International

Three killed in Australia firefighting plane crash

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Three people were killed when a water-bombing plane crashed southwest of Sydney on Thursday, setting off a “large fireball”, Australian officials said, as bushfires flared across the country’s southeast. New South Wales Rural Fire Service Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons said authorities lost contact with the C-130 Hercules aircraft, which was operating in the Snowy Monaro region, shortly before 1:30 pm Thursday. Fitzsimmons said the aircraft owner, Canadian firm Coulson Aviation, was grounding […]

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Waterbombing plane missing as Australia bushfires flare

by Holly ROBERTSON SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — A water-bombing plane was missing and feared to have crashed in Australia’s southeast on Thursday, as firefighters battled a new outbreak of bushfires whipped up by scorching temperatures and strong winds. At least seven blazes were declared emergencies, including one in the Snowy Monaro region, where authorities lost contact with the firefighting aircraft. “Local ground crews indicate the aircraft may have crashed,” the New South Wales Rural Fire […]

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At least one killed, several injured in Seattle mass shooting

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — At least one person was killed and seven others, including a child, were wounded on Wednesday after gunfire broke out in downtown Seattle near a popular tourist area, police and hospital officials said. Police said at least one suspect was being sought in connection with the mass shooting that took place near a McDonald’s fast-food restaurant, just blocks away from the Pike Place Market. It was the third shooting […]

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High alert for new Australia bushfires as heat and winds pick up

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australian firefighters are on high alert for the possibility that scorching temperatures and strong winds could whip up new bushfires on Thursday, coming after rain brought welcome respite to fire-ravaged areas. Unprecedented bushfires fuelled by climate change have killed at least 29 people and devastated vast swathes of the country since September. Those blazes have been followed by extreme weather — including intense storms that have battered parts of Australia with […]

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Volkswagen in Canada ordered to pay CAN$196.5 million over emissions scandal

TORONTO, Canada (AFP) – A court in Toronto on Wednesday ordered Volkswagen to pay a fine of Can$196.5 million (US$150 million) after the automaker pleaded guilty to violating environmental laws in the emissions cheating scandal. The court accepted an agreement that the German automaker reached with the Canadian government, which in December filed a 60-count indictment against the company. This fine is in addition to nearly Can$2.4 billion that Volkswagen had agreed to pay in […]

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China quarantines city at center of virus outbreak

by Eva XIAO / Laurent Thomet with Dario Thuburn in Geneva BEIJING, China (AFP) — China placed the city at the center of a virus outbreak under effective quarantine on Thursday, suspending outward flights and trains in a drastic step to contain a contagious disease that has killed 17, stricken hundreds and reached other countries. Authorities in Wuhan, a major transport hub, also suspended public buses and subways, and said residents should not leave the […]

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‘What use is wealth if it burns?’ Britain’s Prince Charles sounds climate alarm

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) – Stuart WILLIAMS Britain’s Prince Charles on Wednesday told business leaders at the Davos economic forum that wealth was of no use if it doesn’t help tackle climate change, as he met Swedish teen activist Greta Thunberg and warned over the perils of global warming and environmental damage. Charles, the eldest son of the Queen and heir to the throne, met Thunberg in Davos on the same day as President Donald Trump […]

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UPDATED: Seven dead in Spain as winter storms lash coast

by Daniel BOSQUE BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) –The death toll from a storm that has lashed Spain with strong winds and heavy snow has risen to seven, while four people were missing, officials said. Gale-force winds and huge waves have smashed into seafront towns, damaging many shops and restaurants, wrecking beach facilities and flooding some streets in the east of the country since Sunday. The latest victim was a man who fell into the sea in […]

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Trump to add a ‘couple of countries’ to US travel ban

DAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said Wednesday his administration was preparing to add a “couple of countries” to the controversial list of states whose citizens are subject to travel bans or severe restrictions on entry to the United States. “We are adding a couple of countries to it. We have to be safe. Our country has to be safe,” he said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, adding that the names […]

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China virus city in transport shutdown as WHO extends talks

by Laurent Thomet with Dario Thuburn in Geneva BEIJING, China (AFP) — China said it was halting flights and trains from Thursday out of Wuhan, the city of 11 million people at the center of a deadly SARS-like virus outbreak, as the UN extended emergency talks on the disease. The central city’s special command center against the virus also said that residents should not leave without a special reason and that the measures would be […]

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Bangladesh factories ordered shut to save key river

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) – Sam JAHAN Bangladesh’s high court has ordered the shutdown of 231 factories that have contributed to Dhaka’s main river becoming one of the world’s most polluted, a lawyer said Tuesday. The country is crisscrossed by hundreds of rivers, but a recent industrial boom, including the emergence of the world’s second biggest garment industry, has prompted officials to turn a blind eye to the industrial waste they dump into rivers. In a landmark […]

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China warns virus could mutate, spread as death toll rises

by Beiyi SEOW Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — A new virus that has killed nine people, infected hundreds and already reached the United States could mutate and spread, China warned Wednesday, as authorities scrambled to contain the disease during the Lunar New Year travel season. The coronavirus has caused alarm for its similarity to SARS (Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome), which killed nearly 650 people across mainland China and Hong Kong in 2002-2003. In Wuhan, […]

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