Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina has secured her third consecutive term with a landslide victory, Bangladesh’s Election Commission said on Monday. Her ruling party and its allies have won 288 of the 300 parliamentary seats contested, surpassing its previous election wins. The opposition has condemned the vote as “farcical,” marred by violence, intimidation and vote rigging claims. They won just seven …
A rescue helicopter has crashed near the world’s longest zipline in the UAE, killing its crew. The Agusta 139 helicopter was on a rescue mission at Jebel Jais, a mountain in the Ras al-Khaimah emirate, when it came down on Saturday. The country’s National Search and Rescue Centre said four people had died. Video footage has emerged showing the helicopter …
Bahrain’s top court has rejected a final appeal by a prominent activist who was imprisoned for criticising Saudi Arabia’s air strikes in Yemen and accusing Bahrain’s prison authorities of torture. The verdict on Monday upheld a five-year prison sentence handed to Nabeel Rajab in February, according to a lawyer and a judicial source. “The Court of Cassation rejected the appeal …
President Donald Trump has ordered a slowdown to the withdrawal of United States troops from Syria, Republican Senator Lindsey Graham has said. “I think we’re in a pause situation,” the South Carolina Republican said outside the White House on Sunday. On December 19, Trump announced the withdrawal of all the roughly 2,000 troops from war-torn Syria, with aides expecting it …
Russia’s domestic security service (FSB) has said it had detained an American citizen suspected of spying in Moscow. The FSB, which said the American had been detained on December 28, said in a statement on Monday that a criminal case had been opened against him. The statement identified the American in Russian, using a name that appeared to translate as …
A United Arab Emirates (UAE) appeals court has upheld a 10-year prison sentence against prominent pro-democracy activist Ahmed Mansoor for criticising the government on social media, Amnesty International reported. Mansoor, an electrical engineer and poet, was arrested in March 2017 and sentenced in May by Abu Dhabi’s Federal Appeals Court for “defaming the UAE through social media channels”. Mansoor was …
US Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren has announced that she is establishing an exploratory committee to consider a presidential run in 2020. The move, the first by a high profile Democrat for 2020, allows Ms Warren, 69, to ramp up her fundraising. In October, Ms Warren revealed the results of a DNA test she said proved her Native American heritage …
US President Donald Trump has now said the abrupt withdrawal of US troops from Syria he announced earlier this month will be carried out “slowly”. “We’re slowly sending our troops back home to be with their families, while at the same time-fighting Isis [Islamic State] remnants,” he tweeted on Monday. His clarification confirmed remarks by Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. When …
Rescuers are searching for survivors in the central Russian city of Magnitogorsk, where an explosion devastated a block of flats, killing at least four people. Officials in the city, in the Urals region, say a gas leak caused the blast. About 40 people are missing. President Vladimir Putin has arrived in the city to assess the situation. The building was …
The internet has been shut down in key cities in the Democratic Republic of Congo a day after the much-delayed presidential election. Opposition candidate Martin Fayulu’s campaign team accused the government of ordering the shut down to avoid broadcasting his “overwhelming victory” in Sunday’s poll. Telecoms minister Emery Okundji said he was unaware of the situation. Observers have complained of …
