AP, Victoria: A fire that destroyed a South Texas mosque has been ruled arson, but there’s no evidence of a hate crime at this time, federal investigators said Wednesday. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives in Houston did not reveal the nature of the evidence that led to the…

AFP, WASHINGTON: The US Senate confirmed Jeff Sessions as attorney general Wednesday, despite fierce debate about his civil rights record and Democratic concern over whether he serves as the nation’s top law enforcement officer independent from President Donald Trump. Lawmakers greenlighted the…

AFP, WASHINGTON: The US military said Wednesday that it had killed eleven Al-Qaeda operatives, including a veteran leader and suicide bombing pioneer, in a bombing raid in Syria. The Pentagon said Abu Hani al-Masri, the Qaeda veteran, was one of those killed in the precision airstrikes near Idlib carried…

AFP, TEHRAN: Iran has commuted death sentences against six juvenile offenders following UN criticism it was executing people who had committed crimes as children at “an unprecedented rate”, a report said Thursday. Prosecutors asked the judiciary to reconsider 10 cases, the Shahrvand newspaper…

AFP, COLOMBO: The exiled former leader of the Maldives announced Thursday he would return to run for election as president of the troubled Indian Ocean nation, despite facing jail after a controversial conviction on terror-related charges.  Mohamed Nasheed said he had decided to challenge President…

AFP, UNITED NATIONS, United States: Talks on changes to Libya’s unity government could yield results in the coming weeks, putting the north African country on a path to stability, the UN envoy said Wednesday. The UN-backed government of Prime Minister Fayez al-Sarraj was installed in Tripoli last…

AFP, TOKYO: Japanese police have arrested six men for alleged involvement in child pornography that possibly involved the abuse of as many as 168 boys, media reported Thursday. The arrested were aged 20 to 66, the top-selling Yomiuri Shimbun and other media said, citing a police statement. The victims…