DUSHANBE, Tajikistan, (APP/AFP) – Tajikistan’s President Emomali Rakhmon on Saturday signed a law to create a holiday honouring his autocratic rule in a move that fuels fears of a burgeoning personality cult in the Central Asian state. Amendments to the Law on Holidays were passed without opposition last month in a parliament packed with Rakhmon […]
International News
Tajikistan leader creates holiday in his own honour
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Hezbollah says Islamist extremists killed military chief in Syria
BEIRUT, (APP/AFP) – Lebanon’s Hezbollah on Saturday blamed extremists for killing the group’s top military commander in Syria in an artillery attack. The movement has deployed thousands of fighters in Syria where Mustafa Badreddine had led its intervention in support of President Bashar al-Assad. “An investigation has shown that the blast that targeted one of […]
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UN chief voices concern over violence against in Bangladesh
UNITED NATIONS, (APP): UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon is concerned about the targeted violence in Bangladesh against journalists, bloggers, and individuals and calls for steps to put an end to the killings and harassment, his spokesman has said. “We would like to see the (Bangladesh) Government create an atmosphere in which journalists can operate freely,” Spokesman […]
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Migrants rescued off Sicily are not Syrians, UN says
ROME, May (APP/AFP): There were hardly any Syrian migrants among the 800 people rescued off Sicily, contrary to earlier reports from Italy’s coastguard, the UN and the International Organization for Migration have confirmed. The coastguard had said Thursday that half of the 342 migrants they had picked up were Syrians, sparking concern that the flow […]
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Temer vows to get Brazil ‘back on rails’
BRASMLIA, (APP/AFP) – Brazil’s acting president Michel Temer vowed Friday to get Latin America’s largest economy back on track after a cascade of crises put an end to 13 years of leftist rule. Temer presided over the first meeting of his new business-friendly cabinet, setting out its priorities: creating a leaner government, balancing finances to […]
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Two Indian reporters shot dead in less than 24 hours
NEW DELHI, (APP/AFP) – Gunmen shot dead two journalists in 24 hours in separate incidents in eastern India, police and local reports said Saturday, the latest media killing in Asia’s deadliest country for reporters. Rajdeo Ranjan, the local bureau chief for Hindi-language daily Hindustan, was travelling on his motorcycle late Friday in Bihar state when […]