AFP, ADEN: Rebel fire on a residential district of Yemen's second city Aden killed at least 31 civilians yesterday as loyalist forces in central city Taez launched a manhunt for 1,200 escaped prisoners. Both cities have seen heavy fighting as loyalists of exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi…

AFP, GENEVA: The UN urged countries yesterday to create preparedness systems to counter the health risks of heatwaves, as they become ever more frequent and intense, and dangerous, due to climate change. For the first time, the UN's World Health Organization (WHO) and its World Meteorological Organization…

 AFP, VIENNA: Make-or-break nuclear negotiations ramped up a gear yesterday with the head of the UN nuclear watchdog set to fly to Iran for talks after the deadline to reach a deal was extended. EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini was also due to return to Vienna on Thursday along with French…

AFP, HAVANA: US President Barack Obama has proposed that the United States and Cuba reopen embassies in their respective capitals as of July 20, in a letter delivered yesterday to President Raul Castro, authorities in Havana said. Reopening of the embassies, which Obama was expected to announce at roughly…

AFP, PARIS: France said yesterday it wanted to "quickly" bring home two soldiers suspended over allegations they sexually abused children, including a five-year-old girl, in the west African country of Burkina Faso. "We have contacted the Burkina judicial authorities so that the repatriation…

AFP, MEDAN: The death toll from the crash of an Indonesian air force plane packed with military personnel and their families rose to 142 yesterday, as witnesses described people fleeing the disaster zone covered in blood with their clothes alight. The Hercules C-130 transport plane crashed into a residential…

7 Koreans die in China bus crash AFP, BEIJING: At least seven South Koreans were killed yesterday in a bus crash in northeastern China, state media said, while a government official in Seoul put the toll at 10. The bus, carrying 26 South Koreans, swerved off a bridge in the northeastern Chinese city…