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NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — An Indian lawmaker was sentenced to life Friday for raping a teenager whose plight police ignored until she tried to set herself on fire, in a case highlighting the impunity often enjoyed by the powerful. The day after she did so last year her father died in police custody, with the family alleging he was tortured for pursuing the case. Later she was critically injured in a suspicious car […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong police on Thursday said they had frozen HK$70 million ($10 million) from a major fund for donations to help pro-democracy protesters, and arrested its four members for money laundering. Police said their investigation focused on Spark Alliance, a non-profit online platform formed in 2016 that collects donations to provide support to political critics of the city’s pro-Beijing authorities. It is one of two crowd-sourced funding platforms that have […]
TOKYO Japan (AFP) — Thousands of people have signed an online petition against the planned demolition of two early 20th-century buildings that remained intact after the atomic bombing of Hiroshima devastated the Japanese city. A local government official confirmed to AFP on Tuesday they had received the petition signed by 12,000 citizens calling for the preservation of the buildings that stand 2.7 kilometres (2 miles) from the 1945 blast. The three-storey red-brick buildings are part […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump said Monday he’d be “disappointed” if North Korea had something “in the works” as a year-end ultimatum from Pyongyang about the fate of their nuclear talks approaches. The nuclear-armed North has issued increasingly strident declarations in recent weeks, even promising an ominous holiday “gift” if Washington does not come up with some concessions. The top US envoy to the negotiations with North Korea, Stephen Biegun, said […]
by Sunghee Hwang Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The top US representative in talks with North Korea on Monday slammed Pyongyang’s demands as hostile and unnecessary as its end-of-year deadline approaches, but held open the door for fresh negotiations. The North has insisted that Washington offer it new concessions by the end of 2019 with the process largely deadlocked since the collapse of a summit in Hanoi in February. Pyongyang has […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has conducted another “crucial test” at its Sohae satellite launch site, state media reported, as nuclear negotiations between Pyongyang and Washington remain stalled with a deadline approaching. The announcement Saturday comes one day before US Special Envoy on North Korea Stephen Biegun is set to arrive in Seoul for a three-day visit, and after the United States tested a medium-range ballistic missile over the Pacific Ocean on […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s premier told beleaguered Hong Kong leader Carrie Lam on Monday that she had Beijing’s “unwavering support” after a huge rally earlier this month and her government’s thrashing at recent local elections. The city has been upended by six months of massive pro-democracy protests that have seen violent battles between police and hardcore demonstrators, as well as regular transport disruption. Protesters have called for the unpopular Lam to stand down […]
Hong Kong, China (AFP) — Hong Kong police used pepper spray and made multiple arrests on Sunday as small groups of black-clad pro-democracy protesters targeted some of the city’s malls, ending a rare lull in violence. Flashmob protests and vandalism broke out in multiple locations, prompting riot police to use pepper spray and make arrests in at least two shopping centres as members of the public heckled the officers. AFP reporters in a Sha Tin […]
by Jalees Andrabi / Anup Sharma / with Sailendra Sil in Kolkata GUWAHATI, India (AFP) — The death toll from violent protests in northeast India against a contentious citizenship law has risen to six, officials said Sunday, as authorities maintained internet bans and curfews to quell unrest. Tension remained high at the epicenter of the unrest in Assam state’s biggest city, Guwahati, with troops patrolling the streets in vehicles amid tight security. Some […]
QUETTA, Pakistan (AFP) — At least 14 people were killed in western Pakistan Friday when a passenger van hit a truck loaded with smuggled fuel, police said, in the latest fatal accident on the country’s notoriously dangerous roads. The early morning collision took place in Qila Saifullah district, about 200 kilometres (124 miles) northeast of Quetta, the capital of Balochistan province. The van caught fire after hitting the truck, Abdul Jabbar, a police official at […]
by Dessy Sagita and Peter Brieger Agence France-Presse JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s little-known glaciers are melting so fast they could disappear in a decade, a new study says, underscoring the imminent threat posed by climate change to ice sheets in tropical countries. As the COP 25 summit wraps up in Madrid, nations are struggling to finalise rules for the 2015 landmark Paris climate accord, which aims to limit global temperature rises. Thousands of kilometres […]
DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Eight people were killed and at least 24 critically injured when a devastating fire swept through an illegal plastics factory outside the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, police said Thursday. The fire started on Wednesday afternoon and quickly ripped through the ground floor of the Prime Patent Plastic factory at Keraniganj, just southwest of Dhaka, they said. “One person burnt to death on the spot and 33 workers were critically burnt. Seven of […]
