Arab gunmen shut down Mali’s Timbuktu days before vote
Armed protesters from Mali’s Arab community fired shots into the air, burned tyres and torched vehicles in Timbuktu on Wednesday, bringing the desert city to a standstill days before an election seen as a test of stability across the country, officials…
Rescuers arrive for 3,000 stranded after Laos dam collapse: media
Rescue teams from China and Thailand headed on Wednesday into a remote part of landlocked Laos, where more than 3,000 people were stranded after a dam collapse sent a deluge of water across a swathe of villages, domestic media said.
U.S. oil threats against Iran can be easily answered: Revolutionary Guards
United States threats to throttle Iran’s international oil trade can be easily answered, the head of the elite Revolutionary Guards said on Wednesday, according to the Tasnim news agency.
Myanmar claws through rubble for 27 buried in jade mine landslide
Authorities in Myanmar used excavators on Wednesday to hunt for 27 people buried for two days in a landslide, officials said, the latest disaster to hit a northern center of the Southeast Asian nation’s lucrative jade trade.
Japan’s heat wave drives up food prices, prison inmate dies
Vegetable prices in Japan are spiking as much as 65 percent in the grip of a grueling heat wave, which drove temperatures on Wednesday to records in some areas hit by flooding and landslides, hampering clean-up and recovery efforts.
Turkish interior ministry reinstates 155,350 passports
Turkey’s interior ministry revoked the cancellation of 155,350 passports following the end of two-year-old state of emergency, the ministry said on Wednesday.
Houthi attack damages Saudi ship off Yemen coast
Yemen’s Houthi movement attacked a Saudi oil tanker in the Red Sea, causing slight damage, the Western-backed Arab coalition said on Wednesday, after the Houthis reported targeting a Saudi warship in the area.
Suicide bomber kills 29 as Pakistan votes in knife-edge election
A suicide bomber killed at least 29 people near a polling center as Pakistanis voted on Wednesday in a knife-edge general election pitting cricket hero Imran Khan against the party of jailed ex-Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
U.S. pastor on trial in Turkey transferred to house arrest: CNN Turk
An American pastor who has been detained in Turkey for nearly two years on terrorism charges, straining ties between Ankara and Washington, has been transferred from jail to house arrest, broadcaster CNN Turk said on Wednesday.
Greek inferno kills at least 80, many missing
The death toll from a fire which ripped through a Greek coastal town stood at 80 on Wednesday, with dozens of people unaccounted for as forensic experts tried to identify victims who were burned alive.
