International

French cardinal convicted over sex abuse cover-up

  by Pierre PRATABUY / Alexandre GROSBOIS Agence France Presse by Pierre PRATABUY / Alexandre GROSBOIS Agence France Presse LYON, France (AFP) — The archbishop of Lyon Thursday announced he was resigning just hours after being handed a six-month suspended jail sentence for failing to report sex abuse in a case that has rocked the French Catholic Church and added to the Vatican’s woes. Philippe Barbarin, 68, is the most senior French cleric caught up […]

China backs Huawei in US legal fight

by Elizabeth LAW BEIJING, China (AFP) — China threw its weight behind Huawei’s legal battle against the United States on Friday, vowing to take all necessary measures to defend the “legitimate rights” of Chinese companies and individuals. Foreign Minister Wang Yi voiced Beijing’s support as Huawei mounts a legal and public relations campaign to counter US warnings that the company’s networks and equipment could serve as Trojan horses for Chinese intelligence services. US prosecutors have […]

Venezuela plunged into darkness after huge power cut

CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Most of Venezuela was plunged into darkness on Thursday evening after a huge power cut that the government of President Nicolas Maduro blamed on “sabotage.” Apart from a few buildings with electricity supplied from a private generator, AFP reporters said the capital Caracas was hit by a total blackout at 4:50 pm, just before nightfall. That included the city metro, along with telephone and internet services. One of the most dangerous […]

US military asked to house 5,000 child migrants: Pentagon

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The administration of US President Donald Trump has asked the Department of Defense to prepare to house up to 5,000 unaccompanied migrant children amid what it calls a mounting “crisis” at the US-Mexico border, the Pentagon said Thursday. The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) “requested DoD support to identify space to house up to 5,000 unaccompanied alien children on DoD installations, if needed, through September 30, 2019,” said […]

Huelga general, manifestaciones convocadas para el Día de la Mujer en España

Egie Asis Eagle News Service MADRID, España–Para celebrar el Día Internacional de la Mujer, el viernes 8 de marzo, se convocaron en toda España  manifestaciones  que se verán atendidas, según las organizadoras, por al menos miles de personas en más de 500 ciudades y pueblos. Los participantes de las marchas organizadas por la Comisión 8-M, condenarán la discriminación contra la mujer en general, señalando, entre otros temas, la precariedad de la mujer en el mercado laboral […]

US Senator Brown rules out 2020 presidential bid

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Sherrod Brown, the popular and unassuming US senator whose broad support among working-class voters made him a potential contender against President Donald Trump, announced Thursday he will not launch a 2020 White House bid. “I will keep fighting for all workers across the country. And I will do everything I can to elect a Democratic President and a Democratic Senate in 2020,” Brown, a 66-year-old from the swing state of […]

Three US executions delayed over lethal injection drug

CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — The governor of the US state of Ohio on Thursday delayed three scheduled executions over concerns that a drug currently used in lethal injections could mimic the effects of “waterboarding,” widely considered a form of torture. Governor Mike DeWine delayed executions scheduled as early as May, in line with a court ruling that using the controversial sedative midazolam could cause pain and suffering. The state is seeking alternatives. “Governor DeWine […]

UK royal family warns trolls following online abuse

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Britain’s royal family on Monday warned trolls on its social media accounts that they will be banned under new guidelines issued following abuse of Kate and Meghan — the Duchesses of Cambridge and Sussex. Buckingham Palace, Clarence House and Kensington Palace said that they could involve the police if there was a breach of the law. Under the new guidelines, comments must not “be defamatory… obscene, offensive, threatening, abusive, hateful, […]

N. Korea rocket site appears ‘operational’ again: US experts

by Francesco FONTEMAGGI WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A North Korean long-range rocket launch site appears to have resumed “normal operation status,” US experts said Thursday, calling it an “affront” to President Donald Trump’s strategy of diplomatic engagement with Pyongyang. The specialized website 38 North and the Center for Strategic and International Studies used commercial satellite imagery to track construction at the site — which they said began before last week’s aborted summit in Hanoi […]

Convicted Australian cardinal sued over alleged abuse

  MELBOURNE, Australia (AFP) — Convicted Australian Cardinal George Pell faced a fresh legal challenge Thursday after a civil suit was filed against him for further alleged abuse in the 1970s. Pell — the most senior Vatican official to be found guilty of child sex crimes — is currently in detention awaiting sentencing for assaulting two choirboys in Melbourne in the 1990s. He maintains his innocence and an appeal is scheduled for June. Pell had […]

Former Trump campaign chief to be sentenced, could face life in prison

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort faces potentially spending the rest of his life behind bars when a judge sentences him on Thursday for tax crimes and bank fraud. Manafort, who turns 70 in April, was convicted by a Virginia jury in August of five counts of filing false income tax returns, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failing to report a foreign bank […]

French court to rule on cardinal accused of sex abuse cover-up

  LYON, France (AFP) — A French court on Thursday will deliver its verdict in the case of Cardinal Philippe Barbarin, accused of covering up sexual abuse of minors by one of his priests. The 68-year-old archbishop and five former aides went on trial in Lyon at a time when the Catholic Church has been hit by abuse scandals in countries as far afield as Australia, Chile and the United States. The outcome of the […]