International

Malaysia court to deliver key ruling on N. Korea assassination

  by M. Jegathesan Agence France-Presse SHAH ALAM, Malaysia (AFP) — A Malaysian judge will Thursday deliver a key ruling in the trial of two women accused of the assassination of the half-brother of North Korea’s leader, with their families insisting they are innocent and should be set free. The court will decide whether there is sufficient evidence to support a murder charge against Siti Aisyah from Indonesia and Doan Thi Huong from Vietnam, who allegedly […]

Thousands march in Nicaragua demanding jailed protesters be freed

  by Blanca Morel / Julia Rios Agence France-Presse MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AFP) — Thousands of Nicaraguans marched through their capital on Wednesday demanding that anti-government protesters jailed over the past four months be released. “Liberty for our political prisoners,” yelled many in the rally. They also called for President Daniel Ortega, a 72-year-old former guerrilla who has been in power the last 11 years, to step down. The demonstration was a show of defiance over a […]

Imprisoned Lula registers Brazil presidential candidacy

  by Jordi Miro Agence France-Presse BRASILIA, Brazil (AFP) — Imprisoned leftist leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva’s unlikely bid for Brazil’s presidency took a big step forward Wednesday with the formal registration of his candidacy in the capital Brasilia. About 10,000 red-clad Workers’ Party faithful marched on the Supreme Electoral Court, where top Lula allies did the paperwork to name the two term ex-president, now in jail for corruption, as their champion in Brazil’s October […]

Authorities struggle to identify Ecuador tourist bus crash dead

  QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Identification of the 24 victims of a fatal tourist bus crash in Ecuador has been hampered by the dead not carrying official documents, authorities said on Wednesday. “Unfortunately, the bodies arrived without any identity documents, making it difficult to identify them,” said forensics chief Klever Viteri outside the morgue in the western town of Pichincha. So far, seven Colombians, four Venezuelans and two Ecuadorians have been identified. Bogota confirmed earlier in […]

Prosecutors focus on Manafort ‘lies’ as trial draws to a close

    by Elodie Cuzin Agence France-Presse ALEXANDRIA, United States (AFP) — Closing arguments wrapped up in the trial of Paul Manafort on Wednesday with prosecutors accusing Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman of weaving a web of lies to avoid paying taxes on tens of millions of dollars he earned advising Russian-backed politicians in Ukraine. Defense attorneys sought, meanwhile, to cast doubt on the credibility of the government’s star witness in the case, which stems from […]

U.S. central girls, boys teams shine at inaugural Junior NBA World Championships

By Melissa Potes EBC Florida Bureau ORLANDO, FL (Eagle News Service) — The National Basketball Association (NBA) took a great leap of faith in the basketball skills of the youth of our generation by launching the first-ever Junior NBA World Championships…and they succeeded. Gathered at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando from August 7-12  the eight top boys and eight top girls international teams, as well as U.S. teams, clashed to become the world’s […]

Iglesia Ni Cristo members in Qatar donate blood, yield 324 bags of blood

  Members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) organized a blood donation activity on August 3 and 10 at the Hamad Hospital Blood Donor Center in Qatar where more than 800 members participated. More than 300 bags of blood were yielded in those two days which saw a big turn-out of donors – 828 to be exact. This was the result of a campaign among the Church members to donate blood.  Of those […]

Moon says Pyongyang summit to be ‘bold step’ towards ending war

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-in said Wednesday his visit to Pyongyang next month will be a “bold step” towards formally ending the decades-old war with the nuclear-armed North. The two Koreas agreed earlier this week to hold a third meeting between Moon and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un in September as a rapid diplomatic thaw builds on the peninsula following their first summit in April. Moon’s trip to the […]

Birmingham man behind UK parliament car ‘attack’

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The man arrested for driving into a barrier protecting the Houses of Parliament in a suspected terror attack was a Briton of Sudanese origin from Birmingham, media reports said Wednesday. Three people were injured when the silver Ford Fiesta drove into cyclists before crashing to a halt outside the House of Lords early on Tuesday morning. A 29-year-old British man driving the car was arrested at the scene, and named […]

Genoa bridge collapse toll rises to 38: Italy interior minister

ROME, Italy (AFP) — The number people of killed during the collapse of a bridge in the Italian port city of Genoa has risen to 38, Interior Minister Matteo Salvini said Wednesday. “We’re currently at 38 confirmed deaths and some people missing,” Salvini, who is also co-deputy prime minister, told reporters on the sidelines of an event in the southern region of Calabria. Salvini is due to arrive in Genoa, on Italy’s north-western coast, in […]

Putin ready to meet N. Korea’s Kim at ‘early date’: KCNA

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin is ready to meet with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “at an early date”, the North’s state media reported Wednesday, amid a rapid diplomatic thaw on the peninsula. Putin invited Kim and the South’s President Moon Jae-in in June to an economic forum in Vladivostok next month although it is not known whether the North Korean leader responded to the invitation. In a message to […]

Pennsylvania report lists more than 300 ‘predator’ priests who abused more than 1,000 kids

  by Jennie Matthew Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — More than 300 “predator” priests in Pennsylvania are accused of abusing over 1,000 children across seven decades, a grand jury said Tuesday in a devastating report that decried a systematic cover-up by the Catholic Church. It is thought to be the single most comprehensive report to date into abuse in the US church, since The Boston Globe first exposed pedophile priests in […]