. Multiple gunmen tried […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Samsung Electronics apologized Friday to workers who developed cancer after working at its semiconductor factories, ending a decade-long dispute at the world’s top chipmaker. “We sincerely apologize to the workers who suffered from illness and their families,” said Samsung co-president Kim Ki-nam. “We have failed to properly manage health risks at our semiconductor and LCD factories.” Campaign groups say that 320 people have suffered from work-related illnesses after being employed by […]
ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — The EU’s top diplomat Federica Mogherini said on Thursday all those “really responsible” for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi have to be held accountable. After Saudi Arabia accepted responsibility and said that 21 people were in custody, with death penalties sought against five men, attention turned to whether the crown prince would be found culpable. “Those responsible, really responsible for this terrible murder have to be accountable,” Mogherini told […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North and South Korea have connected a road across their shared border for the first time in 14 years, Seoul’s defense ministry said Thursday in the latest reconciliation gesture between the neighbors. The dirt road, which is wholly within the Demilitarized Zone that divides the peninsula, will be used for joint operations next year to recover remains from the 1950-53 Korean War. The 12-meter-wide construction of the route in Cheorwon, […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A car rammed into a group of schoolchildren crossing a street in front of an elementary school in northeast China on Thursday, killing five people and injuring another 18, state media said. Police took the driver into custody and are investigating the cause of the incident in Huludao, Liaoning province, the official CCTV broadcaster said on its Weibo social media account. Unverified videos circulating social media show a car veering onto […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Rights activists filed two complaints in France against a visiting Abu Dhabi prince on Wednesday, accusing him of being complicit in torture as well as in war crimes in Yemen. Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who is a close ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was in Paris for a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron. The October 2 killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi loomed large […]
by Sylvie LANTEAUME Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States and South Korea have scaled down a joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. “Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy,” Mattis said, adding that it would be “reduced in scope.” US […]
