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
International
Light rail collision in Paris suburb injures 12
NANTERRE, France (AFP) — A rare light rail collision in a southwestern suburb of Paris on Monday evening left 12 people injured, one of them seriously, the fire brigade said. It was not known what caused the accident which took place between two stations in Issy-les-Moulineaux just after 9:00 pm (2000 GMT), a spokesman for Paris transport operator RATP told AFP. “Two vehicles collided with passengers on board. It appears that the one in front […]
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 […]
New Zealand wildfire expected to burn for weeks
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — A large New Zealand wildfire is expected to burn for weeks longer but has moved away from some inhabited areas, allowing residents of an evacuated village to return home soon, firefighters said Monday. About 3,000 inhabitants of Wakefield, just outside Nelson at the top of South Island, were ordered out Saturday as flames razed bushland within two kilometers (1.2 miles) of their homes. The fire erupted early last week amid […]
Trump to make ‘big’ border speech in El Paso
by Paul Ratje with Sebastian Smith in Washington Agence France Presse EL PASO, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump takes his politically explosive push for walling off the Mexican border to the frontier city of El Paso on Monday, four days before a deadline for Congress to meet his demands. Trump’s campaign-style rally in El Paso will give the president the kind of populist platform he will seek to build on ahead of his […]
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 […]
Venezuela’s financial accountability authority probes Guaido
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s office of financial accountability said on Monday it has opened an investigation into opposition leader Juan Guaido’s income. The agency’s chief, Elvis Amoroso, said that Guaido, who has been recognized as Venezuela’s interim president by around 50 countries, “allegedly … received money from international and national bodies without any justification.” Amoroso, an official close to the regime of President Nicolas Maduro, whom Guaido is trying to dislodge, said the parliament […]
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 […]
New Zealand wildfire expected to burn for weeks
WELLINGTON, United States (AFP) — A large New Zealand wildfire is expected to burn for weeks longer but has moved away from some inhabited areas, allowing residents of an evacuated village to return home soon, firefighters said Monday. About 3,000 inhabitants of Wakefield, just outside Nelson at the top of South Island, were ordered out Saturday as flames razed bushland within two kilometers (1.2 miles) of their homes. The fire erupted early last week amid […]
Modest praise for US reform of visa program for skilled workers
by Rob Lever Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Trump administration’s new rules for a US visa program widely used for technology workers are getting cautious praise from Silicon Valley amid surging demand for high-skill employees. The H-1B visa program, which admits some 85,000 foreign nationals each year, will give higher priority to people with post-graduate degrees from US universities, under a final rule published in January by the Department of Homeland […]
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 […]
