International

Bangladesh to shut brick kilns as air quality soars to world’s worst

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AFP) — Bangladesh said Tuesday it will shut hundreds of soot-belching brick kilns around its capital Dhaka as part of measures to reduce thick smog enveloping the city and pushing air quality levels to among the world’s worst. Residents in several other cities in South Asia, including India’s capital New Delhi and Lahore in Pakistan, have also been breathing toxic smog in recent weeks amid uncontrolled emissions and crop burning. Air Visual, an […]

Firefighters battle new blaze in California

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Hundreds of California firefighters on Tuesday battled a wind-driven brush fire that grew out of control overnight near Santa Barbara, threatening thousands of homes and prompting evacuation orders. The so-called “Cave Fire” that started around 4:00 pm on Monday in Los Padres National Forest, grew to 4,100 acres (1,659 hectares) overnight as it moved toward populated areas in the cities of Santa Barbara, Goleta and nearby communities. Some 600 […]

More than 20 dead as Albania hunts for earthquake survivors

by Briseida MEMA DURRES, Albania (AFP) — Albanian rescuers searched rubble through the night looking for survivors trapped in buildings that toppled Tuesday in the strongest earthquake to hit the country in decades, with more than 20 dead and hundreds injured. Teams of soldiers, police and emergency workers sifted through the debris of shredded apartment blocks and hotels in towns near Albania’s northwest Adriatic coast, close to the epicenter of the 6.4 magnitude earthquake that […]

UPDATED: More than 20 dead, hundreds injured as powerful 6.4 magnitude quake rocks Albania

    At least 20 people died and hundreds more were injured in Albania after the strongest earthquake in decades rocked the Balkan country early Tuesday, destroying buildings and burying victims in rubble. The epicentre of the 6.4 magnitude quake was about 34 kilometres (about 20 miles) northwest of the capital Tirana, at a depth of 10 km, according to the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre. “We have victims,” Prime Minister Edi Rama wrote on Twitter. “We […]

Trump presents Conan the dog, ‘incredible’ hero of Baghdadi raid

  by Jerome CARTILLIER Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — “So this is Conan — right now, probably the world’s most famous dog.” In a stream of superlatives, Donald Trump on Monday introduced to the world the military dog involved in the raid that led to the death of Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. “Conan did a fantastic job,” the US president told the White House press corps, assembled for a […]

Court says White House must comply with impeachment subpoenas

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A Washington appeals court judge ruled Monday that President Donald Trump’s top aides must comply with subpoenas issued by the impeachment investigation against him. In a case involving former White House counsel Don McGahn, who was subpoenaed in May by the House Judiciary Committee, Judge Ketanji Jackson ruled that senior administration officials cannot claim absolute immunity from testifying based on their closeness to the US leader. While Jackson ruled […]

Canada must pay up for military sexual assault victims

  OTTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada must pay almost a billion dollars in settlements to hundreds of military victims of sexual harassment, sexual assault and gender-based discrimination, a federal court ruled Monday. The victims, some of whom still work in the Canadian armed forces or the defense ministry, filed class action lawsuits in 2016 and 2017 after an independent investigation found “an underlying sexualized culture” in Canada’s armed forces “that is hostile to women and […]

Hong Kong leader vows to ‘listen humbly’ after shock poll result

HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s unpopular leader Carrie Lam said on Monday her government would “listen humbly” to the public after voters dealt a humiliating election setback to the Beijing-backed establishment she heads. “The government will certainly listen humbly to citizens’ opinions and reflect on them seriously,” she said in a statement issued by the government. Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp scored a crushing victory in community-level elections held on Sunday, a result that […]

US Defense Secretary asks for navy chief’s resignation

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Defense Secretary on Sunday asked the navy chief to resign in a dispute over an elite SEAL commando whose demotion for misconduct was reversed by President Donald Trump. Navy SEAL Edward Gallagher had been accused of war crimes in a high-profile case but was found guilty of a lesser offense. On November 15, Trump reversed the demotion handed down to him due to his conviction. The defense department […]

Deadly rainstorms sweep northern Italy, southern France

VENICE, Italy (AFP) — Torrential rains across northern Italy and southern France killed three people at the weekend, sweeping away part of a motorway viaduct in northern Italy and causing fresh flooding in Venice on Sunday. The rains, which left at least three people dead and two missing across the two countries, were the latest in a two-week wave of extreme weather in the region. Part of a viaduct serving Italy’s A6 motorway near Savona […]

UPDATED: Plane crashes into homes in east DR Congo city, killing 29

GOMA, DR Congo (AFP) — At least 29 people were killed Sunday when a small plane crashed after takeoff into a densely populated area of the city of Goma in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. A survivor among the 19 people — 17 passengers and two crew members — who were aboard the plane was taken to hospital along with 16 others injured on the ground, the North Kivu regional government said. “At this stage, […]

Protests drive record 70 percent poll turnout in Hong Kong

by Yan ZHAO / Xinqi SU HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s voters turned out in unprecedented numbers Sunday for local council elections that the city’s pro-democracy movement hopes will pile pressure on the Beijing-backed government to listen to their demands after months of violent protest. Long queues snaked out of polling stations across the territory in the election for 18 district councils, where the record turnout is expected to benefit democratic forces. The […]