AFP, KUALA LUMPUR: At least 14 migrants drowned Thursday after an overcrowded boat carrying up to 100 people sank off the coast of Malaysia. Rescuers were searching for dozens of Indonesians still missing hours after their small wooden vessel disappeared beneath the waves. “Local fishermen have…

AFP, GENEVA: UN investigators yesterday denounced the international community’s failure to protect refugees fleeing Syria, saying the neglect of…

AFP, SRINAGAR, India: Four suspected rebels and a soldier were killed early Thursday in Indian Kashmir in a gun battle near the de facto border with Pakistan, the second incident in 24 hours, a police officer said. Police sealed off a forested area in northern Handwara overnight on suspicion militants…

AFP, SANAA: Twin bombings claimed by the Islamic State group against a Shiite mosque in the Yemeni capital killed at least 32 people, medical sources said in an updated toll Thursday. A further 92 people were wounded in Wednesday’s bombings, the latest in a string of attacks carried out by the…

AFP, BAMAKO: Nineteen people died when a big canoe capsized in central Mali, local authorities said yesterday, in the second major river accident in the poor west African nation in four months. The vessel overturned Wednesday on a stretch of the Niger river passing through the town of Bangou, around…

AFP, MADRID: The Spanish Senate on Tuesday approved the establishment of a permanent force of 2,200 US Marines based in southern Spain, who can be swiftly deployed to crises in Africa. The US already has a rapid reaction force of about 800 troops at Moron de la Frontera, near Seville, who were deployed…

AFP, KATHMANDU: The United Nations called yesterday for dialogue and an end to violence in Nepal following clashes between security forces and protesters opposed to a proposed new constitution that have left 19 people dead. Anger has been building for weeks in southern Nepal after lawmakers struck a…

AFP, COLOMBO: A Tamil lawmaker is to lead the opposition in Sri Lanka’s parliament for the first time in 32 years, the speaker of the House said yesterday. Rajavarothiam Sampanthan is the first lawmaker form the ethnic minority to lead the opposition since 1983, when Tamil legislators resigned…

AFP, NANTERRE, France: French judges investigating claims that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat was murdered have closed the case without bringing any charges, a prosecutor said on Wednesday. “At the end of the investigation... it has not been demonstrated that Mr Yasser Arafat was murdered by…