Fears mount of Myanmar atrocities as fleeing Rohingya families drown
Up to 400 people have been killed after an army and vigilante counteroffensive against Muslim insurgents in the troubled Rakhine state
Up to 400 people have been killed after an army and vigilante counteroffensive against Muslim insurgents in the troubled Rakhine state
Two dozen corpses believed to be the bodies of Rohingya women and children have washed up on a Bangladesh riverbank as fears grow of atrocities committed by Myanmar forces against the Muslim minority across the border.
In the deadliest violence in decades, nearly 400 people have been killed in a week of fighting in Myanmar’s north-west Rakhine state after Rohingya insurgents attacked security forces and the military responded with a huge counter-offensive.
Close to 38,000 Rohingya have fled their villages and attempted to cross into Bangladesh, according to United Nations estimates. World powers have warned Aung San Suu Kyi’s government to avoid killing innocent civilians.
Hajj 2017: US Muslims fear Donald Trump's travel ban will prevent them returning after Mecca pilgrimage
Approximately 16,000 American Muslims visiting Saudi Arabia for annual rite
Some 16,000 Muslims from the United States are in Saudi Arabiathis week to perform the Hajj pilgrimage, one of Islam's most sacred experiences. If the Hajj is performed with sincere intentions, Muslims believe it can wipe away past sins, purify the soul and alleviate worldly stresses.
This year, however, Muslims say they have never been more anxious travelling abroad than now, under the Trump administration's rules, which unleashed protests across the country and confusion at airports earlier this year.
Those performing the Hajj say that while it's never been exactly stress-free to fly as a Muslim in America, the new climate under President Donald Trump has heightened anxieties about travelling to Saudi Arabia, where the Hajj is performed. The Hajj, which runs for five days and ends Monday, draws some two million people from around the world each year. All Muslims with the means to do so are required to make the pilgrimage at least once.
FARC rebels reinvent themselves as political party, but keep acronym
Former leftist rebels in Colombia have chosen a familiar-sounding, if polarizing, acronym for their fledgling political movement - FARC.
At a meeting Thursday 900 members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia voted overwhelmingly to change the group's name to the Alternative Communal Revolutionary Forces, scrubbing any reference to its armed past. Since both names in Spanish carry the acronym FARC, its common use name will remain unchanged.
The decision came as part of a weeklong congress in which the rebels are mapping out their future political strategy after having laid down their weapons as part of a historic peace deal.
While ex-combatants are proud of their insurgent past it remains to be seen if regular Colombians are ready to vote for a party with a name they've grown to associate with violence during the nation's half-century conflict.
A nearly 3-mile-wide asteroid will make a (relatively) close call with Earth on Friday
Updated 0747 GMT (1547 HKT) September 1, 2017
A huge asteroid is hurtling toward Earth, but don't worry, this isn't "Armageddon."
The asteroid, named Florence, is an almost three-mile wide rock that will pass safely within about 4.4 million miles of Earth (7 million kilometers) at 8:05 a.m. ET on Friday, NASA says.
And while a few million miles sounds like a lot of room, it's actually a pretty close pass when you're talking about the vastness of space. Other asteroids have passed closer to Earth than Florence, but few have been this big.
The aircraft Kim Jong-un fears most. Or ought to.
America’s newest fighter-bomber, the F-35, is coming to Asia in increasing numbers just as military tensions between North Korea and the US escalate
SEPTEMBER 1, 2017
America’s newest fighter-bomber, the F-35, is coming to Asia in increasing numbers just as tensions between North Korea and the United States have escalated. This should worry Kim Jong-un.
“We’ve passed more than 100,000 flying hours (many with test pilots, to be sure), and they are ready to go into combat,” Heather Wilson, the US Secretary of the air force, said in an end of August briefing.
Already one squadron is now stationed in Japan. Dozens more are coming to US and allied bases in Japan and South Korea.
The first squadron of 16 planes arrived at Japan’s Iwakuni Marine Corp Station in January. They took part in the Foal Eagle military exercise in South Korea that just ended, where they made bombing runs on simulated North Korean missile bases.
Brexit: UK 'must not allow itself to be blackmailed'
The UK must not allow itself to be "blackmailed" by the EU over its Brexit settlement bill, International Trade Secretary Liam Fox has said.
Talks on the final settlement should begin as soon as possible "because that's good for business", Mr Fox said.
Businesses around the world have become impatient with the slow progress of the negotiations, Mr Fox added.
EU negotiator Michel Barnier said there had been little progress on key issues, and trade talks were "quite far" away.
Talks between the UK and EU have been frustrated by the failure to agree the UK's so-called divorce bill.
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