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by Jérôme CARTILLIER HANOI , Vietnam (AFP) — US President Barack Obama landed in Vietnam late Sunday for a landmark visit capping two decades of rapprochement between the former wartime foes, as both countries look to push trade and check Beijing’s growing assertiveness in the South China Sea. Air Force One touched down in Hanoi just after 9:30 pm (1430 GMT) for the beginning of a three-day trip in which Obama will meet Vietnam’s communist […]
by Usman SHARIFI KABUL , Afghanistan (AFP) — Afghanistan on Sunday said Taliban leader Mullah Akhtar Mansour was killed in a US bombing raid, the first confirmation from regional officials of his death, which marks a potential blow to the resurgent militant movement. The Taliban have not commented officially on Saturday’s attack, the first known US assault on a top Afghan Taliban leader on Pakistani soil, which could scupper any immediate prospect of peace talks. […]
by Ammar Karim BAGHDAD , Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi on Monday announced the start of a military operation to retake the city of Fallujah from the Islamic State group. The fight to recapture the jihadist bastion, which has been out of government control for nearly two and a half years, will be one of the toughest in Iraq’s war against IS. “We are beginning the operation to liberate Fallujah,” Abadi said […]
by Phyo Hein KYAW Naypyidaw, Myanmar (AFP) — United States Secretary of State John Kerry is set to meet Myanmar’s Aung San Suu Kyi Sunday for Washington’s first high level talks with her new civilian government, offering backing to her country’s democratic progress after decades of army rule. The meeting in the capital Naypyidaw comes days after the US lifted a host of financial and trade embargoes in recognition of political changes that saw November’s […]
Kathmandu, Nepal (AFP) — An Australian and a Dutch mountaineer have died of altitude sickness after summitting Mount Everest, expedition organizers said, the latest deaths to hit the Himalayan climbing season. The Australian climber was on her way down from Camp 4 to Camp 3 when she fell ill and died on Saturday afternoon, Pasang Phurba Sherpa, a board director at Seven Summit Treks, told AFP Saturday. “After reaching the summit yesterday she said she […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Three people died and four others were critically injured Saturday after a highly active volcano in western Indonesia erupted violently, shooting hot ash and gases into the atmosphere, an official said. The victims were all farming on the slopes of Mount Sinabung, a rumbling volcano on Sumatra island, when they were consumed by clouds of hot gases, disaster agency spokesman Sutopo Purwo Nugroho said. “Seven people were exposed to the hot […]
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Cyclone Roanu was poised to make landfall in southern Bangladesh Saturday, as strong winds and heavy downpours unleashed by the storm left five people dead and forced tens of thousands to flee their homes. Officials said the cyclone was expected to hit the Bangladesh coast around 12:00 pm local time (0600 GMT) packing winds of 88 kilometres (54 miles) per hour. Authorities took 60,000 people to cyclone shelters following a warning that […]
by Hiroshi Hiyama SENDAI, Japan (AFP) – Divisions over reigniting global growth were set to surface at the G7 in Japan Friday, with US Treasury Secretary Jacob Lew expected to stand firm over any action threatening a currency war. Two days of talks will see host Japan keen to win an endorsement for its position that fiscal stimulus is the way to kickstart the world economy, after a rally in the yen hit exporters and worsened a […]
CAIRO, Egypt (AFP) — Egypt’s military said its search teams found wreckage on Friday from the EgyptAir plane that crashed in the Mediterranean with 66 people on board. “Egyptian aircraft and navy vessels have found personal belongings of passengers and parts of the wreckage 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Alexandria,” its spokesman said on his Facebook page. © 1994-2016 Agence France-Presse
HONG KONG , China (AFP) — The roof of a building at Hong Kong’s City University collapsed Friday, injuring three people, officials said, sparking panic among eyewitnesses who said it sounded like an explosion had gone off. The accident happened around 2:30 pm (630 GMT) at a university sports centre in the Kowloon Tong neighborhood, with footage showing the caved-in roof along with police, firefighters and ambulances at the scene. “The roof collapsed and there […]
COLOMBO , Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lankans clambered onto rubber dinghies and makeshift rafts Friday to flee their flooded capital as fresh downpours elsewhere hampered relief efforts. The heaviest rains in a quarter of a century have pounded the island since last weekend, sparking huge landslides that have buried victims in up to 50 feet (15 meters) of mud. Officials have urged those living in affected areas to leave immediately, with more than 60 […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — The massive search for Malaysia Airlines plane MH370 in the remote southern Indian Ocean is expected to be completed by early August, the man leading the hunt said Friday. Less than 15,000 square kilometers remain to be scoured out of a 120,000 sq km target zone off western Australia where the passenger jet is presumed to have crashed. Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) head Martin Dolan said there was no indication […]
