International

Taiwan to stage live-fire drill simulating China “invasion”

TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Taiwan will practise thwarting a Chinese “invasion” in annual live-fire drills in June, simulating surprise coastal assaults to reflect increased military threats from Beijing, officials said Tuesday. China’s growing military is increasingly flexing its muscles and held live-fire drills last week in the Taiwan Strait — the narrow waterway separating the Chinese mainland from Taiwan — following weeks of naval maneuvers in the area. Chinese officials said their drills were to […]

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Kim and Moon: the heir born to rule and the escapee’s son

by Jung Hawon and Sebastien Berger Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the South’s President Moon Jae-in have followed paths to power as radically different as their two countries, but they will come together at a summit in the Demilitarized Zone on Friday. Moon’s parents were both born in a small village in Hungnam, in what is now North Korea, and his father Moon Yong-hyung graduated […]

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Yemen rebels vow to avenge coalition killing of political head

by Jamil Nasser with Shatha Yaish in Dubai Agence France Presse SANAA, Yemen (AFP) — Yemen’s Huthi militias vowed Monday to avenge the killing of their top political leader in what they said was a Saudi-led coalition air strike, the highest-ranking rebel to die in the three-year conflict. Saleh al-Sammad, head of the Huthis’ supreme political council, was “martyred” last Thursday in the eastern province of Hodeida, the Iran-allied rebels said via their Saba news […]

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US authorities capture Tennessee shooting suspect

by Nova SAFO Agence France Presse CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — Tennessee police captured Monday the man suspected of gunning down four people at a restaurant in Nashville, America’s country music capital. Travis Reinking — who exhibited “mental instability” and was arrested last year for trying to enter the White House grounds — was captured in the early afternoon after a more than 24-hour manhunt. “A tip from the community is what led to the […]

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Software better tackling IS propaganda, Facebook says

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Facebook on Monday said new detection tools wielded by its counterterrorism team are quickly detecting and removing extremist propaganda for the Islamic State group and al-Qaeda. The leading social network ‘took action’ on 1.9 million pieces of IS or al-Qaeda-linked content in the first three months of this year — nearly double the amount from the previous quarter, according to vice president of global policy management Monika Bickert and […]

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Pressure grows on Nicaragua’s Ortega as protest toll hits 27

by Marco SIBAJA Agence France Presse MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AFP) — Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega was under pressure from widespread street unrest Monday despite backing down on a contentious pension reform plan that triggered days of violence in which at least 27 people have been killed. Tens of thousands of people poured into the streets of the capital Managua in the evening hours to demand an end to the repression against protesters in the latest anti-government […]

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Toronto: Bodies and debris scattered over mile-long strip

by Francesco FONTEMAGGI Agence France Presse TORONTO, Canada (AFP) — The crime scene seems to go on forever, a taped off stretch of street scattered with bodies under orange sheets, urban debris and a pair of abandoned shoes. Toronto police have arrived, and a suspect is under lock and key, but no one yet knows why the driver of a white rental van spread death and destruction under the warm spring sunshine. “I heard screaming, […]

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Saudi king to launch ‘entertainment city’

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi King Salman will launch the construction of an “entertainment city” near Riyadh Wednesday, authorities said, part of a series of multi-billion dollar projects as the kingdom seeks to diversify its oil-reliant economy. The 334-square kilometer project in Qiddiya, southwest of Riyadh, would rival Walt Disney and include high-end theme parks, motorsport facilities, and a safari park, officials say. The facility highlights a “relentless effort to develop giga-projects that will […]

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At least 18 dead in China karaoke lounge fire: Xinhua

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A fire tore through a karaoke lounge in southern China on Tuesday, killing 18 people and injuring another five in a suspected arson case, police and state media said. The blaze took place after midnight in a three-storey building in Qingyuan City, Guangdong province, and was put out shortly before 1:00 am local time, according to the police. A preliminary investigation found that the fire was caused by arson, the Qingyuan public […]

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Chinese carrier leads live fire drill in East China Sea

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A flotilla of Chinese naval vessels held a “live combat drill” in the East China Sea, state media reported early Tuesday, the latest show of force by Beijing’s burgeoning navy in disputed waters that have riled neighbors. The state-run Xinhua news agency said the vessels, led by China’s sole aircraft carrier the Liaoning, “took part in anti-aircraft and anti-submarine warfare training” with a simulated “opposing force”. Xinhua said the drill, which […]

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Armenia celebrates as veteran leader quits amid protests

by Mariam Harutyunyan Agence France Presse YEREVAN, Armenia (AFP) — Armenia’s veteran leader Serzh Sarkisian resigned on Monday after mass protests against his election as prime minister with sweeping powers, sparking celebrations across the impoverished country. Last week lawmakers voted for Sarkisian as prime minister after he served a decade as Armenia’s president, triggering political turmoil in the Moscow-allied nation of 2.9 million people. The opposition said the move was designed to extend his chokehold […]

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G7 toughens Russia stance but Iran deal in the balance

by Dave Clark Agence France Presse TORONTO, Canada (AFP) — Foreign ministers from the Group of Seven vowed to defend their “democracy” against attacks from Vladimir Putin’s Russia on Monday in a show of solidarity from the world’s richest industrialized economies. Canada’s Chrystia Freeland, host of the Toronto talks, said Russia must pay a price for undermining Western elections, using nerve agent in an attempted assassination of a Russian double agent on British soil, and […]

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