Month: May 2019

Four insurgents armed with rifles and grenades attacked a luxury hotel in the southwestern coastal town of Gwadar on Saturday, triggering an intense, hours-long shootout in which one hotel guard and all the attackers were killed, officials said. In a statement, the military said troops quickly responded to the attack on the Pearl Continental hotel…

Men in Iran have been ordered not to look at women during Ramadan as part of a round of draconian restrictions imposed by the increasingly isolated regime. In a sign of frustration with growing civil discontent and economic pain caused by US sanctions, hardliners in Iran’s government are forcing through unusually strict social diktats to…

Hong Kong’s legislature descended into chaos Saturday morning as brawls broke out between politicians debating a controversial extradition law that will extend Beijing’s reach into the former British colony. At least one member of the legislature was removed from the chamber on a gurney after fainting in the midst of chaos, where legislators tussled and…

The presidents of Russia and Ukraine have accused each other of betraying the Soviet victory over the Nazis as their countries celebrated the end of the Second World War. In a speech at this year’s grandiose Victory Day military parade on Red Square on Thursday, Vladimir Putin said the “lessons of the past war are…

Xi Jinping, China’s president, is demanding the police demonstrate “political loyalty” to the ruling Communist Party as sensitive anniversaries approach and trade tensions with the US rise. Police officers must closely adhere to Communist Party thinking, and ensure that its “lines, principles, policies and major decisions and plans are implemented to the letter,” said Mr Xi,…

A fake German heiress who swindled rich friends, hotels, banks, and a private jet operator has been jailed for between four and 12 years. Anna Sorokin, 28, had been found guilty of charges including grand larceny in New York last month. The glamorous grifter was born in Russia. the daughter of a truck driver, before…

European powers rejected Iran’s “ultimatum” on the nuclear deal yesterday, urging the regime to stick to the terms of the 2015 agreement despite America’s withdrawal.  The European Union along with Britain, France and Germany – all signatories to the deal – released a statement pushing back on Iran’s warning it could start enriching uranium again…

Cyril Ramaphosa, South Africa’s reformist president, has consolidated his tenuous hold on power after his ruling African National Congress avoided electoral disaster on Thursday. Although the ANC was set to record its worst performance in a national election since the end of white rule in 1994, the decline was less steep than some had predicted, leaving Mr…

Click: A regional militia allied with Nigerian government forces released on Friday almost 900 children it had used in the war against Islamist Boko Haram insurgents, the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) said. The move brought the total number of children released to more than 1,700, a UNICEF statement said. Non-state armed groups embroiled in the decade-long…