India: Negligence case over deadly Mumbai bridge collapse

Rescue work at the bridge in Mumbai when it collapsed Thursday evening. Photo courtesy of PTI. MUMBAI (India), March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Indian police said Friday they had filed a negligence case against Mumbai’s civic and railway authorities after a footbridge collapsed killing six people and injuring dozens more. The…

Indonesia police says huge stash of explosives uncovered after suicide blast

SIBOLGA (Indonesia), March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Indonesian police said they had uncovered a huge stash of explosives linked to a terror suspect whose wife blew up herself and a child following a dramatic standoff at their home. The discovery of some 300kg of assembled explosives and bomb-making materials raised fears that a major…

Islamic State loses ground in final Syria enclave, hundreds surrender

BAGHOUZ (Syria), March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Daesh militants accompanied by relatives surrendered to the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) by the hundreds on Thursday as the jihadists lost ground to a U.S.-backed assault aimed seizing the last shred of Daesh territory, the SDF said. Many of the men were limping as…

Pakistan, India hold ‘positive’ talks on Sikh visits

ISLAMABAD, March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Pakistan and India held “very positive” talks Thursday, as the arch-rivals sat down to discuss a visa-free corridor for Sikh pilgrims just weeks after soaring tensions brought the two nuclear-armed powers to the brink of war. Officials from the two countries met in Attari, India,…

Saudi Arabia rejects call for international probe of Khashoggi murder

GENEVA, March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Saudi Arabia reiterated its rejection of calls for an international, independent investigation into the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi, insisting it was well equipped to bring the perpetrators to justice. The head of a Saudi delegation speaking before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva…

WHO says Ebola area contained but Congo needs long-term support

GENEVA, March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The Ebola outbreak in Democratic Republic of Congo is now concentrated in two areas and could be stopped by September, but the world must tackle Congo’s broader crisis to make it count, the head of the World Health Organization said. The outbreak, the second worst…

All American diplomats have left Venezuela: Sec of State Pompeo

WASHINGTON, March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — : The United States has withdrawn all remaining diplomatic personnel from its embassy in Caracas as the crisis in Venezuela deepens, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said. “Today, all US diplomats remaining in Venezuela departed the country. I know it is a difficult moment for…

Brazil city burying eight victims of school attack

SUZANO (Brazil), March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Stunned family members prepared to bury the eight victims of a school shooting in Brazil, along with the two attackers who carried out the violence, and grappled to understand why the bloodshed took place. A collective wake for six of the victims was held…

Death toll in Christchurch shootings rises to 49

CHRISTCHURCH, March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — The death toll has risen to 49 in the terror attacks that took place Friday afternoon in this quiet city of New Zealand. In what is said to be well coordinated terrorist attacks, several locations in the city including two mosques, were attacked by gunmen.…

Update2: Christchurch shooting: One of New Zealand’s ‘darkest days’, says PM Jacinda Ardern

CHRISTCHURCH, March 15 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A solemn New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the deadly mosque shootings in Christchurch had plunged the country into one of its “darkest days”. “Clearly, what has happened here is an extraordinary and unprecedented act of violence,” Ardern said in an address to a shocked nation. New…