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by Clare BYRNE Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — A rights group and a major trade union went to France’s top administrative court Wednesday seeking a ban on riot police using rubber bullets, blamed for injuring dozens of “yellow vest” protesters. Activists have denounced the police for their use of the projectiles during two months of anti-government protests, which have repeatedly ended in rioting. A government spokesman told the court that police had opened […]
BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — Seven migrants are dead and 23 missing after their boat capsized in the Caribbean Sea off northwestern Colombia, officials said Wednesday. The vessel carrying 18 adults and 14 children was upended by a wave early Monday that left passengers “adrift in the sea,” said Lilia Cordoba, the mayor of the Colombian coastal town of Acandi. Seven bodies, including a child, were recovered on Tuesday and Wednesday along two beaches in the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday reiterated strong US support for Venezuela’s opposition and said protesters demanding the ouster of President Nicolas Maduro were fighting for freedom. “Large protests all across Venezuela today against Maduro. The fight for freedom has begun!” Trump tweeted. Trump said that earlier he’d spoken with self-declared acting president Juan Guaido, who has been recognized by Washington, to reinforce “strong United States support for Venezuela’s fight to […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Spain’s King Felipe VI on Wednesday visited special forces helping Iraq fight jihadists, during the first trip by a Spanish monarch to the war-ravaged country in four decades, a diplomat said. The king, whose country is a member of an international coalition battling the Islamic State group, also later met President Barham Saleh. Iraq in 2017 declared victory over IS following a bruising months-long campaign backed by the coalition, which continues […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Hard winds lash France’s Atlantic Coast as Storm Gabriel arrives, while heavy snow hits other parts of the country, including the capital. https://youtu.be/MHeEejFqFO0
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — Toxic smog forced Bangkok authorities to issue an unprecedented order to shut nearly 450 schools on Wednesday, as authorities struggle to manage a pollution crisis that has stirred widespread concern. The Thai capital has been shrouded in murky haze for weeks, forcing residents to don masks and sparking social media criticism of the uneven response by the government. Reasons given for the lingering pall include exhaust from traffic, unfettered construction, the […]
by Delphine TOUITOU Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Top US and Chinese trade officials return to the bargaining table on Wednesday, with extra tension in the atmosphere amid Washington’s sweeping prosecution of Chinese telecoms giant Huawei. The world’s two largest economies are battling for nothing less than future dominance in critical high-tech industries, according to US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer, the lead US negotiator. A little over three years ago, Beijing launched […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday urged its citizens to avoid all travel to crisis-torn Venezuela, citing risks of crime and arrest and the US embassy’s limited ability to assist. “Do not travel to Venezuela due to crime, civil unrest, poor health infrastructure and arbitrary arrest and detention of US citizens,” the State Department said in an updated travel advisory. “There are shortages of food, electricity, water, medicine and medical supplies […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The FBI is investigating Chinese economic espionage in nearly all of its 56 field offices around the country, underscoring the depth of the threat to US business, Director Christopher Wray told Congress Tuesday. “China writ large is the most significant counterintelligence threat we face,” Wray told the Senate Intelligence Committee in a hearing on foreign threats. “We have economic espionage investigations, for example — that’s just one piece of it […]
by Alice RITCHIE and Dmitry ZAKS Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May won parliament’s backing on Tuesday to renegotiate her Brexit deal — a major policy reversal that sets up a clash with Brussels just two months before withdrawal day. May’s dramatic decision to abandon a pact she herself sealed with the 27 EU leaders at a summit last month came with Britain on course to crash out […]
BRUMANDINHO, Brazil (AFP) — The number of people killed by the collapse of a dam at a Brazilian mining complex rose from 65 to 84 on Tuesday, with the number of missing down from 292 to 276, an official said. Lieutenant Flavio Godinho, Civil Defense spokesman in the Minas Gerais state where the accident happened, said 42 bodies have now been identified after five days of an intense search operation through the mud. © Agence […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Democrats on Tuesday picked Stacey Abrams, who rose to prominence in her heated but unsuccessful Georgia governor’s race, to deliver the rebuttal to Donald Trump’s State of the Union address, a first for an African-American woman. The president will give his annual speech on February 5 before a joint session of Congress, after it was postponed because of the partial government shutdown. Abrams is a former Georgia legislative leader but […]
