Severe flooding hits southeast Asia
Agencies :Severe flooding has killed 13 people and left at least 180,000 displaced in Malaysia and neighbouring Thailand, officials said.In Malaysia, rescue teams on Saturday...
International
Kiev, rebels swap hundreds of captives in Ukraine peace push
AP, Kostyantynivka :Ukraine and pro-Russian rebels swapped hundreds of prisoners on Friday as part of a new push for peace in one of Europe’s bloodiest...
Syria refugees face bitter cold in Lebanon winter
AFP, Lebanon :With just blankets to shield them against the icy wind and rain, Abu Ali’s family huddles in a flimsy tent in Lebanon-among the...
Ukraine suspends trains to Crimea, citing security concerns
Reuters, Kiev :Ukraine’s state rail company Ukrzaliznytsia said on Friday it would suspend passenger and cargo train services to the Black Sea peninsula of Crimea,...
Yangon votes for first time in 60 years
AFP, Yangon :Residents of Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon went to the polls today for the first municipal elections in six decades, with voters hoping for...
Putin scraps New Year’s holidays for ministers
AP, Moscow :Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday scrapped New Year’s holidays for government ministers because of the unfolding economic crisis.Russian company employees throughout the...
Tears and prayers
Reuters, Indonesia :Survivors of Asia’s 2004 tsunami and relatives of its 226,000 victims cried and prayed as they gathered along Indian Ocean shorelines on Friday...
Iraq seeks Turkish support in fight against IS
AP, Ankara :Iraq and Turkey on Thursday discussed cooperation in countering the threat posed by the Islamic State group, including an Iraqi request for intelligence...
Iran kicks off massive Gulf military drills
AFP, Tehran :Iran launched extensive military drills on Thursday, local media reported, in a show of strength stretching several hundred kilometres from the Strait of...
Kurdish offensive against ISIL gains momentum
Agencies, Beirut :An offensive by Kurdish Peshmerga forces to retake territory from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) group in northwestern Iraq...
Democrats optimistic on 2016 presidential chances
AP, Atlanta :Republicans crowed in 2004 that freshly re-elected President George W. Bush had established a “permanent governing majority” for the GOP. Eight years later,...
Ebola expert calls for European anti-virus ‘corps’
AFP, London :Europe will be “vulnerable” if it does not regard viruses as a “national security issue” like the United States, the microbiologist who discovered...