WORLD

San Francisco, United States | AFP | Facebook chief Mark Zuckerberg fired back at US President Donald Trump on Wednesday after he accused the leading social network of being “always anti-Trump.” Zuckerberg rejected the notion, countering that Facebook is working to ensure “free and fair elections” with an online platform that …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP | Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday meets his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan for talks on Syria and a key weapons deal, hoping to strengthen an increasingly active relationship that has troubled the West. Despite a regional rivalry that goes back to the Ottoman Empire and …

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe officially dissolved parliament Thursday, effectively kicking off a national election campaign where he faces an unexpected and formidable challenge from the popular governor of Tokyo. Members of the lower house raised their arms and shouted “Banzai” three times — the Japanese …

Maungdaw, Myanmar | AFP | Rohingya militants on Wednesday denied the Myanmar army’s allegations that they had massacred scores of Hindu villagers, whose bodies soldiers displayed to the press after exhuming them from mass graves in northern Rakhine state. Major clashes between the army and the Muslim insurgents erupted last month, …

Washington, United States | AFP | The global threat posed by the Islamic State group has not been diminished by its battlefield defeats in Iraq and Syria, US counter terrorism chief Nick Rasmussen warned Wednesday. Rasmussen told the Senate Homeland Security Committee that he expects the Islamic State group, after losing …

Washington, United States | AFP | A majority of US voters believe Donald Trump is not fit to be president and only 36 percent approve of the job he is doing in the White House, according to a poll released Wednesday. Americans were deeply divided by party, gender and race on …

Port Klang, Malaysia | AFP | A Malaysian condom company is hoping to spice up sex lives with a contraceptive that tastes like the country’s ultimate comfort food — a chili-infused rice dish known as nasi lemak. Industry giant Karex, which claims to be the world’s biggest condom maker, already offers …

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | AFP | A Malaysian man has been reprimanded by Islamic authorities for “indecent dressing” after he was caught wearing shorts in public on the way to a football match, officials and reports said Wednesday. The case in Kelantan, a state ruled by an influential Islamist party, sparked …

Paris, France | AFP | People aged 50 and older comprise a growing percentage of HIV patients in Europe, accounting for one in six new cases in 2015, researchers said Wednesday. The older cohort was more likely to be diagnosed with advanced stages of HIV and AIDS compared to 15-49 year …

Washington, United States | AFP | US Senate Republicans abandoned their latest plan to dismantle Obamacare Tuesday when it became clear that President Donald Trump’s party did not have the votes, assuring the 2010 health reforms survive for the foreseeable future. Grim-faced lawmakers, who had hoped to hold the vote this …