Double bomb blasts kill 20 in Syria
AFP, DAMASCUS: At least 20 people were killed on Monday in two car bomb attacks in the northeastern Syrian city of Hasakeh, state television reported. The broadcaster said they were killed in a blast in the Mahata neighbourhood of the city that followed a first blast in Khashman district. State news agency SANA gave different tolls for the blasts, which it said were suicide car bombs. The agency said five people were killed in Khashman and 12 in Mahata, and also reported that least 70 others had been wounded.

Yemen troops press campaign towards Sanaa
AFP, SAFER, Yemen: Saudi-backed loyalist forces in Yemen pressed an offensive against Shiite Huthi rebels on Monday, the second day of a major campaign aimed at retaking the capital a year after its fall. Fighters loyal to exiled President Abedrabbo Mansour Hadi launched their much anticipated attack against the Iranian-backed rebels and their allies in the key province of Marib. The escalation comes as the exiled government backed out of a proposed new round of UN-brokered peace talks, insisting that rebels should withdraw from captured territory.

Indonesia declares emergency in Riau province
AFP, JAKARTA: Indonesia Monday declared a state of emergency in a province choked with thick haze from forest fires, as fears mounted that worsening air quality could affect the upcoming Grand Prix in neighbouring Singapore. The emergency announcement in Riau province on Sumatra island came as aircraft were deployed to water-bomb the raging blazes and conduct “cloud-seeding”, which involves chemically inducing rain. Egyptian forces mistakenly kill Mexican tourists AFP, CAIRO: Egyptian security forces have mistakenly killed 12 people including Mexican tourists while chasing jihadists in the country’s vast Western Desert, drawing condemnation and calls for an investigation from Mexico.A joint police and military operation Sunday “chasing terrorist elements” had “mistakenly” targeted four pick-up trucks carrying Mexican tourists, the interior ministry said in a statement.

95,000 Russian troops in massive military drill
AFP, MOSCOW: Russia on Monday launched its largest military exercises of the year, Centre-2015, involving some 95,000 soldiers including ground troops, navy and airforce units.
The long-announced war games are “the most large-scale drill of 2015,” the defence ministry said.
Russia has recently intensified snap checks of its military might, testing its capabilities from the Arctic to the Far
East as relations with the West have plunged to a post-Cold War low over the Ukraine crisis. Centre-2015 takes place at 20 sites across Russia’s central military district, which reaches from the Volga River to the Ural mountains and Siberia in the east, while also including far northern Russia.
Troops from member states of the Russia-led Collective Security Treaty Organisation (CSTO), made up of several ex-Soviet countries, are also involved in the exercise.