WASHINGTON, March 4, 2024 (AFP) – Americans from 15 states and one territory vote simultaneously on “Super Tuesday,” a campaign calendar milestone expected to leave Donald Trump a hair’s breadth from securing the Republican Party’s presidential nomination. Typically, the event — the biggest single day of voting in the country’s drawn out, state-by-state primary season — has been a make-or-break moment for candidates as the race narrows. On the Republican side, more than a third […]
International
Philippines hopes to launch EU free trade negotiations ‘very soon’
MELBOURNE, March 4, 2024 (AFP) – The Philippines hopes to launch formal free trade agreement negotiations with the European Union “very soon”, Foreign Minister Enrique Manalo told AFP in an interview Monday. The Southeast Asian nation, which depends heavily on trade with China, wants to expand its economic relations with other countries to achieve greater “resiliency”, the minister said. “We’re hoping… to very soon begin free trade negotiations with the EU,” Manalo said. The Philippines […]
ASEAN-Australia summit to decry ‘threat or use of force’ in region
By Steven TRASK MELBOURNE, March 4, 2024 (AFP) – Leaders from Southeast Asian nations and Australia gathered in Melbourne on Monday are expected to denounce the “threat or use of force” to settle disputes in the region, a collective swipe at China. “We strive for a region where sovereignty and territorial integrity is respected,” a draft joint ASEAN-Australia statement obtained by AFP read. “We strive for a region where differences are managed through respectful dialogue, […]
Philippines foreign minister urges China: ‘stop harassing us’
MELBOURNE, March 4, 2024 (AFP) – Philippine foreign minister Enrique Manalo told AFP on Monday that his country wants to solve maritime disputes with China peacefully — but delivered a simple message to Beijing: “stop harassing us”. Speaking on the sidelines of an ASEAN-Australia summit in Melbourne, Manalo defended his government’s policy of publicising Chinese manoeuvres in contested maritime territory — including the recent passage of warships near Scarborough Shoal. “It’s merely trying to inform […]
Trump and Biden trade barbs on rival US-Mexico border visits
EAGLE PASS, United States (AFP) – Joe Biden and Donald Trump traded blame for America’s immigration crisis as they made dueling visits to the US-Mexican border Thursday, putting the hot-button issue at the heart of their race for the White House in November. In near-simultaneous speeches in Texas, Republican former president Trump called the record numbers of border crossings a “Joe Biden invasion” — while the Democratic incumbent urged his rival to stop “playing politics” […]
Japan Moon lander put to sleep after surviving lunar night
TOKYO, March 2, 2024 (AFP) – Japan’s Moon lander has been put back to sleep after it surprisingly survived the freezing, two-week lunar night, the country’s space agency said, with another operation attempt scheduled for later this month. The unmanned Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) touched down in January at a wonky angle that left its solar panels facing the wrong way. As the sun’s angle shifted, it came back to life for two […]
Musk sues OpenAI over ‘betrayal’ of mission
By Glenn CHAPMAN with Joseph BOYLE in Paris SAN FRANCISCO, March 1, 2024 (AFP) – Elon Musk has launched a legal case against OpenAI, the AI firm he helped to set up in 2015, accusing its leaders of a “betrayal” of its founding mission. The tycoon, who left OpenAI in 2018, argued in documents filed in a San Francisco court late Thursday that the firm was always intended as a nonprofit entity. But he said […]
Myanmar now a ‘never-ending’ nightmare: UN
GENEVA, March 1, 2024 (AFP) – Three years of military rule in Myanmar have inflicted unbearable cruelty, leaving people trapped in an unending nightmare as the conflict spreads, the UN human rights chief said Friday. The junta is crushing all forms of dissent with total impunity, Volker Turk told the UN Human Rights Council, urging the United Nations’ top rights body and countries to focus on preventing further atrocities. “The human rights situation in Myanmar […]
Violence rages in Haiti for second day
WASHINGTON, March 2, 2024 (AFP) – Gangs aiming to oust Haitian Prime Minister Ariel Henry wreaked havoc in the capital Port-au-Prince Friday, as gun attacks near the city’s international airport and a prison marked a second day of extreme violence. At least four police officers were killed Thursday and dozens have been wounded since the latest spate of brutality began, with Henry meanwhile in Kenya mustering support for a UN-backed international police deployment. Armed gangs […]
Japanese mayor resigns after 99 sexual harassment allegations, sparks social media outrage
TOKYO, March 1, 2024 (AFP) – The resignation of a Japanese mayor facing 99 allegations of sexual harassment sparked anger on social media on Friday, after he denied some cases and wept at a press conference. An official investigation accused Hideo Kojima, the mayor of a town in central Gifu region, of several incidents of harassment, including touching a colleague’s breasts and buttocks. The 74-year-old said Thursday he would quit, a day after wiping away […]
S. Korea police raid medical association office over walkout
SEOUL, March 1, 2024 (AFP) – South Korean police raided the offices of the Korean Medical Association on Friday, an officer told AFP, as the government contends with a doctors’ strike that has led to chaos in hospitals. Nearly 10,000 junior doctors — about 80 percent of the trainee workforce — walked off the job last week. They are protesting government plans to sharply increase medical school admissions to cope with shortages and an ageing […]
Fire engulfs terraced house in London’s upscale neighborhood, injuring 11
LONDON, March 1, 2024 (AFP) – A huge fire at a residential building in London’s upscale South Kensington neighbourhood in the early hours of Friday has put 11 people in hospital and led to around 130 being evacuated, fire officials said. Fifteen fire engines and around 100 firefighters were called to the fire at a terraced house converted into apartments on Emperor’s Gate, in the southwest of the British capital, close to the Natural History […]





