AFP, GENEVA: The number of migrants and refugees who have perished while trying to cross the Mediterranean this year has passed 5,000, the UN said Friday after two more deadly shipwrecks. The latest incidents happened Thursday when an estimated 100 people drowned in the Mediterra­nean Sea after…

AFP, BEIRUT: Turks reacted angrily Friday on social media to a video released by the Islamic State group purportedly showing two captured Turkish soldiers being burned alive, while awaiting an official reaction from the government.The 19-minute video, showing two uniformed men being hauled from a cage…

AFP, TOKYO: The biggest crowds of his nearly three-decade reign thronged Japan’s Imperial Palace on Friday to celebrate Emperor Akihito’s 83rd birthday on what could be his last such appearance after expressing his desire to abdicate.It was his first birthday since he announced in August…

AFP, NEW DELHI: Many precious stones have a blood-soaked history, but a new book reveals the world’s most famous diamond the Koh-i-Noor surpasses…

AFP, DUBAI: The Saudi-led coalition battling rebels in Yemen used banned cluster bombs in attacks near two schools this month, Human Rights Watch said Friday. The watchdog said that the alliance fired Brazilian-made rockets containing the outlawed munitions on December 6, near two schools in the Huthi…

AFP, WASHINGTON: The Iraqi air force dropped four million letters over Mosul on Thursday, the US-led coalition said, in a move aimed at providing “empathy and support” for residents of the Islamic State-held city. The air drop comes after the international Institute for War and Peace Reporting…