Battle for Tripoli escalates as UN prepares to meet
AFP, Tripoli
The battle for Libya’s capital intensified as the UN Security Council prepared to meet Wednesday to discuss the crisis gripping the North African country, where armed rivals are locked in a deadly power struggle.
The closed-door talks in New York come a day after the United Nations postponed a Libyan national conference aimed at drawing up an election roadmap because of fighting raging on Tripoli’s doorstep.
Russian S-400s delivery could be earlier: Erdogan
AFP, Ankara
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said the delivery of Turkey’s disputed Russian S-400 missile defence systems could be earlier than initially planned, Hurriyet daily reported on Wednesday.
Ankara’s purchase of the S-400s risks US sanctions and has further strained already tense relations with Washington.
US ‘leader of world terrorism’: Iran
AFP, Teheran
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said Tuesday that the United States was the real “leader of world terrorism” after Washington blacklisted Iran’s Revolutionary Guards as a “foreign terrorist organisation”.
“Who are you to label revolutionary institutions as terrorists?” Rouhani asked in a speech broadcast live by state television.
Wreckage of missing Japan fighter jet found
Reuters ,Tokyo
Search and rescue teams found wreckage belonging to a Japanese Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter that disappeared on Tuesday over the Pacific Ocean close to northern Japan, a military spokesman said on Wednesday.
The pilot of the aircraft is still missing, said the Air Self Defence Force (ASDF) spokesman.
China, N Korea open new border crossing
AFP, Beijing
A Chinese city has opened a new border crossing with North Korea-fitted with radiation detectors-even as talks between Washington and Pyongyang have languished over disagreements for nuclear sanctions relief.
The new highway border crossing opened in the northeastern city of Ji’an on Monday, complementing its three existing ports with the North, the city said in a statement published to its website Tuesday.
Malaysia’s ex- first lady faces new graft charge
AFP, Kuala Lumpur
The wife of Malaysia’s ex-leader was Wednesday hit with a new corruption charge, the 20th since her husband’s shock election loss, and complained she was the victim of “slander”.
Rosmah Mansor – widely reviled in Malaysia due to her penchant for lavish overseas shopping sprees – was charged with accepting a five million ringgit ($1.2 million) bribe in relation to a government solar power project.
