International

Japanese tourist dies climbing Australia’s Uluru

SYDNEY, Australia (AFP)–A Japanese tourist has died attempting to climb Australian tourist attraction Uluru, police said Wednesday, adding to the death toll on the world’s largest monolith. Emergency services responded to a call on Tuesday afternoon, but the 76-year-old was declared dead at the scene. “This person’s believed to be a Japanese national. At this stage, we don’t believe it’s anything suspicious,” Northern Territory police Superintendent Shaun Gill told reporters. At least 36 people have […]

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Ex-Malaysian PM Najib appears in court on graft charges

by M. Jegathesa Agence France-Presse KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) – Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak arrived in court Wednesday to face charges he embezzled millions of dollars of public money, in a stunning fall from grace for a national leader. A scrum of journalists greeted Najib, 64, as he became the first ex-premier in Malaysia to appear in front of a judge. A tired-looking Najib was escorted by around 20 police officers into a […]

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Firefighters battle major wildfires in California

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP)–More than 2,000 firefighters battled a massive wildfire in California on Tuesday as authorities warned that record-breaking heat expected by the weekend could spark more blazes. The so-called County Fire in the northern part of the state had scorched 70,000 acres (28,327 hectares) in Napa and Yolo Counties by Tuesday and was just five percent contained, fire officials said. Authorities late Monday had warned residents in several counties to be ready […]

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Brazilian ex-billionaire sentenced to 30 years prison

RIO DE JANEIRO, Brazil (AFP) – Eike Batista, once the richest man in Brazil, was on Tuesday sentenced to 30 years in prison for corruption and money laundering over the massive corruption scandal at state oil giant Petrobras. The 61-year-old was also fined 53 million reis ($13.6 million, 11.7 million euros) after he was found guilty by a Rio de Janeiro court of paying a $16.5 million bribe to the ex-governor of Rio, Sergio Cabral, […]

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Death toll in Indonesia ferry accident rises to 24: official

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) – At least 24 people, including children, died Tuesday after a ferry ran aground off the coast of Indonesia, officials said, as rescuers raced to save scores of other passengers still missing or stranded aboard the vessel in rough seas. The deadly incident came on the same day authorities officially called off the search for more than 160 people still missing after another ferry sank on a popular tourist lake in Sumatra […]

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Poland’s Supreme Court top judge defies retirement law

  by Mary Sibierski  Agence France-Presse WARSAW, Poland (AFP) — Poland’s chief justice refused to step down Tuesday, defying a controversial new law by the right-wing government which requires her and other senior judges to retire early. Chief Justice Malgorzata Gersdorf, in a heated showdown, branded the controversial Supreme Court reform lowering the retirement age of its judges from 70 to 65 as a “purge”. She said she was defying the reform that cuts short her […]

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International rights experts begin probing Nicaraguan violence

  MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AFP) — Investigators from the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on Tuesday began a probe into months of violence in Nicaragua which has killed at least 220 people. “Our commitment is to the victims…regardless of who the perpetrators are,” said Italian human rights expert Amerigo Incalcaterra. A statement from the commission said it had a mandate of six months and has been tasked with “supporting the investigations of the violent acts that have […]

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Watch: Video of trapped children after being discovered alive in a cave in Thailand

    Twelve boys and their football coach trapped in a flooded Thai cave for nine days were found alive late Monday, sparking elation after days of painstaking searching by specialist divers through muddy waters and winding tunnels. There had been no contact with the boys, aged between 11 and 16, since they went missing with their 25-year-old coach last Saturday. The massive rescue effort had for days been hampered by heavy rains that flooded […]

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Agonizing rescue ahead for Thai boys trapped in cave as nation rejoices

  by Jenny Vaughan/ Sippachai Kunnuwong Agence France Presse MAE SAI, Thailand (AFP) — Rescuers braced for a long and difficult evacuation for 13 members of a Thai youth football team found alive in a cave nine days after they went missing, as food and medicine was shuttled to them through muddy waters on Tuesday. The 12 young boys and their football coach were discovered rake thin and hungry on a mound of mud surrounded […]

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Former Malaysian PM Najib Razak arrested

by M Jegathesan Agence France Presse Former Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was arrested by anti-corruption investigators Tuesday, officials said, the latest dramatic development in a widening graft probe that has engulfed the ex-leader. Najib will be charged Wednesday, a taskforce set up to investigate corruption involving Malaysian state fund 1MDB said in a statement adding the arrest “was made at his home”. The arrest is the latest in a series of stunning moves by […]

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Basketball diplomacy: S. Korea teams head for Pyongyang

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A high-level South Korean delegation left for Pyongyang Tuesday with dozens of basketball players, as North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s favourite sport becomes the latest effort at athletic diplomacy between the neighbours. Unification Minister Cho Myoung-gyon will lead the delegation of 50 male and female players, in the first visit to Pyongyang by an official from the South since Kim and US President Donald Trump’s landmark summit in Singapore last […]

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Updated: Thai cave boys to get 4 months’ food, and diving training

MAE SAI, Thailand (AFP) — Twelve boys and their football coach found alive in a Thai cave will be supplied with four months’ worth of food and get diving training, the military said, as focus shifted to the tricky task of evacuating the group from the complex underground system. The boys aged between 11 and 16, were discovered with their 25-year-old coach late Monday, rake thin but alive, huddled on a ledge deep inside a flooded […]

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