International

Singapore transport minister resigns over corruption charges

By Catherine LAI SINGAPORE, Jan 18, 2024 (AFP) – Singapore’s prime minister announced on Thursday the resignation of his transport chief after he was charged with 27 offences in a corruption probe that has also ensnared a billionaire hotel tycoon. Transport Minister S. Iswaran was arrested in July of 2023 and released on bail in connection with a rare top-level graft investigation in the city-state. Iswaran, 61, said he would plead not guilty to the […]

Sexual assault accuser confronts Trump in NY trial

NEW YORK, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – The woman whom Donald Trump was found liable of sexually assaulting faced off with the former president Wednesday in a New York courtroom to say he subsequently ruined her reputation. E. Jean Carroll, 80, is seeking more than $10 million alleging that Trump defamed her in 2019, when she first made her assault allegations public, by saying she “is not my type.” “It means I’m too ugly to […]

US strikes in Yemen after Huthis re-designated ‘terrorist’ entity

WASHINGTON, Jan 18, 2024 (AFP) – American forces targeted 14 missiles that were ready to launch in Yemen, the US military said Wednesday, after Washington re-designated the Iran-backed Huthi rebels as a “terrorist” entity for their attacks on merchant vessels. The Huthis — who have already faced multiple rounds of air strikes in response to their targeting of international shipping — struck a US-owned bulk cargo carrier in the wake of the designation announcement, and […]

Prosecutor probing gang-related Ecuador TV studio attack is killed

QUITO, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – The prosecutor investigating a dramatic armed assault by gangsters last week on an Ecuadoran television station during a live broadcast was shot dead Wednesday, the attorney general said. A prosecution source told AFP that Cesar Suarez had been in charge of finding the gang responsible for the terror-inspiring attack on state-owned TC Television in the port city of Guayaquil by hooded assailants armed with guns and explosives. AFP obtained […]

UK’s Sunak survives knife-edge vote as Rwanda bill clears Commons

By Peter HUTCHISON   LONDON, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak survived a key test of his leadership Wednesday, fending off right-wing rebels to win a crunch parliamentary vote on his contentious plan to send migrants to Rwanda. Sunak, in power since October 2022, has staked his political future on the scheme, as Britain gears up for its next general election later this year. Right-wing Conservatives had threatened to kill the […]

Heavy snow, freezing rain hamper German travel

BERLIN, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – Severe winter weather prompted the cancellation of hundreds of flights Wednesday at Frankfurt airport, Germany’s busiest, as the country faced heavy snowfall and freezing rain. A Frankfurt airport spokeswoman said 570 of 1,047 flights had been axed from the schedule by late morning as Germany’s business capital prepared for dramatic weather conditions. By early afternoon, all remaining departures were struck from the schedule due to the onset of freezing […]

Hamas sets new conditions in hostage medicines deal

GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – A top Hamas official announced new conditions Wednesday for delivering medicines to hostages held by the group in Gaza, insisting trucks carrying the drugs must not be inspected by Israel. Under a deal thrashed out by mediators Qatar and France on Tuesday, medicines along with humanitarian aid are to be supplied to civilians in Gaza in exchange for delivering drugs needed by hostages held there. Forty-five […]

Princess of Wales in hospital after surgery: palace

LONDON, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – The Princess of Wales is facing up to two weeks in hospital and several months’ recuperation after undergoing successful abdominal surgery, Kensington Palace announced on Wednesday. The 42-year-old wife of William, Prince of Wales, heir to the British throne, was admitted to a private clinic in central London on Tuesday, a statement said. “The surgery was successful and it is expected that she will remain in hospital for ten […]

Russian police, demonstrators clash in rare protest over jailed activist

MOSCOW, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – Protesters and riot police were injured Wednesday when clashes erupted in a small town in Russia’s central Bashkortostan after an activist was sentenced to four years in prison. Street protests are a rarity in Russia, which has clamped down on dissent since launching its military offensive in Ukraine and has strict anti-demonstration laws. Crowds of men in the town of Baymak fought with riot police in temperatures hovering around […]

Kenya cult leader faces mental health tests before murder charges

MALINDI, Kenya, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – A Kenyan court on Wednesday gave prosecutors two weeks to conduct mental health assessments of a cult leader and suspected accomplices before charging them with murder over the deaths of more than 400 followers. Self-proclaimed pastor Paul Nthenge Mackenzie is alleged to have incited his acolytes to starve to death in order to “meet Jesus” in a case that shocked the world. Mackenzie was arrested last April after […]

US strikes Yemen missiles that posed threat to ships

By W.G. DUNLOP WASHINGTON, Jan 16, 2024 (AFP) – American forces destroyed four anti-ship missiles in Yemen on Tuesday that threatened civilian and military vessels, the US military said, as attacks by Iran-backed Huthi rebels continue despite multiple strikes against them. It is at least the third time in less than a week that the United States has carried out strikes against the Huthis, who have repeatedly taken aim at merchant vessels in the vital […]

WTO head ‘less optimistic’ for world trade due to Red Sea strikes

DAVOS, Switzerland, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – The World Trade Organization’s chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Wednesday said she was “less optimistic” about world trade in 2024, pointing to tensions in the Red Sea. The head of the international trade body said weaker global economic growth, “worsening geopolitical tensions, the new disruptions we see in the Red Sea, on the Suez Canal, the Panama Canal” meant “we are less optimistic”. She was speaking to journalists at […]