AP, Tehran
Iran’s navy on Friday kicked off the first joint naval drill with Russia and China in the northern part of the Indian Ocean, Iranian state TV reported.
The four-day exercise, launched from the southeastern port city of Chahbahar in the Gulf of Oman and near the border with Pakistan, is aimed at boosting security of the region’s waterways, the report quoted Iran’s navy chief Adm. Hossein Khanzadi as saying.
Pakistan arrests 5 al-Qaida
operatives
AP, Multan
Five al-Qaida operatives were arrested in a raid overnight in eastern Pakistan, an official with the country’s counterterrorism department said Friday.
According to the official, Muhammad Imran, the raid in Punjab province was carried out in collaboration with the country’s top intelligence agency, the Inter Services Intelligence.
Wildfire in Chilean port city of Valparaiso leaves 700 homeless
Reuters, Santiago
More than 245 homes have been destroyed and 700 people left destitute after a forest fire tore through a low-income area of the Chilean seaside city of Valparaiso on Christmas Eve.
President Sebastian Pinera said on Thursday during a tour of the affected zone that there was evidence the fire had been started deliberately. “I deeply regret that what should have been a good night, a night of peace, should have been so profoundly altered by this tragedy,” he said.
Philippines typhoon toll jumps to 28
AFP, Manila
The death toll from Typhoon Phanfone’s battering of the Philippines on Christmas Day has risen to 28, and will likely climb further, authorities said on Friday.
The storm, with wind gusts of up to 200 kilometre (124 miles) per hour, swept across remote villages and popular tourist destinations in the central Philippines.
on Wednesday. Authorities on Friday confirmed 28 people had died, up from 16 on Thursday, as information came in from badly hit areas where internet and mobile phone networks had been cut.
