WORLD

Bamako, Mali | AFP | Malian and Burkinabe soldiers have killed, tortured and disappeared civilians while trying to root out jihadists in central Mali, Human Rights Watch said Friday. “Mali and Burkina Faso military operations to counter the growing presence of Islamist armed groups in central Mali have resulted in …

Berlin, Germany | AFP | Germany dismissed on Friday Poland’s threat to demand new talks over World War II reparations from Berlin, saying the issue had already been settled in 1953. “Poland made a binding decision in August 1953… to relinquish demands for further war reparations,” government spokesman Steffen Seibert said, …

Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh | AFP | Some 270,000 refugees have fled Myanmar’s violence-wracked Rakhine state and entered Bangladesh in the last fortnight, most from the Muslim Rohingya minority, the United Nations said Friday. “An estimated 270,000 refugees arrived in Bangladesh in the last two weeks,” said Vivian Tan, a spokeswoman for …

Islamabad, Pakistan | AFP | Pakistani Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Friday inaugurated the country’s fifth nuclear power plant, developed in collaboration with China amid hopes that his government could end chronic power shortages this year. Pakistan is one of the few developing countries pursuing atomic energy in the wake …

Warsaw, Poland | AFP | Poland’s rightwing premier Thursday said she believed her country had the right to demand World War II reparations from Germany but added that her government was still mulling its official position. “The position of the Polish government on war reparations will be officially expressed when a …

Paris, France | AFP | Hurricane Irma, rampaging across the Caribbean towards the Bahamas and south Florida, is smashing not only homes and hotels but weather records as well. The Category Five super-storm has generated winds averaging 295 kilometres per hour (183 miles per hour) for more than 33 hours, longer …

Washington, United States | AFP | The US Senate passed a $15.25 billion relief package Thursday for victims of Hurricane Harvey, in an effort to fully fund federal emergency operations as another potentially catastrophic storm bears down on Florida. The package passed 80 to 17 one day after President Donald Trump …

Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Israel’s defence minister on Thursday issued a veiled warning to Syria, without confirming or denying what Damascus said was an Israeli air strike on its territory. Syria’s army accused Israel of hitting one of its positions, killing two people in an attack earlier the same day …

  Beijing, China | AFP |  China’s air force conducted military drills in seas adjacent to the Korean peninsula, an official report has said, as tensions soared over North Korea’s pursuit of nuclear weaponry. The defence battalion simulated warding off a “low-altitude, surprise” attack off China’s east coast, and practised …

Beijing, China | AFP | China’s President Xi Jinping told Donald Trump Wednesday that Beijing remains committed to denuclearising North Korea as the US president warned again that any Pyongyang threat would trigger an “overwhelming” response. In a phone call with Trump, Xi also said China remains firm in its …