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SYDNEY , Australia (AFP) — More than 40 tourists, many of them elderly Chinese, were recovering Thursday after jumping into life rafts when the catamaran they were aboard caught fire in Australia. The Spirit of 1770 got into trouble 10 nautical miles off the coastal town of 1770 following a day-trip to Lady Musgrave Island on the Great Barrier Reef, apparently when a fire started in the engine room. The Island on the Great Barrier Reef,said […]
TAIPEI , Taiwan (AFP) — Buildings shook violently in Taiwan’s capital Taipei Thursday as a 5.6-magnitude quake hit off the island’s northeast coast. The shallow quake struck at a depth of 10 km (six miles), the US Geological Survey said, just east of the coastal city of Yilan, 60 kilometres from Taipei. There were no immediate reports of damage. It comes after a 6.4-magnitude earthquake in February left 117 dead when an apartment complex collapsed […]
JAKARTA, Indonesia — Indonesia’s President Joko Widodo on Wednesday, May 11 said that the four Indonesian sailors who had been held hostage in the southern Philippines have been released. “The release happened because of coordination between the governments of Indonesia and the Philippines,” Widodo told reporters at the presidential palace in Central Jakarta, adding that the four sailors were in good health. Ten other Indonesian hostages held by groups with suspected links to militant network […]
MAHARASHTRA, India (Reuters) — A laborer from the lower-caste Dalit community dug up a well after being denied permission to draw water from the well of an upper caste man in India’s western Maharashtra state. India is reeling under excruciating summers. Maharashtra is one of the worst hit states in the country which is facing its third straight drought this year. Amid the severe water crisis, when people from the lower-caste community in Nagpur district […]
by Michael Mathes WASHINGTON , United States (AFP) — Thursday’s high-stakes meeting between Donald Trump and Republican congressional leaders including House Speaker Paul Ryan marks a critical point in the billionaire’s presidential quest, with party grandees pressured to close ranks and support the presumptive nominee. Ryan, the top-ranked Republican currently elected to public office, dropped a bombshell and triggered soul-searching within a fractured party last week when he said he was “just not ready” to […]
by Salam Faraj BAGHDAD , Iraq (AFP) — Three car bombs in Baghdad, including a huge blast at a market in a Shiite area, killed at least 94 people Wednesday, the bloodiest day in the Iraqi capital this year. The attacks, all claimed by the Islamic State group, came with the government locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against the jihadists. The worst bombing struck the frequently targeted […]
EDMONTON , Canada (AFP) — The huge forest fire that prompted the evacuation of Fort McMurray remained out of control Wednesday but cooler, more humid weather slowed its advance, Canadian officials said. All told, crews were battling 20 fires in Alberta province, although Fort McMurray’s was the only one still out of control, as it spread east. Half the province’s 1,500 firefighters are assigned to fight it. The blaze has now charred more than 2,290 […]
DHAKA,, Bangladesh (AFP) – Bangladesh police fired rubber bullets at protesters on Wednesday, after the execution of a top Islamist leader heightened tensions in a country reeling from the murders of several secular and liberal activists. The violence came as police charged Khaleda Zia, leader of the main Bangladesh opposition, with masterminding arson attacks during anti-government protests last year — the latest in a string of charges she claims are politically motivated. Hours earlier her […]
by Salam Faraj BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — A car bombing claimed by the Islamic State jihadist group killed at least 64 people Wednesday at a market in a Shiite area of Baghdad, in the single deadliest attack this year in the capital. The blast comes as the government is locked in a political crisis that some have warned could undermine the fight against IS. The bombing, which hit the frequently targeted Sadr City area of northern […]
(Reuters) — Australian police have detained five men suspected of planning to sail a small boat from the far north of the country on to Indonesia and the Philippines and finally to Syria to join Islamic State, officials said on Wednesday (May 11). The men were held on Tuesday (May 10) after towing the seven-meter boat almost 3,000 km (1,865 miles) from Melbourne to Cairns in Queensland state, police said. “There have been reports that […]
by Frédéric Dumoulin PARIS, France (AFP) — French Finance Minister Michel Sapin has admitted acting “inappropriately” towards a female journalist after twice denying any improper conduct with her, adding to a sexual harassment scandal in French politics. Sapin acknowledged late Tuesday “making a comment” while placing his hand on the woman’s back at a conference early last year — following two previous denials of a claim that he had tweaked her knicker elastic. Sapin’s admission came […]
