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COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) – All of Sri Lanka’s Catholic churches have been ordered to stay closed and suspend services until security improves after deadly Easter bombings, a senior priest told AFP Thursday. “On the advice of the security forces we are keeping all churches closed,” the priest said. “There will be no public mass said until further notice.” Security has already been stepped up at churches across the country, government officials said. A […]
by Maria Panina VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AFP) — Russia’s Vladimir Putin and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un met face-to-face for the first time on Thursday, vowing to seek closer ties as they look to counter US influence. The summit in Russia’s Far Eastern city of Vladivostok came with Kim locked in a nuclear stand-off with Washington and Putin keen to put Moscow forward as a player in another global flashpoint. The two leaders shook hands […]
by Ryan McMorrow and Elizabeth Law BEIJING, China (AFP) — China on Thursday rejected “misunderstandings” fuelling concerns about its Belt and Road global infrastructure programme but vowed to tame debt risks as it opened a summit on its signature foreign policy. President Xi Jinping’s pet project is a reboot of the ancient Silk Road to connect Asia to Europe and Africa through massive investments in maritime, road and rail projects. The Belt and Road Initiative […]
by Richard CARTER TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A Japanese court granted Carlos Ghosn bail Thursday, meaning the former Nissan boss could soon walk out of his Tokyo detention center to prepare his defense against multiple charges of financial misconduct. The Tokyo District Court set bail at 500 million yen ($4.5 million) as the 65-year-old auto sector legend faces four charges ranging from concealing part of his salary from shareholders to syphoning off Nissan funds for […]
VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un meet for their first-ever summit Thursday, with the visitor looking for Moscow’s backing in his nuclear stand-off with the United States. The meeting on Russky island near the Pacific port of Vladivostok in Russia will be Kim’s first face-to-face talks with another head of state since returning from his Hanoi summit with US President Donald Trump, which broke down without […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday he expected “bumpy” talks ahead with North Korea but that he still hoped to reach a potentially landmark denuclearization deal. US President Donald Trump in February cut short a summit in Hanoi with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, with Pyongyang later blaming Pompeo for a pushing a hard line and calling for his exclusion from future negotiations. In an interview with […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (AFP) — Devastating floods in South Africa have left 51 dead and forced more than a thousand people from their homes, according to an updated toll issued Wednesday as President Cyril Ramaphosa flew to the deluged region. Heavy rains have lashed the southeast of the country, tearing down homes and ravaging infrastructure in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces. Speaking to the affected Amanzimtoti community in Durban, after returning from emergency African Union […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Saudi Arabia faced worldwide criticism Wednesday for its mass execution of a group made up mostly of people from the kingdom’s Shiite Muslim minority, some of whom the UN said were minors when charged. UN rights chief Michelle Bachelet condemned Riyadh’s Tuesday execution of 37 Saudi nationals, saying “it was particularly abhorrent that at least three of those killed were minors at the time of their sentencing”. The EU […]
KANO, Nigeria (AFP) — Nineteen wedding guests in the northern Nigerian state of Jigawa died when their bus lost control and burst into flames, police said Wednesday. The 18-seater was carrying 40 women and children returning from a wedding when its front tyre burst, causing it to skid off the road. The crash happened on Tuesday in Gwaram Sabuwa, a village around 100 kilometres (60 miles) from the state capital Dutse. “Nineteen people were killed […]
by Anna MALPAS VLADIVOSTOK, Russia (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un crossed the border into Russia Wednesday for the first summit with Vladimir Putin, as Pyongyang seeks closer ties with its traditional ally amid a nuclear deadlock with the United States. The meeting on Thursday in the Pacific coast city of Vladivostok will be Kim’s first face-to-face talks with another head of state since his talks with US President Donald Trump in Hanoi […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia on Tuesday executed 37 of its citizens convicted of terrorism, three years after another mass execution that ultimately led to a break in relations with Iran. The latest executions were carried out in Riyadh, the Muslim holy cities of Mecca and Medina, the predominantly Sunni province of Qassim, and in the Eastern Province, home to the country’s Shiite minority. The men were executed “for adopting terrorist and extremist […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — The Islamic State group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a devastating series of suicide attacks against churches and hotels in Sri Lanka that killed more than 320 people. The claim, accompanied by a photo and video of the men the group said had unleashed the carnage, emerged more than 48 hours after the near-simultaneous blasts ripped through three high-end hotels popular with foreigners and three churches packed with Christians marking […]
