World

SHANGHAI, (Reuters) – China’s military will begin “combat training activities” from todayon its side of the border with Myanmar, it said on social media, a day after a convoy of trucks carrying goods into the neighbouring Southeast Asian nation went up in flames.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – South African former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius, jailed nine years ago for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, was granted parole yesterday effective from Jan.

 (Reuters) – A convoy of trucks bringing goods into Myanmar from China has gone up in flames in what state media reported today was an insurgent attack, compounding surging insecurity that has raised concern in neighbouring China.

JOHANNESBURG, (Reuters) – South African former Paralympic star Oscar Pistorius, jailed nine years ago for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp, was granted parole today effective from Jan.

DOHA/GAZA,  (Reuters) – Israel and Hamas start a four-day truce today with the militants to release a first group of 13 Israeli women and child hostages later in the day, the first break in a war that has devastated the besieged Gaza enclave.

THE HAGUE, (Reuters) – Dutch Muslims expressed shock yesterday at the election win of far-right populist Geert Wilders, who has previously called for mosques and the Koran to be banned in the Netherlands.

SEOUL,  (Reuters) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country’s recent launch of a spy satellite was an exercise of its right to self-defence, as Pyongyang celebrated the event as showing it could strike anywhere in the world, state media reported.

QUITO,  (Reuters) – Business heir and former legislator Daniel Noboa was sworn in as Ecuador’s new president yesterday, pledging to reduce violence and create jobs via urgent legislative reforms.

JAKARTA,  (Reuters) – Indonesia’s police this week named the chief of the country’s anti-corruption agency, Firli Bahuri, as a suspect for alleged extortion or receiving kickbacks, another setback in the once-prized government institution.

SILKYARA, India,  (Reuters) – Rescuers in India are set to work through today drilling through debris to reach 41 men trapped in a highway tunnel in the Himalayan region after removing a metal obstruction that slowed progress overnight, a top official said.

GAZA/JERUSALEM, (Reuters) – The release of hostages under a temporary truce between Israel and Palestinian Hamas militants will not happen before tomorrow, Israel’s national security adviser said, thwarting hopes of relatives that some would be freed today.

AMSTERDAM,  (Reuters) – Dutch anti-EU far-right populist Geert Wilders, who has vowed to halt all immigration to the Netherlands, was set for a major victory in parliamentary elections yesterday, an exit poll showed.

WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – A speeding car crashed in flames on the bridge linking New York state and Ontario at Niagara Falls yesterday, killing two people in the vehicle and sparking a security scare that closed four U.S.-Canadian

(Reuters) – Ahead of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s four days in exile, several staff researchers sent the board of directors a letter warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.

BRASILIA,  (Reuters) – Brazil’s National Development Bank (BNDES) has approved 318 million reais ($65 million) from the $1.3 billion Amazon Fund to set up a security project fighting deforestation and other environmental crimes in the rainforest, a senior official said.

WASHINGTON/NEW DELHI, (Reuters) – The United States is treating a reported plot to kill a Sikh separatist on American soil with utmost seriousness and has raised the issue with the Indian government “at the senior-most levels,” the White House said yesterday.

LONDON, (Reuters) – An OPEC technical panel invited a top financial market dealer to give a presentation this week which painted a bearish outlook for the oil market, according to materials from the presentation seen by Reuters.

NEW DELHI,  (Reuters) – U.S. authorities thwarted a plot to kill a Sikh separatist in the United States and issued a warning to India over concerns the government in New Delhi was involved, the Financial Times reported today, citing unnamed sources.

SAN FRANCISCO,  (Reuters) – Sam Altman is returning as CEO of OpenAI just days after his ouster, capping frenzied discussions about the future of the startup at the centre of an artificial intelligence boom.

ISLAMABAD, (Reuters) – Pakistan’s Supreme Court accepted today a bail application from detained former Prime Minister Imran Khan, his lawyer said, a day after another court declared illegal his trial on charges of leaking state secrets.