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PARIS, France (AFP)–A friend of the Chechen-born man who killed one person during a stabbing spree in Paris on Saturday night has been arrested in the eastern French city of Strasbourg, a source close to the inquiry said Sunday. The attacker, whom official sources have named as Khamzat A., grew up with his family in Strasbourg, home to a large community of refugees from the Muslim Russian republic of Chechnya.
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP)–At least two people were killed and 13 others injured in bomb attacks, including a suicide blast, targeting churches in Indonesia’s second biggest city Surabaya, police said Sunday. “There have been three attacks at three churches,” East Java Police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said. The deadly blasts all occurred within 10 minutes of each other, police said, with the first explosion at 7.30 am (0030 GMT).
by Francesco Fontemaggi / Dave Clark © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States promised Friday that it would work to rebuild North Korea’s sanctions-crippled economy if Kim Jong Un’s regime agrees to surrender its nuclear arsenal. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s vow came as senior US officials expressed growing optimism ahead of the landmark June 12 summit between Kim and President Donald Trump. Pompeo, who held talks Pyongyang’s young leader over […]
by Hui Min Neo © Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — A decade since the devastating earthquake in China’s Sichuan province that left more than 87,000 people dead or missing, activist artist Ai Weiwei concedes that Beijing will never provide a full reckoning of the disaster. “We will never get a straight answer. Since the communist government was set up, the truth behind all major historical events has never been officially revealed,” the conceptual artist told […]
by Daniel Bosque © Agence France-Presse BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Catalonia’s parliament will vote Saturday on whether to appoint hardline independence supporter Quim Torra as regional president, after deposed leader Carles Puigdemont stepped aside from the running. Torra, a 55-year-old father-of-three, is an independence advocate cut from the same cloth as Puigdemont who picked him and has tasked him with continuing his fight with Spain’s central government to achieve independence. On Friday, Torra said his […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China marked the 10th anniversary Saturday of a massive earthquake that killed tens of thousands in southwest Sichuan province and left scars on the nation that have yet to fully heal. More than 87,000 were left dead or missing when a 7.9-magnitude quake struck Sichuan on the afternoon of May 12, 2008, including 5,335 school pupils. The disaster provoked widespread grief in China, but also outrage after it emerged 7,000 […]
by Salam Faraj with Mohammad Salim in Mosul © Agence France-Presse BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraq headed to the polls Saturday for its first parliamentary election since declaring victory over the Islamic State group, with the country hoping to shore up a fragile peace and rebuild. Some 24.5 million voters began casting their ballots under tight security, as the jihadists still pose a major security threat despite a sharp fall in violence. The poll comes […]
by Sam Reeves © Agence France-Presse KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s scandal-ridden former leader Najib Razak was hit with a travel ban Saturday as speculation mounted he was about to flee the country following his shock election loss, in a possible bid to avoid prosecution over a massive financial scandal. An angry crowd had gathered at a Kuala Lumpur airport, shouting at vehicles and seeking to stop them entering, after Najib tweeted that he was […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — At least 19 people have been killed in fresh clashes between Myanmar’s military and an ethnic armed group on Saturday in remote northern Shan State, Myanmar army and local sources told AFP, as fighting in the country’s borderlands intensifies. “Nineteen [people] were killed in fighting,” the military source said, adding that two-dozen had been injured. Rights defenders say clashes in northern Myanmar near the China border have ramped up in recent […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Three generations of a single family were identified Saturday as the victims of Australia’s worst mass shooting in 22 years, a murder-suicide which left seven people dead. They included Katrina Miles, 35, and her four children — three boys and a girl aged eight to 13 — who were found Friday in a shed on a rural property near the Margaret River wine region in Western Australia, police said. Miles’ mother Cynda […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — London Mayor Sadiq Khan on Friday proposed to ban adverts for foods high in fat, salt, and sugar from the city’s transport network in a bid to tackle childhood obesity. The mayor also suggested a ban on new hot-food takeaways opening within 400 meters (yards) of schools, his office announced. “Child obesity in London is a ticking time bomb and I am determined to act,” Khan said. “It can’t be […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — Hundreds of people were evacuated Friday after a World War II bomb was found at a Hong Kong construction site, police said, the third such discovery in the territory this year. Police cordoned off roads and evacuated some 1,200 people from shops, restaurants, and offices in the bustling Wanchai business district as experts sought to unearth and defuse the 450-kilogram (1,000-pound) US-made bomb. The ordinance, which had laid dormant for […]
