Sweden to bring back conscription: report AFP, Stockholm

Sweden announced yesterday that it will reintroduce compulsory military service starting this summer to respond to global security challenges including from Russia. "The government wants a more stable staff supply system and to boost its military capability because the security situation has changed,” Swedish Defence Minister Peter Hultqvist told TT news agency.

UN drugs board slams killings in Philippines AFP, Vienna

The UN-linked International Narcotics Control Board yesterday condemned the use of extrajudicial killings in the Philippines, where President Rodrigo Duterte's much-criticised war on drugs has claimed more than 6,500 lives. In a new annual report, the INCB said that "extrajudicial action, purportedly taken in pursuit of drug control objectives, is fundamentally contrary to the provisions and objectives" of international drug conventions.

US drone strikes kill 7 'Qaeda men'in Yemen

AFP, Aden

Four separate US drone strikes killed at least seven suspected al-Qaeda members in Yemen yesterday, security officials said, barely a month after a controversial US commando raid against the jihadists. A dawn strike targeted the home of a known al-Qaeda member in the Yashbum Valley in the southern province of Shabwa province, a provincial security official told AFP.

China drills again near Taiwan

Reuters, Beijing

Chinese jets and warships carried out exercises near

Taiwan and into the Western Pacific yesterday, as the self-ruled island's defence minister warned of a growing threat from its giant neighbour. Democratic Taiwan is increasingly concerned over China's military designs, especially recent rounds of Chinese drills near Taiwan.

11 killed in Ukraine coal mine blast

AFP, Kiev

At least 11 coal miners were killed yesterday when a methane gas blast tore through a pit in western Ukraine, the head of the coal miners' trade union said. "A methane explosion. 11 killed," Mykhaylo Volynets wrote on Facebook. Ukraine's emergencies service said that 20 people were unaccounted for and that 172 miners were in the pit at the time. It added that people were buried under ground after the blast.