BEIRUT, (APP/AFP) – A Lebanese military court sentenced former information minister Michel Samaha to 13 years in prison with hard labour on Friday for attempting to carry out “terrorist acts”, a judicial source told AFP. Samaha was convicted of transporting explosives to carry out attacks and assassinations of political and religious figures in Lebanon with […]
International News
Lebanon ex-minister jailed for 13 years on ‘terror’ charges
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Kerry arrives in Iraq on unannounced visit: AFP
BAGHDAD, (APP/AFP) – US Secretary of State John Kerry made an unannounced visit to Baghdad on Friday for talks with top Iraqi officials on the war against the Islamic State jihadist group. Kerry will meet Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi, Foreign Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari, and Nechirvan Barzani, the prime minister of Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, State […]
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Singapore MP sorry for ‘time-bombs’ comment on South Asian workers
SINGAPORE, (APP/AFP) – A Singaporean MP who said crowds of South Asian workers were “walking time-bombs” who needed to be fenced off from residential areas in the city-state’s Indian quarter apologised Friday for her remarks. Denise Phua sparked a public outcry online after a speech in parliament on Wednesday, prompting her to say sorry on […]
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Germany asylum requests drop 66 percent to 20,000 in March: minister
BERLIN, (APP/AFP) – The number of new asylum applications in Germany, Europe’s top destination for refugees last year, dropped 66 percent in March to about 20,000, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said Friday. “In December 2015, it was 120,000 people, in January 90,000, in February 60,000 and in March 20,000,” he said, weeks after a […]
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Greece expels second migrant batch under EU-Turkey deal: AFP
LESBOS, Greece, (APP/AFP) – Greece on Friday expelled a second batch of migrants to Turkey under a controversial EU deal criticised by rights groups, an AFP stringer witnessed. The 45 migrants, who a police source said were all Pakistani nationals, departed from the island of Lesbos on the Turkish ferry Lesvos. Three activists were arrested […]
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Peru mulls dark past as Fujimori daughter leads vote polls
LIMA, (APP/AFP) – Peruvians vote Sunday on whether Keiko Fujimori, daughter of a former president jailed for massacres, should become their first female head of state in a divisive national election. Alberto Fujimori’s dark decade in power from 1990-2000 lives in the memory of many Peruvians, but that has not stopped Keiko from rising to […]