International

Kavanaugh makes US Supreme Court debut

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — New US Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh dove into his new job Tuesday, shrugging off the controversy over his nomination and firing off a handful of questions at his first hearing, a case on prison reform. A handful of protesters rallied outside the court in opposition to the conservative justice, who was confirmed on Saturday by the Senate by a razor-thin margin after weeks of partisan rancor. “We will not […]

Nikki Haley suddenly resigns as Trump’s UN ambassador

by Sebastian SMITH and Shaun TANDON Agence France Presse Nikki Haley abruptly resigned Tuesday as the US ambassador to the United Nations, in the latest departure from President Donald Trump’s often shifting national security team. Meeting Haley in the Oval Office, Trump said she had done a “fantastic job” and would stay on to the end of the year. “She told me probably six months ago,” Trump told reporters, that ‘”I want to take a […]

Haiti quake toll rises to 17

PORT-AU PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — The death toll from the earthquake that struck northwest Haiti over the weekend has risen to 17, with nearly 350 others injured, the interior ministry said Tuesday. Nine people were killed in the coastal city of Port-de-Paix, the closest major town to the quake’s epicenter. Seven more died in Gros-Morne, about 50 kilometers (30 miles) to the southeast and one was killed in the city of Saint-Louis du Nord, the […]

Hurricane Michael strengthens, Florida panhandle braces

by Brendan SMIALOWSKI / with Leila Macor in Miami Agence France Presse PANAMA CITY, United States (AFP) — Hurricane Michael intensified Tuesday as it barreled toward the Florida coast, becoming a category 3 major storm as the governor of the southern US state warned residents to prepare immediately for a “monstrous” hit. Michael was now packing winds of 120 miles per hour (195 kilometers per hour) as it aimed for the Florida panhandle, the finger-shaped […]

Race to clean up oil spill after cargo ships collide off Corsica

MARSEILLE, France (AFP) — French and Italian civil and military teams were working to contain a spreading oil spill in the Mediterranean Monday after a container ship collision off the island of Corsica that prompted France to launch an investigation into “maritime pollution”. The accident occurred early Sunday when a Tunisian freighter rammed into a Cyprus-based vessel anchored about 30 kilometers (20 miles) off the northern tip of the French island. The ship’s hull was […]

Interpol saga hurts China’s bid to lead global bodies: analysts

  by Ryan McMorrow Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing’s international image took a self-inflicted bruising with a secretive investigation into the former Chinese head of Interpol, highlighting its ruthless tactics even as it seeks global goodwill in a trade spat with the United States, analysts said. The election of Meng Hongwei as head of Interpol in 2016 was a triumph for President Xi Jinping’s bid to burnish China’s international profile through leadership […]

Hong Kong leader refuses to explain journalist visa denial

  HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hong Kong’s leader Tuesday refused to say why the city had denied a visa to a leading Financial Times journalist, despite escalating demands for an explanation of the unprecedented challenge to freedom of the press. Victor Mallet, the FT’s Asia news editor and a British national, angered authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong by hosting a speech at the city’s press club by Andy Chan, the leader of a […]

Kavanaugh to hear first arguments as Supreme Court justice

  By Jessica Gresko and Mark Sherman Associated Press WASHINGTON (AP) — A Supreme Court with a new conservative majority takes the bench as Brett Kavanaugh, narrowly confirmed after a bitter Senate battle, joins his new colleagues to hear his first arguments as a justice. Kavanaugh will emerge Tuesday morning from behind the courtroom’s red velvet curtains and take his seat alongside his eight colleagues. It will be a moment that conservatives have dreamed of […]

Pompeo calls for ‘transparent’ Saudi probe into journalist’s disappearance

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Monday called for a thorough and open probe by Washington’s ally Saudi Arabia into the disappearance of journalist and Riyadh critic Jamal Khashoggi. “We call on the government of Saudi Arabia to support a thorough investigation of Mr Khashoggi’s disappearance and to be transparent about the results of that investigation,” Pompeo said in a statement, after President Donald Trump voiced concern for Khashoggi, […]

Trump says America owes Kavanaugh apology after Supreme Court battle

by Sebastian Smith Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Monday he was apologizing on behalf of the whole country to his new conservative Supreme Court justice after one of the most contentious confirmation processes in US history. At a White House swearing-in ceremony, Trump stood next to Justice Brett Kavanaugh and said he’d been “proven innocent” of the sexual assault allegations that threatened to derail him in a Senate […]

Florida braces for lethal floods as hurricane nears

  by Leila MACOR Agence France Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Florida was warned Monday to plan for “life-threatening” flash flooding as Michael heads for the US Gulf Coast, where it is expected to make landfall midweek as a major Category 3 hurricane. The alert came as the tropical storm system strengthened to a Category 1 hurricane, packing maximum sustained winds of 75 miles (120 kilometers) per hour, earlier in the day. By 1800 […]

Haiti quake upends lives already stressed by poverty

by Amelie BARON Agence France Presse PORT DE PAIX, Haiti (AFP) — Quake-hit Port-de-Paix was back to its daily routines Monday but in poor neighborhoods like l’Hopital, on a steep hill that looks out to the sea beyond the Haitian city, people’s troubles are just beginning. Nearly all the flimsily built houses along the mudslicked corridor that runs up the hill through L’Hopital show damage from Saturday’s 5.9 magnitude quake. “When a quake comes, there […]