WORLD

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 …

Dublin, Ireland | AFP | Ireland announced it will hold a referendum next year on whether to repeal its constitutional ban on abortion in almost all cases — just a few weeks before Pope Francis visits. The government is also planning votes to remove Ireland’s anti-blasphemy law and to reduce the …

San Francisco, United States | AFP | Twitter is testing allowing tweets to be expanded to 280 characters — double the existing limit — in the latest effort to boost flagging growth at the social network. San Francisco-based Twitter said Tuesday that the new limit, a major shift for the messaging …