Abbas refuses to work with Washington on peace efforts
PARIS, Dec 22 (Agencies): Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday urged France and Europe to play a stronger role in peace efforts, insisting he'll no longer accept any U.S. plans for Mideast peace because of the Trump administration's recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital.Abbas met French President Emmanuel Macron in...
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UK ‘to retaliate’ against Russian cyber-attacks
MOSCOW, Dec 22 (BBC): Boris Johnson will warn Russia to stop cyber-attacks which threaten Britain's national security or face retaliation of a similar kind from the UK.He will say the UK has no malign intentions online but has the technical capability to fight cyber-espionage.Mr Johnson is the first UK foreign...
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Seoul bldg fire claims lives of 29 people
SEOUL, Dec 22 (AFP): Flammable materials on the outside of a South Korean building fuelled a major blaze that killed 29 people, experts said Friday, evoking comparisons with the Grenfell Tower disaster in London.The fire engulfed an eight-storey tower in the southern city of Jecheon, killing 29 people and injuring...
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Iranian director faces jail for film attacking graft
PARIS, Dec 22 (Agencies): It is not easy to lead a good and virtuous life in Iran if the film-maker Mohammad Rasoulof's latest film, "A Man of Integrity", is anything to go by.Its downtrodden hero struggles to make an honest rial from his goldfish farm, caught in a nightmarish, distorting...
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French woman, spouse not in touch with others in China after Liu tribute
BEIJING, Dec 22 (Agencies): A French citizen and her husband have been incommunicado for a week after the couple travelled to southern China to paint a tribute to the late democracy activist and dissident Liu Xiaobo, friends and witnesses said Friday. Marine Brossard and Hu Jiamin painted a mural at...
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Australia police nab eight over largest ever meth haul
SYDNEY, Dec 22 (BBC): Australian police have arrested eight men over the nation's largest ever seizure of the drug methamphetamine.The haul, estimated to have a street value of A$1bn (£600m; $800m), was uncovered when police raided a dock in Western Australia, authorities said.Police have charged the men, each of whom...
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Pakistan reaffirms commitment to N deterrence
ISLAMABAD, Dec 22 (Al Jazeera): Pakistan's military and civilian leadership has reaffirmed the country's commitment to maintaining "full spectrum" nuclear deterrence and reiterated the robustness of its nuclear safeguards.Pakistan's National Command Authority (NCA), which oversees the country's nuclear weapons programme, met for the first time in almost two years in...
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Peru president narrowly survives impeachment vote
LIMA, Dec 22 (AFP): Peruvian President Pedro Pablo Kuczynski narrowly survived an impeachment vote late Thursday by lawmakers accusing him of graft in relation to disgraced Brazilian construction firm Odebrecht."The demand for vacancy on grounds of permanent moral incapacity has not been approved," the speaker of the opposition-dominated chamber, Luis...
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Police recover bodies of seven family members in S India
NEW DELHI, Dec 22 (Xinhua): Seven members of a family were found dead Friday in the southern Indian state of Telangana, police said. The bodies were found inside a poultry farm in the morning at Rajapet near Bhongir in Yadadri-Bhuvanagir, about 61 km east of Hyderabad, the capital city of...
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News in Brief -(23-12-2017)
Delhi, Beijing hold talks on border disputeNEW DELHI, Dec 22: India and China are holding border talks with focus on ways to prevent a repeat of a recent face-off between their armed forces at a Himalayan plateau where China, India and Bhutan meet. The Indian side at Friday's talks is...
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