adminCAR ex-rebels loot, pillage as France deploys troops
LIBREVILLE — The motley crew of fighters who overthrew the Central African Republic’s government in March are raging beyond their leader’s control, terrorising civilians and pushing the country toward civil…
Thai premier pleads for end to protests
BANGKOK – Thailand’s prime minister begged protesters yesterday to call off their sustained anti-government demonstrations and negotiate an end to the nation’s latest crisis. Yingluck Shinawatra issued the plea even…
Malema corruption charge sticks
JOHANNESBURG — South Africa’s opposition politician Julius Malema will return to court in September next year after a judge refused yesterday to drop corruption charges against him. The expelled chief…
Central African Republic needs many more peacekeepers: EU
ABIDJAN — Central African Republic needs up to four times more peacekeepers than are currently deployed to quell the worsening sectarian conflict and provide security for aid workers, the European…
Cops smash 240 000 beer bottles
KANO — Police enforcing Islamic law in Nigeria’s city of Kano publicly destroyed some 240 000 bottles of beer yesterday, the latest move in a wider crackdown on behaviour deemed “immoral”…
Tuaregs stop PM from visiting town
BAMAKO — Tuareg demonstrators yesterday occupied an airport runway to prevent Mali’s Prime Minister Oumar Tatam Ly visiting the rebel-controlled northeastern town of Kidal, officials said. Protesters said Malian soldiers…
Envoy recalled
SANTO DOMINGO – The Dominican Republic has recalled its ambassador to Haiti for consultations and suspended a bilateral dialogue in a dispute over its stripping citizenship rights of Dominicans of…
South Korea defies China air zone
SEOUL — South Korea’s military said yesterday one of its planes had flown through China’s newly-declared air defence zone in the East China Sea without informing Beijing. The flight on…
Indian cyclone weakens, no threat
BHUBANESWAR (India) — A severe cyclone weakened before it made landfall on India’s east coast yesterday, and an official said it no longer posed a serious threat to thousands of…
China dismisses Japanese claim of altering status quo
BEIJING — China’s Air Defence Identification Zone (ADIZ) over the East China Sea is completely justified and legitimate, Defence Ministry spokesman Yang Yujun said yesterday. Yang’s comments were in response…