News in Brief -(26-2-2019)

Okinawans reject US military base relocation plan
TOKYO, Feb 25: The majority of voters in Japan's Okinawa in a referendum on Sunday rejected the central government's plans to relocate a controversial US airbase within Japan's southernmost prefecture, local media reported on Monday after final tallies were counted. Meanwhile, Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said on Monday that the controversial relocation of a US military base in Okinawa will not be delayed despite a referendum that saw voters reject the move. — Agencies
Kashmir clashes leave five dead
SRINAGAR, Feb 25: Three rebels, a counterinsurgency police officer and an army soldier were killed on Sunday during a gunbattle in Kashmir, officials said, as shops and businesses shut down to protest a sweeping and ongoing crackdown against activists seeking the end of Indian rule in the disputed region. The fighting triggered large anti-India protests and clashes as hundreds of residents thronged the village of Turigam in the southern Kulgam area and barraged troops with stones. oops were deployed for India's general election, due in the next few months. — AP
Dozens die in Nigeria poll violence
ABUJA, Feb 25: As many as 39 people have been killed in election violence in Nigeria, civil society groups said on Sunday, as the country awaited the results of voting in what was forecast to be its tightest election since the end of military rule in 1999. The Situation Room - which represents more than 70 civil society groups - gave the death toll the day after voting, citing data from Lagos-based consultancy SBM Intelligence. — Reuters
Pakistan building collapse kills two
KARACHI, Feb 25: A Pakistani rescue official says at least two bodies have been recovered from a three-story building that collapsed in an eastern suburb of the southern port city of Karachi. Mohammad Shaukat says the small residential building collapsed as construction work was underway next to it in the city's Malir neighborhood on Monday morning. — AP
Iraq receives 280 IS jihadists from Syria
BAGHDAD, Feb 25: A US-backed force pushing to take the Islamic State group's last speck of territory in eastern Syria on Sunday extradited 280 Iraqi jihadists, Iraq authorities said. The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) have detained "a large number" of IS fighters "of multiple nationalities, including more than 500 Iraqis", the security media office said in a statement. "So far 280 (Iraqis) have been delivered," it added. — AFP
Moon's approval rating rises ahead of summit
SEOUL, Feb 25: South Korean President Moon Jae-in's approval rating rose last week ahead of the planned second summit between the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) and the United States, which was forecast to intensify a peace mood on the Korean Peninsula, a weekly survey showed on Monday. — Xinhua