AFP, MOSCOW: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Saturday ahead of a visit to Japan by President Vladimir Putin that the countries’ leaders are pushing to end a territorial row dating back to World War II. Relations between Moscow and Tokyo have been strained for decades over of the status…

AFP, SEOUL: Hundreds of thousands of protestors marched in Seoul for the sixth-straight week Saturday to demand the ouster and arrest of scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye ahead of an impeachment vote in parliament. Organisers claimed a turnout of more than one million for the candlelight rally in…

AFP, RIYADH: Saudi Arabia’s King Salman on Friday sacked the labour minister who headed efforts to help tens of thousands of unpaid foreign workers. Mufarrej al-Haqbani, named to the portfolio almost seven months ago, was replaced by Ali al-Ghifaidh, according to a royal order published by the…

AFP, SANTIAGO DE CUBA, Cuba: The convoy carrying the ashes of Cuba’s late communist leader Fidel Castro ends an island-wide journey on Saturday in the cradle of his revolution for a big ceremony before his burial. The flag-draped cedar urn left Havana on Wednesday, passing roads lined with people…

AFP, GHAZNI: Taliban militants publicly hanged a university student after accusing him of killing a senior intelligence officer, Afghan officials said Saturday. The militants took Faizul Rehman, a fourth-year student at Kabul Polytechnic university, from his car as he was travelling home to visit his…

AFP, BEIJING: At least 38 people were killed in two separate Chinese coal mine blasts this week, according to death tolls reported by state media Saturday. One blast occurred late Tuesday at a private mine in Qitaihe City, Heilongjiang province, trapping 22 workers, Xinhua news agency said. Twenty-one…

AP, Irbil: All along the street, houses have been reduced to rubble in the central Iraqi city of Kirkuk. The work of Kurdish security forces retaliating…