International News

Militants threatened to slit our throats: Indonesian hostage

  • JAKARTA, (APP/AFP): An Indonesian sailor told Monday how Philippine Islamic militants threatened to slit his throat during a terrifying kidnap ordeal, a day after he and nine other crew members were released. The sailors were freed Sunday in the strife-torn southern Philippines after more than a month in the hands of Abu Sayyaf militants, and […]

  • Iran and South Korea set to triple trade to $18 bn

    TEHRAN, (APP/AFP): Iran and South Korea have decided to triple their annual trade volume to $18 billion, President Hassan Rouhani announced on Monday after meeting his South Korean counterpart Park Geun-Hye. “The two sides decided to increase by three times the current trade volume of around $6 billion (5.2 billion euros) to $18 billion,” Rouhani […]

  • Solar-powered plane to soar again on round-the-world flight

    SAN FRANCISCO, (APP/AFP): Solar Impulse 2, an experimental aircraft flying around the world to draw attention to clean energy technologies, is to take flight again on Monday, organizers said. Pilot Andre Borschberg will take off at 12:00 GMT (5:00AM PT) taking advantage of a “clear weather window” for him to fly from the Mojave Desert […]

  • Crisis-hit Venezuela sets clocks ahead to save power

    CARACAS, (APP/AFP): With their country gripped by an economic crisis, Venezuelans lost half an hour of sleep Sunday as their clocks were set forward to save power on President Nicolas Maduro’s orders. At 2:30 am local time, the oil-dependent South American nation shifted its time ahead by 30 minutes — to four hours behind Greenwich […]

  • Colombia deports top Peruvian crime lord

    BOGOTA, (APP/AFP): Colombia deported top Peruvian crime lord Gerson Galvez on Sunday, a day after arresting the man described as the new version of Mexico’s Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman. Galvez, also known as Caracol (Snail), was arrested in a restaurant in the western city of Medellin, Colombia’s defense ministry said late Saturday. He was then […]

  • Bodies of climbers emerge from Himalayan glacier after 16 years

    KATHMANDU, (APP/AFP) – The bodies of top mountaineer Alex Lowe and his cameraman have been found in a Himalayan glacier, 16 years after they were buried by an avalanche on one of the world’s highest mountains. Two climbers last week came across the men’s remains “still encased in blue ice but beginning to emerge from […]