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by W.G. Dunlop with Ahmad al-Rubaye in Al-Shura and Colin Bertier in Arbil QAYYARAH, Iraq (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Iraqi forces were making gains from the Islamic State group in Mosul Tuesday in an offensive US President Barack Obama warned would be a “difficult fight”. With the crucial battle in its second day, Iraqi commanders said progress was being made as fighters pushed on two main fronts against the jihadists’ last stronghold in […]
Qionghai, China (CCTV) — Typhoon Sarika brought gale and heavy downpour to Qionghai City of south China’s island province of Hainan Tuesday morning. According to local observatory, the maximum rainfall reached 236 millimeters in the town of Huishan within three hours from 05:00 to 08:00. The gale triggered huge waves in the sea. Sarika, the 21st typhoon of the year, made landfall at 09:50 Tuesday in the town of Hele in Wanning City, around 50 […]
by Karam al-Masri with Maya Gebeily in Beirut ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) — Russia has announced an eight-hour “humanitarian” ceasefire in Aleppo later this week, as the EU warned that the Syrian regime’s Moscow-backed assault on the city could amount to a war crime. The United Nations and European Union welcomed the announcement, but said Thursday’s planned pause in fighting needed to be longer to allow the delivery of humanitarian aid. Meanwhile, dozens of civilians including […]
UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — A 72-hour ceasefire in Yemen will go into effect starting Thursday, the United Nations announced on Monday. A cessation of hostilities that first went into effect in April “will re-enter into force at 23:59 Yemen time (2059 GMT) on 19 October 2016, for an initial period of 72 hours, subject to renewal,” the UN’s special envoy for Yemen, Ismail Ould Cheikh Ahmed, said in a statement. The announcement comes after […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Iraqi security forces were “ahead of schedule” after the first day of an offensive for the Islamic State-held city of Mosul, a Pentagon official said Monday. A US-led coalition has for months been helping train Iraqi forces for the fight for Mosul — the last IS stronghold in Iraq — and the military offensive finally got underway early Monday. “Early indications are that Iraqi forces have met their objectives so […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — A 6.4 magnitude earthquake struck China’s northwestern province of Qinghai on Monday, the US Geological Survey reported, in an area frequently plagued with seismic activity. The quake was 32 kilometres (20 miles) deep, USGS said, with its epicentre in a sparsely-populated area of Yushu prefecture. There was a “low likelihood of casualties and damage”, it said. Yushu was the scene of a 6.9-magnitude earthquake in April 2010 that left nearly 2,700 people dead […]
HANOI, Vietnam | AFP | — Severe flooding in central Vietnam has killed at least 25 people and destroyed thousands of homes, officials said Monday, as the country braced for further destruction with a typhoon barrelling closer. Images from flood-hit provinces showed houses almost completely submerged and people paddling down waterlogged streets following heavy rain that started last week. Four people are still missing after the deluge, which destroyed or damaged more than 240,000 […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan has barred all Samsung Galaxy Note 7 smartphones from airplanes, mirroring moves by US regulators and a string of carriers that banned the recalled devices over fire risk concerns. The weekend announcement from Japan’s transport ministry follows an earlier warning that asked airlines to urge passengers not to turn on or charge the smartphones on aircraft. But aviation authorities went a step further on Saturday, ordering airlines to ban the […]
(Reuters) A bridge connecting two small islands near the Indonesian resort island of Bali collapsed on Sunday (October 16) killing eight people and injuring 34 others, officials said. There were too many people passing over the bridge for a religious ceremony when it collapsed at 6 PM local time, police officer Arendra Wahyudi said, adding some motorbikes also fell into the water. The sea beneath the bridge was less than two meters deep, Wahyudi said, […]
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe sent a ritual offering to Yasukuni Shrine for war dead on Monday (October 17) to mark the annual autumn festival of the shrine. The shrine is seen in China and the two Koreas as a symbol of Japan’s past militarism. Past visits by Japanese leaders to Yasukuni have outraged Beijing and Seoul because it honors 14 Japanese leaders convicted by an Allied tribunal as […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — An explosion almost immediately after launch was behind the failure of North Korea’s latest test-firing of a powerful medium-range missile, the South Korean military confirmed Monday. North Korea tested a Musudan missile — capable of hitting US bases as far away as Guam — shortly after midday Saturday near an air base in the northwestern city of Kusong. Such launches are usually reported within a few hours or even minutes […]
HONGKONG, China (Reuters) — The oldest giant panda living in captivity, 38-year-old Jia Jia, was euthanized in Hong Kong after rapidly deteriorating health over the past two weeks, her owners Ocean Park said on Sunday. Jia Jia, whose name means “good”, had been gifted to Hong Kong in 1999 along with another panda, to mark the second anniversary of the city’s handover from former colonial ruler Britain. In recent weeks Jia Jia’s food consumption had […]
