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HONG KONG, China (AFP) — One of Hong Kong’s best-known democracy activists was banned Saturday from standing as lawmaker in upcoming elections, the latest blow to freedoms in the city as Beijing tightens its grip. Agnes Chow, 21, a former leader of the mass Umbrella Movement protests of 2014 that called for political reform, had her nomination rejected because she supports self-determination for the semi-autonomous city, the government said. It comes as fears grow that […]
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The German government said Friday it had asked a US court to throw out a lawsuit brought by indigenous groups from Namibia seeking reparations for the genocide of their peoples under German colonial rule. It was the first time Berlin has formally responded to the class-action suit launched by the Herero and Nama people last year over the tens of thousands killed in the 1904-1908 massacres. Berlin’s position “is that the […]
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Dutch police on Friday launched the country’s biggest ever DNA search, asking over 20,000 men to come forward as they seek to resolve the 1998 murder of a young boy. “Some 21,500 men will receive a personal invitation in February to voluntarily give DNA samples,” police said in a statement. “It’s the largest such DNA investigation in search of family ties ever carried out in The Netherlands.” Eleven-year-old Nicky Verstappen […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — California Governor Jerry Brown Friday signed an executive order detailing aims to have five million electric cars on the state’s roads by 2030 — by accelerating the production of such vehicles using financial incentives and rebates. The $2.5 billion, eight-year plan also involves the installation of 250,000 electric vehicle charging stations and 200 hydrogen fueling stations by 2025. “To continue to meet California’s climate goals and clean air standards, […]
ZIGUINCHOR, Senegal, Africa (AFP) — A group of Spanish tourists were robbed and raped in Senegal’s restive Casamance region by armed men, a security source and state media said on Friday. The tourists’ vehicle was stopped near the village of Karonge, around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the regional capital Ziguinchor, a security source told AFP. “There were four Spanish tourists. A man and three women were being driven by a Senegalese driver. They were […]
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 […]
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. […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
