UNGA vote on Jerusalem today
The UN General Assembly will hold an emergency session Thursday to vote on a draft resolution rejecting President Donald Trump's decision to recognise Jerusalem as Israel's capital after the United States vetoed the measure at the Security Council, report agencies. In a reaction to the move, Nikki Haley, the US...
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India, China to hold talks on border disputes tomorrow
NEW DELHI, Dec 20 (AFP): India announced Wednesday it would host China for another round of talks on long-running border disputes, the first since they defused one of their worst deadlocks in decades. The foreign ministry said China's special representative on borders would meet his counterpart in New Delhi on...
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Blinded in one eye, Syrian baby becomes symbol of siege
KAFR BATNA, Syria, Dec 20 (AFP): The heartrending photograph of a Syrian baby who lost his eye in an air strike has set off a viral social media campaign, with users sharing pictures of themselves covering one eye.The shot depicts 40-day-old Karim Abdallah, wrapped in a puffy red jacket, with...
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Campaigns go silent ahead of Catalan vote
BARCELONA, Dec 20 (AFP): Catalonia heads into a 24-hour campaigning blackout Wednesday on the eve of a knife-edge vote, a potential turning point in the Spanish region's hotly disputed independence crisis. Thursday's regional election pits leaders of the wealthy northeastern region's separatist movement against candidates who want to stay part...
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Manila removes navy chief over frigate deal
MANILA, Dec 20 (AFP): The commander of the Philippine Navy was sacked for "insubordination" after he jeopardised a 15.5 billion-peso ($308 million) project for two new warships, the defence minister said Wednesday. Vice Admiral Ronald Joseph Mercado was abruptly removed from office on Tuesday with military officials saying only the...
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Air strikes kill 19 civilians in Syria
MAARSHURIN, Syria, Dec 20 (AFP): Overnight air strikes killed 19 civilians, seven of them children, in a residential district of a town in northwestern Syria, a monitor said on Wednesday."Suspected Russian air strikes targeted several houses in Maarshurin," a rebel-held town in Idlib province, said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of...
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US Cardinal Bernard Law passes away
VATICAN CITY, Dec 20 (AFP): US Cardinal Bernard Law, a once-senior church figure forced to resign after revelations he failed to stop paedophile priests in one of the biggest crises in American Catholicism, has died, the Vatican said Wednesday."Cardinal Bernard Law died early this morning after a long illness," the...
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News in Brief -(21-12-2017)
Turkey bans New Year celebrations at Taksim SquareISTANBUL, Dec 20: Turkish authorities will not allow New Year celebrations at Istanbul's iconic Taksim Square for security reasons, state media reported Wednesday, quoting local officials. Ismail Kilic, local police chief of Istanbul's Beyoglu district, said security measures had been doubled this year...
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