Asia

China’s Xi to meet top US trade officials: report

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to meet with top US officials in Beijing this week, a report said Wednesday, as the world’s two biggest economies rush to patch up their trade differences before a looming deadline. Xi will meet on Friday with officials including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who are in the capital for crunch talks towards a trade deal, the South China Morning Post […]

Samsung reaches settlement over ‘exploding’ washing machines

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Samsung Electronics has reached a settlement in a class-action lawsuit over 2.8 million “exploding” washing machines recalled in the US, the South Korean company said Tuesday. The faulty appliances were recalled in 2016 after reports that the top “can unexpectedly detach from the washing machine chassis during use, posing a risk of injury from impact”, according to The US Consumer Product Safety Commission. The lawsuit claimed some of the washers […]

Acting Pentagon chief makes surprise Baghdad visit

by Sylvie Lanteaume Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrived in Baghdad on an unannounced visit Tuesday for talks on the sensitive issue of a continued troop presence following withdrawal from neighboring Syria. Shanahan is keen to reassure Iraqi leaders after President Donald Trump angered many by saying he wanted to keep troops at the Al-Asad airbase, northwest of Baghdad, to keep an eye on Iran. The acting defence secretary, […]

Fire at budget Delhi hotel kills 17

  by Abhaya Srivastava Agence France Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — At least 17 people died when a fire ripped through a budget hotel in Delhi on Tuesday, with victims including a woman and a child who reportedly jumped from a window to escape the blaze. Images showed thick smoke and flames billowing out of the top floor of the Hotel Arpit Palace in a congested part of the Indian capital. Guests at the […]

At least nine dead in India hotel fire: official

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — At least nine people were killed and three others injured when a fire engulfed a hotel in New Delhi on Tuesday, a senior official said. The blaze broke out before dawn at Hotel Arpit Palace in a congested part of central Delhi. “Nine people are dead including a woman and a child. Three people are injured,” G.C. Misra, the director of Delhi Fire Services, told AFP. © Agence France-Presse

No word from Haiti’s president as fear paralyzes capital

by Amelie BARON Agence France Presse PORT-AU-PRINCE, Sporadic gunfire echoed through the streets of Port-au-Prince on Monday as the government remained silent in the face of protests that have paralyzed the Haitian capital and triggered rising violence. The normally traffic-clogged streets were largely empty as schools, shops and municipal offices were shuttered for fear of more violence that has already left several people dead and an air of uncertainty hanging over the government of President […]

Four dead after military helicopter crashes in Istanbul

ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) — Four soldiers were killed on Monday after a Turkish military helicopter crashed in a residential area of Istanbul, the province’s governor said. “Unfortunately four of our soldiers became martyrs,” Istanbul governor Ali Yerlikaya told reporters at the scene. Yerlikaya said no other military personnel or civilian had been injured after the helicopter ploughed to the ground in the Cekmekoy district. The incident happened around 1851 (1551 GMT), he said in televised […]

Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrives in Afghanistan

KABUL, Afghanistan (AFP) — Acting Pentagon chief Patrick Shanahan arrived in Afghanistan on a surprise visit Monday as the United States seeks to support the Kabul government while negotiating peace with the Taliban. Shanahan will meet President Ashraf Ghani, whose government was not part of major talks between US and Taliban officials last month that negotiators hope could bring a breakthrough in the grinding 17-year conflict. The US diplomat leading the talks has expressed hope […]

Poverty not an obstacle to excellent healthcare in Africa: Gates

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (AFP) — Billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates said Sunday that excellent basic healthcare that would prevent easily treatable but deadly conditions was achievable even in Africa’s poorest nations. “The good news about health is that by spending modest amounts on the prioritized areas, you can get phenomenal benefits,” he told AFP on the sidelines of the African Union summit in Addis Ababa. “You don’t have to get all the way to middle-income before […]

Turkey building collapse death toll rises to 17

ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — The death toll from the collapse of an apartment building in Istanbul rose to 17 as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Saturday that authorities have “lessons to learn” from the incident. The eight-storey block in the Kartal district on the Asian side of the city collapsed on Wednesday but the cause is not yet clear. Erdogan Saturday visited the site and said the death toll had risen to 17 with 14 […]

15 killed in knife rampage and arson attack in China

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Fifteen people were killed in China on the night of the Lunar New Year in two family tragedies, after one man started a fire and another went on a knife rampage. As people celebrated to welcome in the  Chinese New Year Monday night, a man surnamed Lu set fire to the home of his brother in the northern province of Shaanxi, killing seven, according to police in the town of Baoji. […]

Erupting Indonesian volcano spews ash, lava

YOGYAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia’s Mount Merapi, one of the world’s most active volcanoes, has spewed a plume of grey ash into the sky as fiery red molten lava streamed down from its crater. Authorities did not raise the rumbling volcano’s alert status after the eruption on Thursday evening. But any activity at Merapi raises concern and local residents have previously been ordered to stay outside a five-kilometre (three-mile) no-go zone around the crater near […]