President Barack Obama has arrived in Cuba for a historic visit to the island, British Broadcasting Corporation reports. The visit will be the first by a sitting US president since Calvin Coolidge went 88 years ago.
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President Barack Obama flew out of the United States on Sunday bound for a historic three-day visit to the communist-ruled island of Cuba, said an AFP photographer traveling with him. Crowds gathered and snapped pictures as Obama departed Andrews Air Force Base, just outside the capital Washington, shortly after 1730 GMT for a flight time of a little less than three hours, reversing generations of US attempts to cut Cuba from the outside world. A light drizzle came down as the president and his family, including First Lady Michelle and…
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Tatang Sulaiman, Indonesia Armed Forces Spokesman, said a military helicopter crashed on Sunday in Central Sulawesi province, killing all 13 people on board. He said the helicopter was carrying personnel to reinforce a police operation against Islamist militants operating in the district of Poso. Sulaiman said military was suspecting that bad weather caused the crash. He said Poso was the scene of deadly Muslim-Christian violence in 1999-2000, and the area has since become a known hotbed of militant activity. Spokesman said last week police killed two suspected Islamist fighters from…
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A mortar attack on a checkpoint in Egypt’s restive Sinai Peninsula killed 13 policemen on Saturday, the interior ministry said in a statement, Agence France Presse reports. The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack, but said in a statement that it had deployed a suicide bomber who blew up a car at the checkpoint, which jihadists then raided.
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At least 19 pilgrims died, all of them Egyptian, and 22 were injured early on Saturday when their bus overturned in western Saudi Arabia, authorities in both countries said. The tourism ministry in Cairo said 19 Egyptian pilgrims and a child were killed and 15 were injured in the accident. “Nineteen people were killed when the bus carrying them turned over on the Hijra road” between the coastal city of Jeddah and the holy city of Medina, Saudi Red Crescent spokesman Khaled Ben Messaed al-Sihli said. “All the bus…
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Russia is mourning the death of 55 passengers and seven crew on board who were killed when a passenger jet crashed in the southern city of Rostov-on-Don. The Flydubai boeing 737-800, coming from Dubai, missed the runway as it attempted to land on Saturday morning. The BBC reported that the cause the crash is not clear, but poor visibility and high winds are being considered as a factor. Reports said that the plane abandoned its initial attempt to land and circled for two hours before crashing at the second attempt.…
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The United Nations (UN) has warned that Burundi is on the brink of a civil war amid continued human rights abuses in the small Central African state. Burundi has been embroiled in political violence since President Pierre Nkurunziza announced last April that he would seek a third term. At least 439 people had been killed and more than 250,000 had fled the country. The United Nations is under growing pressure to show it can halt the bloodshed in Burundi, more than two decades after the 1994 genocide in neighboring Rwanda.…
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At least four people were killed and 20 wounded in a suicide bombing on a major shopping and tourist district in central Istanbul on Saturday, Istanbul’s governor said Saturday. The attack was the fourth apparent suicide bombing to hit Turkey this year. The explosion hit Istiklal Street, a wide boulevard closed to traffic that is lined with international stores and shopping centres, just a few hundred metres from an area where police buses are usually parked, a Reuters witness said. Armed police sealed off the main shopping street where half…
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At least 22 Iraqi soldiers have been killed and seven more are missing after an attack by Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) fighters near the strategic city of Ramadi, military sources said. The attack took place overnight on the headquarters of the 3rd rapid deployment force and other military barracks in the villages of Qutainiyah and Zuwaiyah, near Zankurah town, the sources told Al Jazeera on Monday morning. At least 16 security personnel were injured in the attack. Iraqi forces declared victory over…
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Protesters in cities across Brazil called for the ouster of President Dilma Rousseff on Sunday, reflecting rising anger in the country over huge corruption scandals and a deepening economic crisis. It was the fifth time in the past year that groups had mobilized large numbers of demonstrators — thousands both here and in São Paulo — for protests in the streets against the governing leftist Workers’ Party. The movement regained momentum this month after investigators targeted Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, the influential former president, who picked Ms. Rousseff as…
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