Asia

Japan’s Abe vows cooperation in French Olympic payments probe

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on Monday vowed cooperation with French investigators probing payments allegedly made to help Tokyo secure the 2020 Olympics. “I have instructed the education and sports minister to fully cooperate in the investigation,” Abe told lawmakers in parliament, Jiji Press reported. “Education and sports minister (Hiroshi) Hase told the Japanese Olympic Committee and the former bid committee to cooperate in the investigation,” Abe was quoted as saying. […]

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China says Pentagon report ‘severely damaged’ relations

BEIJINg, China (AFP) — China on Sunday accused the US of deliberately distorting the facts in a report on the Asian giant’s defence policy, warning Washington it had “severely damaged” trust between the superpowers. The Pentagon on Friday said Beijing had been building up military facilities on reefs and islets in a bid to assert its claims to the contested waters of the South China Sea. China’s military has also been using “coercive tactics” to […]

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Philippine communist rebels kill 3 soldiers: military

MANILA, philippines (AFP) — Communist guerrillas killed three Philippine soldiers in the first fatal clash since a newly-elected president offered to restart stalled peace talks, the military said Sunday, May 15. The soldiers were on the central island of Negros on Saturday investigating reports that New People’s Army guerrillas were extorting money from villagers when they clashed with about ten rebels, leaving three soldiers dead and two wounded, a military report said. The violence comes just […]

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IS bombs kill 47 Yemen police in former Qaeda bastion

by Fawaz al-Haidari ADEN , Yemen (AFP) — A suicide bombing claimed by the Islamic State group and a second blast killed 47 police Sunday in the Yemeni port of Mukalla where a year of Al-Qaeda rule ended last month, medics said. It was the second attack in days claimed by IS in the city of 200,000 people that was recaptured by government forces from the rival jihadists of Al-Qaeda with US backing. The suicide […]

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Syria Qaeda kills 19 civilians from Assad’s Alawite sect

BEIRUT , Lebanon (AFP) — Al-Qaeda fighters and their allies shot dead 19 civilians from President Bashar al-Assad’s Alawite minority in their own homes after seizing their village in central Syria, a monitor said Friday. Other villagers were kidnapped following the assault in which eight pro-regime militiamen were killed trying to defend Al-Zara in Hama province, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said. “During the attack, they entered houses and opened fire on families, killing […]

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Turkey visa deal unravels as Erdogan defies EU on key condition

by Fulya OZERKAN ANKARA , Turkey (AFP) — A deal to grant Turks visa-free travel to most of the European Union was hanging by a thread Thursday after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan defiantly vowed Ankara would not fulfil a key condition set by Brussels. With alarm growing over the deal’s future, European Commission chief Jean-Claude Juncker bluntly told Erdogan that Turks would only enjoy travel to the passport-free Schengen area if all conditions were met […]

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Hezbollah announces death of top military commander in Syria

    BEIRUT , Lebanon (AFP) — Hezbollah on Friday announced the death of its military commander in Syria, Mustafa Badreddine. “He said a few months ago, ‘I will not come back from Syria, unless a martyr or carrying the flag of victory’. He is the top commander Mustafa Badreddine. And he came back today as a martyr,” the Shiite movement said in a statement carried by the Al-Manar TV channel. Hezbollah, along with Iran, is […]

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Storms kill at least 33 in Bangladesh

DHAKA , Bangladesh (AFP) — Fierce tropical storms wreaked havoc across Bangladesh on Thursday, killing more than 30 people, with police attributing many of the deaths to lightning strikes. The death toll from the 10 worst-hit districts stood at 33, police told AFP, with reports of an unconfirmed number of casualties in more remote regions. The northwest of the country was the worst hit, with at least 19 people killed in Pabna, Rajshahi, Sirajganj and […]

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IS releases video of ‘citizen executions’ in Iraq

BAGHDAD , Iraq (AFP) — The Islamic State group has released a video showing five alleged “spies” being shot dead in Iraq by young men from a crowd assembled for the execution. The 12-minute video released on social media on Wednesday mimics a participatory television show, in which members of the public are interviewed and invited to take part. Produced by the group’s branch in Nineveh province, of which Mosul is the capital, the video […]

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Qaeda suicide bombers kill 13 troops near Yemen’s Mukalla

ADEN , Yemen (AFP) — Al-Qaeda militants, including three suicide bombers who blew up vehicles, killed at least 13 Yemeni government troops outside the southeastern port city of Mukalla on Thursday, a military official said. Several soldiers were also wounded in the attack on the eastern outskirts of the Hadramawt provincial capital, which the army recaptured from Al-Qaeda last month, ending a year of jihadist rule, the official said. One suicide bomber rammed a vehicle […]

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Yemen Qaeda hits army with 3 suicide bombings: military

ADEN , Yemen (AFP) — Al-Qaeda militants, including three suicide bombers who blew up vehicles, attacked Yemeni government troops outside the southeastern port city of Mukalla on Thursday, a military official said. Several soldiers were killed or wounded in the assault on the eastern outskirts of the city, which government troops recaptured from Al-Qaeda last month ending a year of jihadist rule, the official said. faw/ak/kir © 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse

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Cricketer in Bangladesh beaten to death with stump

DHAKA , Bangladesh (AFP) — A teenage cricketer in Bangladesh was allegedly killed by a stump-wielding batsman after he taunted the umpire over a no-ball delivery, police said Thursday. Sixteen-year-old Babul Shikdar was wicketkeeping during a neighborhood match with friends in the capital Dhaka on Wednesday when the batsman was given out, local police chief Bhuiyan Mahboob Hasan said. Shikdar suggested that the umpire might again favour the batsman, by declaring the bowler’s delivery a […]

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