International

Mattis wants to keep pressure on N. Korea

HONOLULU, United States (AFP) – The United States and South Korea are going to keep tightening the screws on Pyongyang so that the hermit state gives up its nuclear program, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Friday. “As two peace-loving nations, the Republic of Korea and America welcome the Olympic Games talks between the ROK and DPRK while at the same time remaining steadfast with the international economic pressure campaign to denuclearize the Korean peninsula,” Mattis said in […]

US trade commission blocks 300% tariffs on Bombardier CSeries planes

by Douglas Gillison Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – A bipartisan US trade panel on Friday blocked the government’s decision to impose nearly 300 percent punitive tariffs on airplanes manufactured by Canada’s Bombardier, in a dispute that has inflamed relations with Ottawa. The US International Trade Commission voted 4-0 that there was no injury to US manufacturers, which effectively forces President Donald Trump’s Commerce Department to reverse course on the retaliatory measures designed to protect Boeing. […]

Saudi Arabia frees top broadcaster held in anti-graft drive

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Saudi Arabia on Friday released the owner of the influential Arab satellite network MBC nearly three months after his arrest in an anti-corruption drive targeting the kingdom’s elite, sources told AFP. Waleed al-Ibrahim was among some 350 suspects rounded up since November 4, including billionaire princes and ministers who were detained in Riyadh’s luxury Ritz-Carlton hotel. Ibrahim held a family gathering at his residence after his release, three MBC employees told AFP […]

Football: Mourinho praises Sanchez after Man Utd FA Cup stroll

by John WEAVER Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Jose Mourinho hailed new signing Alexis Sanchez after he delivered a man-of-the-match performance to fire Manchester United into the fifth round of the FA Cup with a 4-0 win against lowly Yeovil Town on Friday. Sanchez was named in the starting line-up just days after he signed for United from Arsenal and was involved in the build-up to the first two goals, scored by Marcus Rashford […]

British ministers show united front to calm eurosceptics

by Alice RITCHIE Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Britain’s Brexit, finance and business ministers displayed a united front on Friday with a letter seeking to reassure eurosceptics worried over the country’s path out of the European Union. Publication of the letter late Friday followed a speech by Brexit minister David Davis, in which he admitted there were “different views” within the government over Britain’s departure from the bloc. Davis joined forces with finance minister Philip […]

Davis promises independent UK amid fresh Brexit tensions

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Brexit minister David Davis will seek to reassure eurosceptics about the government’s strategy for leaving the EU on Friday after fresh splits emerged in the ruling Conservative party. Prime Minister Theresa May rebuked her finance minister, Philip Hammond, on Thursday after he suggested Britain would only move “very modestly apart” from the EU’s economy after Brexit. Meanwhile backbench MP Jacob Rees-Mogg, who leads a group of more than 50 Brexit-supporting Conservative MPs, […]

Defiant Pakistani radio fights on from Prague

by Jan FLEMR Agence France-Presse PRAGUE, Czech Republic (AFP) – With its Pakistan bureau shut by authorities last week, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty’s Pashto-language station is broadcasting from its headquarters in a distant Prague, waiting for “the dust to settle,” according to its senior editor. The Islamabad office of Radio Mashaal, or Torch in Pashto, targets some 10 million people in areas along Pakistan’s border with Afghanistan. It was closed for airing content “against the interest of […]

Protesting French prison guards reject government proposals

by Joseph Schmid Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – French prison guards pushed ahead with work stoppages and pickets Friday after two unions turned down the government’s latest offer to end a nearly two-week crisis after a series of attacks by inmates. But French President Emmanuel Macron said his justice minister Nicole Belloubet, who has been negotiating with union leaders this week to end France’s worst prison blockade in 25 years, had his full support. “The […]

Trump apologises for retweeting far-right British group

by James PHEBY Agence France-Press LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – US President Donald Trump made a rare apology on Friday over his decision to re-tweet anti-Muslim videos posted by a British far-right group, a move which strained tensions with London. “If you’re telling me they’re horrible racist people, I would certainly apologize if you’d like me to do that,” he told ITV’s Good Morning Britain, referring to the group Britain First. Trump sparked outrage in Britain […]

South Korea’s long toll of disasters

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) – South Korea’s rapid transformation from a war-torn, impoverished backwater to Asia’s fourth-largest economy and a flourishing democracy is a source of great national pride. But a series of preventable disasters — the latest being the hospital fire that killed at least 37 people on Friday — has shaken public confidence in the foundations of the country’s development. Many South Koreans have questioned whether safety standards were sidelined and regulations ignored in […]

Tencent invests in ‘Mission: Impossible’ studio

BEIJING, China (AFP) – Chinese internet giant Tencent said on Friday it will take a stake in the US production company behind the “Mission: Impossible” and “Terminator” series, marking China’s latest incursion into Hollywood. The deal will give Tencent the opportunity to co-finance Skydance Media films, which will benefit from the Chinese firm’s distribution and marketing in the world’s second-largest movie market, firms said in a statement. It did not provide financial details but the Los Angeles […]

Dozens dead in South Korea hospital blaze

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A huge fire tore through a South Korean hospital on Friday killing at least 37 people, the government said, in the country’s worst blaze for a decade. Around 130 others were hurt in the fire, which comes just weeks before thousands of athletes and foreign visitors are expected in the country for the Winter Olympics. While South Korea has risen to become the world’s 11th-largest economy, some of its infrastructure […]