GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP) — A Guatemalan court on Wednesday sentenced a former soldier to 5,160 years in prison for the massacre of 201 peasants during one of the worst atrocities of the Central American nation’s civil war. The court found Santos Lopez “responsible as author” of 171 of the killings and sentenced him to 30 years for each, or 5,130 years in total. He received an additional 30 years linked to the killing of […]
International
Abu Dhabi prince targeted by French lawsuits over Yemen war
PARIS, France (AFP) — Rights activists filed two complaints in France against a visiting Abu Dhabi prince on Wednesday, accusing him of being complicit in torture as well as in war crimes in Yemen. Crown Prince Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, who is a close ally of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, was in Paris for a meeting with President Emmanuel Macron. The October 2 killing of dissident Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi loomed large […]
US troops limited to batons on Mexico border
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US troops stationed on the border with Mexico ahead of the expected arrival of a Central American migrant caravan can intervene to quell violence but will be armed only with batons, Defense Minister Jim Mattis said on Wednesday. The White House has given almost 5,800 troops posted along the frontier guidance that they can come to the aid of any Customs and Border Protection agents who come under attack, Mattis […]
US, South Korea scale back military exercise
by Sylvie LANTEAUME Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States and South Korea have scaled down a joint military exercise scheduled for the spring of 2019 to facilitate nuclear talks with North Korea, US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis said Wednesday. “Foal Eagle is being reorganized a bit to keep it at a level that will not be harmful to diplomacy,” Mattis said, adding that it would be “reduced in scope.” US […]
Crown prince a ‘red line’ in Khashoggi probe: Saudi FM
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Calls for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman to be held accountable for the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi are a “red line”, Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir said Wednesday. In a BBC television interview, Jubeir said any disparaging discussion about Prince Mohammed or his father, the Saudi monarch, would not be tolerated. “In Saudi Arabia our leadership is a red line. The custodian of the two holy mosques (King […]
Trump rows with US Supreme Court chief of courts bias claim
by Chris LEFKOW and Sebastian SMITH Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump entered an extraordinary row Wednesday with the chief justice of the Supreme Court, claiming “shocking” bias against his policies in parts of the judiciary. He singled out the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, whose jurisdiction includes left-leaning California, tweeting that its rulings “are making our country unsafe! Very dangerous and unwise!” Earlier, Chief Justice John Roberts, […]
Interpol picks South Korean as president as Russia loses out
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Interpol named South Korea’s Kim Jong-yang as its new president on Wednesday, in a blow to Russia which denounced “unprecedented pressure” against its own candidate to lead the global policing body. There had been growing Western calls for Interpol to reject Alexander Prokopchuk — a Russian interior ministry official and current Interpol vice president — over fears Moscow could abuse the role to target political opponents US-backed Kim, Interpol’s […]
Gunmen kidnap Italian woman in Kenya
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — An armed gang abducted an Italian woman from a village in southeast Kenya, shooting and wounding five residents in the raid, police said Wednesday. “The attackers fired indiscriminately at residents” before kidnapping the 23-year-old, who worked as a volunteer at an orphanage, during the attack after dark on Tuesday evening at Chakama, a small village in the coastal Kilifi county, police said in a statement. Three children were among those injured, […]
California fire death toll rises to 81
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The death toll from the devastating wildfire in northern California rose to 81 Tuesday with the discovery of two more sets of remains, officials said. The number of people listed as unaccounted for in the deadliest and most destructive fire in state history jumped up by nearly 200 to 870. This number has been fluctuating a lot in recent days amid the confusion of the search for bodies in […]
Starvation leaves Yemeni boy Ghazi too weak to cry
by Marzooq al-Jabiry with Dana Moukhallati in Dubai Agence France Presse TAEZ, Yemen (AFP) — Skin and bones, 10-year-old Ghazi Saleh lies on a hospital bed in the southwestern Yemeni city of Taez barely breathing. He only weighs eight kilograms. Starving and too weak to move or even cry, Ghazi can only look down at his emaciated body as he struggles to keep his eyes open. Some 14 million Yemenis are at risk of famine, […]
Thierry Bollore: The Renault exec temporarily taking Ghosn’s reins
PARIS, France (AFP) — The man chosen to temporarily replace fallen auto star Carlos Ghosn at Renault is an industry insider with many years of experience working in Asia. Thierry Bollore, a 55-year-old father of five, has been declared deputy CEO to ensure day-to-day management following Ghosn’s stunning arrest in Tokyo on charges of under-reporting his pay at Nissan. Before his temporary elevation to the top of Renault, Bollore was the French car giant’s Chief […]
Bannon, billionaire Guo unite behind China ‘crimes’
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Exiled Chinese tycoon Guo Wengui and Steve Bannon Tuesday implicated China in the seemingly accidental death of tycoon Wang Jian, accusing Beijing of murdering, imprisoning and torturing its own people on a massive scale. The two men used a news conference held amid tight security in a five-star New York hotel to announce that they were going to use a $100 million fund set up by Guo to investigate […]





