International

Tokyo, Aug 27 : Japanese government officials said Monday that they were trying to ensure the safety of a Japanese tourist whom North Korea said it had expelled after detaining him on unspecified charges. The official Korean Central News Agency said late Sunday that Japanese tourist Tomoyuki Sugimoto had been “kept under control” for questioning about “his crime,” without specifying ...

A Myanmar judge delayed the verdict that had been expected Monday against two Reuters journalists accused of possessing official documents illegally in a case that has drawn attention to the faltering state of press freedom in the troubled Southeast Asian nation.   The verdict was postponed to Sept. 3. The judge who announced the delay did not give a reason.  ...

The presidents of Iran, Russia, and Turkey will meet on September 7 in Iran for their third tripartite summit on seeking to end the conflict in Syria, Turkish state television said Monday.   President Recep Tayyip Erdogan will travel to Iran to meet with his Russian and Iranian counterparts Vladimir Putin and Hassan Rouhani, state-run TRT Haber television said. Private ...

Bangkok, Aug 27 : Thai authorities this week are expected to step up their investigation of a financial scam involving the alleged theft of about $25 million worth of bitcoins from a Finnish investor who police say was bilked with promises of high returns from investments in a casino in Macau and in another cryptocurrency. The case, which surfaced with ...

A U.S. strike over the weekend killed a senior Islamic State commander in eastern Afghanistan, Afghan and U.S. officials said Monday.   The strike in Nangarhar province killed Abu Sayeed Orakzai, a senior leader in the extremist group, according to Shah Hussain Martazawi, deputy spokesman for the Afghan presidency. He said the operation showed the government’s “determination to fight terrorism.”  ...

Jacksonville, Aug 27 : Florida authorities are reporting multiple people dead and “many transported” to hospitals after a mass shooting at a riverfront mall in Jacksonville that was hosting a video game tournament. The Jacksonville Sherriff’s Office is reporting that one suspect is dead at the scene after the shooting at Jacksonville Landing, but it was unknown if there were ...

Chicago, Aug 26 : Eight people, including six children, were killed when a fire broke out before dawn Sunday at a Chicago apartment in one of the deadliest fires in the nation’s third-largest city in years, officials say. Two other people were hospitalized in very critical condition, Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt said. Fire Commissioner Jose Santiago told reporters ...

The death toll from devastating floods in the southern Indian state of Kerala rose to 445 Sunday with the discovery of 28 more bodies as the waters recede and a massive clean up gathers pace, government officials said. Around a million people are still packed into temporary relief camps and 15 are reported missing even as the government mounts an ...

Three earthquakes, included one at magnitude 6, have struck western Iran, with state media reporting at least two people killed and 241 injured. The U.S. Geological Survey says two other earthquakes, measuring 4.4 and 4.2 magnitude, struck early Sunday near the city of Javanrud in Iran’s Kermanshah province.   State TV reported the toll, citing Reza Mahmoudian, a governorate official. ...

 Pope Francis will visit an Irish shrine and hold a giant mass in Dublin on Sunday as he wraps up a visit overshadowed by abuse scandals and cover-ups in the Catholic Church. Francis is due to speak in front of some 500,000 faithful in Phoenix Park, as abuse victims and their supporters gather in a “Stand for Truth” rally in ...