UNITED NATIONS – A human rights group says Sudanese army troops raped at least 221 women and girls in a Darfur village in a series of organized, house-to-house attacks late last year. The Human Rights Watch report released Wednesday calls the mass rape “a new low in the catalog of …
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Danish media say several shots have been fired at a cafe in Copenhagen where a meeting about freedom of speech was being held, organized by Swedish artist Lars Vilks, who has faced numerous threats for caricaturing the Prophet Muhammad in 2007. The TV2 channel said Saturday there were some 30 …
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BERLIN – Swiss prosecutors say they’ve opened a money-laundering investigation against a local subsidiary of HSBC following a report that the bank turned a blind eye to illegal activities of arms dealers and traders in blood diamond traders while helping rich people evade taxes. Geneva prosecutors said the premises of …
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KABUL, Afghanistan – An Afghan central bank official says that around 76 million afghanis (more than $ 1 million) have been stolen by the staff members of one of the bank’s branches. Fazel Ahmad Azimi, the central bank director for Afghanistan’s southern region, said on Saturday that at least three …
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CANBERRA, Australia – Australia on Wednesday imposed financial sanctions on the Egypt-based militant group Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis. Foreign Minister Julie Bishop said in a statement that the sanctions accorded with a United Nations Security Council resolution on preventing and suppressing terrorist acts. Breaching the sanctions carries a potential maximum 10 …
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NICOSIA, Cyprus – Cyprus’ parliament has legislated to criminalize the denial of the massacre of an estimated 1.5 million Armenians by Ottoman Turks a century ago. Parliamentary speaker Yiannakis Omirou says that through a unanimous vote, lawmakers can make denial of any historically proven massacre a crime. Omirou said after …
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ISTANBUL – The Turkish Coast Guard says it has recovered the bodies of eight migrants who drowned after a wooden migrant boat sunk in the Aegean off the Turkish coast of Datca late Monday. The Coast Guard boats rescued nine other people. A boat and a helicopter were still searching …
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JUBA, South Sudan – A South Sudanese presidential spokesman says four people have been killed by an apparent Sudanese air strike on South Sudan’s territory. Ateny Wek Ateny said Thursday that nine more people were wounded in what he called “an act of aggression” by Sudan. He said Sudan is …
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BRUSSELS – The humanitarian aid group Doctors Without Borders says it is launching a search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean next month amid faltering European Union efforts to cope with a migrant influx. The group will station doctors on a ship between Malta and the coast of Libya as …
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JERUSALEM – A Catholic Church official in Israel says a Christian cemetery has been desecrated, with graves damaged and crosses smashed. Wadie Abunassar said some 20 gravestones at the cemetery in Kufr Birim in northern Israel were found vandalized early Wednesday. He said some were shattered, with pieces of stone …
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