BEIJING: Chinese police have rescued over 1,100 women from Southeast Asia who were “sold” as wives last year, authorities said yesterday. Seventeen children were also saved in the joint operations with police from Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos, Vietnam and Thailand between July and December, the Ministry of Public Security said in
MAARET AL-NUMAN (Syria): Regime bombardment killed 20 civilians including eight children and three rescue workers in jihadist-run north-west Syria Thursday, as fighting killed dozens on the edges of the anti-government bastion. The Idlib region, home to some three million people, is supposed to be protected by a months-old international truce
BRUSSELS: The EU piled fresh pressure on Russia on Thursday, extending punishing economic sanctions and demanding Moscow cooperate with a Dutch probe into the downing of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17 that led to charges against four men. The bloc’s 28 leaders also served the Kremlin with a tough warning over
GUATEMALA CITY: Guatemala will audit election returns after fraud allegations in the wake of last Sunday’s presidential and legislative elections, the country’s Supreme Electoral Court (TSE) announced Thursday. TSE president Julio Solorzano told journalists in the Central American country that he had ordered an audit of certified returns from each
ANKARA: Voters in Istanbul will take part in a re-run of the mayoral election tomorrow after a vote in March was annulled over alleged irregularities. Local elections around Turkey on March 31 showed the ruling party of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan remained the most popular overall, but it suffered a shock
MADRID: Spain’s Supreme Court was set to examine a case yesterday so controversial it sparked mass protests after five men accused of gang-raping a woman were convicted of the lesser crime of sexual abuse. The country’s top court will look at the crux issue at the heart of the case:
HONG KONG: Gold prices broke $1,400 an ounce to hit a near-six-year high yesterday as the weaker dollar, economic concerns and geopolitical tensions saw investors pile into the safe-haven commodity. Demand surged after the Federal Reserve on Wednesday indicated it would likely cut interest rates soon — for the first
LONDON: Petr Cech (pic) will return to Chelsea in an advisory role after retiring from his duties as a goalkeeper last month, aged 37. Cech will perform an intermediary role between the club’s new manager and director Marina Granovskaia, which had been left vacant since Michael Emenalo quit as technical
LE HAVRE: The United States made it a perfect three wins out of three at the Women’s World Cup on Thursday by beating Sweden 2-0 to top Group F, while Ajara Nchout fired Cameroon into the last 16 with a last-gasp winner. The Americans will continue their bid to defend
PARIS: While Fifa rejoice at global television viewing figures for the women’s World Cup, there have been too many empty seats inside stadiums and on the field VAR is stealing headlines. The latest came in the wake of the retaken penalty for Argentina that knocked out Scotland on Wednesday. That