World

Iran holds large-scale military drill after US navy confrontation

Iran’s army is holding a large-scale sea, land and air military drill, which comes shortly after the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and United States Navy had a confrontation in the Sea of Oman over a seized oil tanker.The drill was launched on Sunday morning and is expected to incor...

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11 soldiers killed, nine missing after gun assault in Niger

Unidentified gunmen have killed 11 soldiers defending a village in a remote part of southwest Niger where armed group fighters operate, the defence ministry said.The heavily armed attackers approached in a convoy of cars and motorbikes on Thursday afternoon, clashing with soldiers stationed outside ...

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Sudan military to free 4 ministers detained in coup

Sudan’s top general on Thursday ordered the release of four ministers of the now-deposed government who were detained amid a widely condemned military coup last week, the country’s state-run news agency reported.Moez Hadra, a defense lawyer for the deposed officials, said the ministers h...

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Mexican National Guard fatally shoots migrant, wounds others

Officers from Mexico’s National Guard fatally shot a migrant after opening fire at a pick-up truck attempting to avoid a checkpoint, authorities said.The National Guard said the truck, which was carrying 13 migrants, did not respond to orders to stop for inspection near the southern town of Pi...

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Erdogan to skip COP26 climate summit

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has returned to Istanbul instead of attending the United Nations COP26 climate summit in Glasgow, Scotland.The state-run Anadolu Agency said the president returned to Istanbul late on Sunday night directly after attending the G20 summit in Rome. Erdogan was ex...

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US to deepen ties with Taiwan amid China tensions

The United States wants to deepen its relationship with Taiwan and will work to counter China’s “malign” influence, a top US diplomat to the island has said, as tensions between Beijing and Taipei remain at their highest in decades.Sandra Oudkirk, the new director of the American I...

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As US freezes funds, a harsh winter awaits cash-strapped Afghans

In its latest report to the United States Congress, the Special Investigator General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR) has detailed Washington’s decision to cut off the Taliban government’s access to billions in funds and assets that has led to devastation across the cash-strapped n...

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Afghan girls keep learning amid Taliban curbs

Cooped up at home in Afghanistan’s Herat city, Zainab Muhammadi reminisces about hanging out with her friends in the cafeteria after coding class. Now she logs on every day to secret online lessons.Her school shut down after the Taliban took control of the country in August. But that did not s...

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Tunisia’s #MeToo: Landmark sexual harassment case kicks off

A landmark case that helped galvanise Tunisia’s #MeToo movement reached court this week, involving a legislator charged with sexual harassment and public indecency.Feminist activists held a small protest outside the court in Nabeul, south of the capital Tunis, chanting and waving placards that...

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Turkish lira drops to record low on Erdogan comments

The Turkish lira has weakened 1.6 percent to a record low against the dollar in early Asian trade after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said he had ordered the expulsion of the ambassadors of the United States and nine other Western countries.The currency had already hit record lows last week after t...

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‘Ethiopia launches new air raids on Tigray region’

Ethiopia’s military has carried out a second air attack in the northern part of Tigray, according to a statement issued by the government shortly after it said it launched an air raid on a rebel-held facility in Tigray’s west.The raids on Sunday would be the seventh and eighth aerial bom...

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Trial opens against Italy's Salvini for blocked migrant ship

Italy’s right-wing former interior minister, Matteo Salvini, went on trial Saturday charged with kidnapping for refusing in 2019 to allow a Spanish migrant rescue ship to dock in Sicily, keeping the people onboard at sea for days.It is the first trial to go ahead against Salvini for his action...

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Lebanon uprising protesters anxiously await military trials

The anti-government uprising that swept across Lebanon two years ago might be a distant memory to many in the country, now struggling with compounding economic crises that have paralysed much of public life, but that is not the case for the dozens of protesters who are currently awaiting trial at mi...

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Thousands of refugees, migrants plead for Libya evacuation

Thousands of refugees and migrants have been camped out in front of a United Nations centre in Tripoli for three weeks, calling for evacuation from Libya in the wake of sweeping raids that saw thousands arrested.The renewed appeals at the sit-in come even as the UN’s refugee agency (UNHCR) sai...

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Somalia leaders strike deal on long-delayed election process

Somalia’s president and prime minister say they have struck a deal to speed up the process for long-delayed elections, ending their simmering feud which threatened to plunge the country into a fresh crisis.Somalia was meant to choose a new president this month, ending a complicated indirect el...

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UK data breach puts hundreds of Afghan interpreters ‘at risk’

The email addresses of hundreds of Afghan interpreters who worked with British forces, including some who are hiding from the Taliban in the war-torn country, have been shared in a data breach by the British Ministry of Defence.The United Kingdom’s government has launched an investigation into...

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Syrian military chief makes rare visit to Jordan

Syria’s defence minister visited Jordan to discuss stability on their mutual border, the first such meeting since the Syrian conflict erupted about 10 years ago when the two neighbours supported opposing factions.Sunday’s meeting followed a major army offensive to retake the last rebel b...

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Malaysia PM to sign cooperation agreement with opposition

Malaysia’s Prime Minister Ismail Sabri Yaakob will sign a cooperation agreement with the country’s opposition that is designed to shore up his support and end months of political instability as the government grapples with a surge in Covid-19 driven by the Delta variant.The agreement is ...

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Myanmar dissidents face fear and uncertainty in Thailand

When Myanmar’s military staged a coup on February 1, Kaung Latt’s career as an entertainer came to an abrupt halt. A prominent supporter of the deposed National League for Democracy (NLD) government and a social media star with hundreds of thousands of followers, Kaung Latt knew he was l...

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Haiti prosecutors seek to interview PM over Jovenel Moise killing

Haiti’s chief public prosecutor has invited Prime Minister Ariel Henry to meet him next week to explain why he spoke with one of the main suspects in the assassination of former President Jovenel Moise on the night of the crime.A letter sent by prosecutor Bed-Ford Claude to Henry on Friday sai...