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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, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump on Monday ordered the US administration to give greater priority to artificial intelligence, a move seen as firing up a battle for leadership with China. The American AI Initiative executive order calls for the administration to “devote the full resources of the federal government” to help fuel AI innovation. “Americans have profited tremendously from being the early developers and international leaders in AI,” a White House […]
CANBERRA, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s conservative minority government suffered a monumental political defeat Tuesday, becoming the first administration in nearly a century to lose a vote on major legislation and fuelling calls for a snap election. Despite a bruising and highly personal lobbying effort, Prime Minister Scott Morrison was defeated by MPs who insisted refugees held in offshore facilities have the right to be transferred to Australia for medical treatment. It is the first […]
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 […]
Malaysian authorities have made a record seizure of about 30 tonnes of pangolins and their scales worth some $2 million in raids on major processing facilities, police and environmentalists said Tuesday. The haul included about 1,800 boxes full of frozen pangolins stuffed inside three refrigerated containers, 572 more frozen pangolins in six freezers, 61 live pangolins in cages, and 361 kilogrammes (795 pounds) of pangolin scales, according to police. The Southeast Asian nation is battling […]
Former Malaysian premier Najib Razak’s trial over a massive financial scandal that contributed to his government’s downfall was postponed Monday, in a blow to slow-moving efforts to bring the disgraced politician to justice. Najib had been due to go on trial Tuesday for the first time over allegations linked to his involvement in the looting of Malaysian sovereign wealth fund 1MDB in a fraud that reverberated around the world. Billions of dollars were allegedly stolen […]
Venezuela’s opposition plans more marches Tuesday to press the military to let in US humanitarian aid, which President Nicolas Maduro says is the stepping stone to an invasion. Opposition leader and self declared president Juan Guaido will lead a rally in eastern Caracas but demonstrations have been called all over the country. They are to mark Youth Day but also to honor 40 people killed in anti-government rallies in January, many of them youths. “We […]
Australia’s largest cattle company has warned of “extreme losses” after record-breaking floods, as producers said more than 300,000 cows were drowned or washed away in the vast continent’s northeast. After more than five years of drought, heavy rains over an almost two-week period turned dusty and parched land in Queensland state into vast swathes of mud that bogged down already weakened cattle. Australian Agricultural Company Ltd (AACo) said Monday that four of its properties were […]
Refugee footballer Hakeem al-Araibi made a triumphant return to Australia Tuesday, ending a two month ordeal that saw him jailed in Thailand and threatened with forced return to his native Bahrain. A throng of well wishers decked in #SAVEHAKEEM T-shirts cheered and sang the football anthem “You’ll Never Walk Alone” as they greeted the 25-year-old defender at Melbourne Airport, after an overnight flight to freedom aboard Thai Airways flight 465. “I want to thank Australia” […]
US lawmakers announced late Monday an agreement in principle to avoid another government shutdown, with nearly $1.4 billion in money for construction of a wall on the border with Mexico, as President Donald Trump pushed his politically explosive crusade at a rally in the frontier city of El Paso. That amount is far less than Trump has demanded. But if accepted, the deal would avert another chaotic standoff in which Trump has threatened to cut […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres renewed his offer Monday to help broker an end to the crisis in Venezuela during talks with the country’s foreign minister. Guterres met with Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza in New York, at the request of Caracas, as the standoff between President Nicolas Maduro and opposition leader Juan Guaido hardened. The United Nations has called for serious political negotiations between the two sides to prevent […]
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
