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MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin signed into law Friday a bill toughening sentences for terrorist recruitment as the country deals with the issue of returning jihadists from Syria. Official publication of the law came two days after a bomb attack on a supermarket in Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second city, injured 14 people. The new law, which parliament voted through on December 14 and the upper chamber approved on December 26, immediately raises […]
by Vishal MANVE Agence France-Presse MUMBAI, India (AFP) – At least 14 people were killed when a huge blaze tore through a popular restaurant in Mumbai early Friday, police said, in the latest disaster to raise concerns over fire safety in India. Many of the victims were young women who were attending a birthday party on the rooftop when the fire broke out. Doctors said they died of asphyxiation, apparently as they tried to flee the burning […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) – China on Friday rejected accusations that it had helped Pyongyang skirt sanctions after US President Donald Trump claimed on Twitter that Beijing was turning a blind eye to oil transfers to North Korea. Trump’s tweet was the latest salvo in his battle to persuade China to tighten the economic screws on Pyongyang over its missile and nuclear programmed, in a campaign that has seen him heap both praise and criticism on Beijing. “Caught […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India warned Friday against investing in cryptocurrencies including bitcoin, likening them to “Ponzi schemes”, as it became the latest country to urge caution. Despite a boom in trade that has seen prices soar, cryptocurrencies “don’t have intrinsic value and are not backed by any kind of assets,” the Indian finance ministry said in a statement. “There is a real and heightened risk of investment bubble of the type seen in Ponzi schemes […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — A 27-year-old woman from the Ivory Coast has been arrested on the Thai island of Phuket after an airport X-ray found more than one kilogram of cocaine in her stomach wrapped in scores of small packets. The woman was stopped by officials late Wednesday night at Phuket’s international airport after landing on a flight from Doha. An X-ray revealed more than 60 small packages in her stomach, filled with 1.2 […]
SEOUL. South Korea (AFP) — South Korea briefly seized and inspected a Hong Kong-registered ship in November for transferring oil products to a North Korean vessel and breaching UN sanctions, a foreign ministry official said Friday. The Lighthouse Winmore, which was chartered by a Taiwanese company and carrying around 600 tonnes of oil products from South Korea’s Yeosu port, transferred part of its cargo to a North Korean vessel on October 19, the official said. South […]
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — Fire tore through a Mumbai building where a rooftop party was being held early Friday, killing at least 15 people and leaving many injured, police said. The blaze started just after midnight in a top floor restaurant in the center of the city and quickly spread to two adjacent bars, destroying the entire building in 30 minutes, media reports said. Most of those who died were women at a […]
by Mushtaq MOJADDIDI Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — More than 40 people were killed and dozens wounded in a suicide blast targeting Shiites in Kabul Thursday, officials said, with chaotic scenes at the city’s hospitals as anguished families sought loved ones. The Sunni Islamic State group (IS) claimed responsibility for the gruesome assault on the pro-Iranian Tabayan cultural centre, the third deadly attack it has claimed in the Afghan capital this month. Up […]
by Anna SMOLCHENKO with Marina KORENEVA in Saint Petersburg Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin warned Thursday that armed criminals could be “liquidated on the spot,” calling the blast that tore through a Saint Petersburg supermarket and wounded 14 people an “act of terror.” On Wednesday evening, a homemade bomb placed in a locker at the supermarket in northwestern Saint Petersburg, Russia’s second city and Putin’s hometown, went off sowing […]
by Philippe RATER Agence France-Presse UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The UN Security Council on Thursday denied international port access to four North Korean ships suspected of carrying or having transported goods banned by international sanctions targeting Pyongyang, diplomats told AFP. The ban of the four vessels — the Ul Ji Bong 6, Rung Ra 2, Sam Jong 2 and Rye Song Gang 1 — brings the UN’s total number of blocked ships to […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday called an explosion that tore through a Saint Petersburg supermarket, wounding 13 people, “an act of terror.” “As you know, an act of terror took place in Saint Petersburg yesterday,” he said at a meeting of military officers in the Kremlin. The homemade bomb went off in a locker at the supermarket on Wednesday evening, officials said. Anna Mityanina, vice governor of Saint Petersburg, […]
By Mushtaq Mojaddidi Agence France Presse KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — At least 40 people were killed and dozens more wounded in multiple blasts at a Shiite cultural centre in Kabul on Thursday, officials said, in the latest deadly violence to hit the Afghan capital. There was no immediate claim of responsibility but the Taliban was quick to deny involvement in the assault near the Afghan Voice Agency, a media outlet which earlier reports had […]
