International

US asks China for help stopping mail-order opioids

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — The United States has asked China to crack down on postal shipments of synthetic opioids, which President Donald Trump says are fueling a US drug-abuse crisis, a State Department official said Wednesday. Because synthetic opioids, such as the highly potent drug fentanyl, are hard to detect in the mail, fighting drug trafficking into the United States has become “a completely different ballgame,” said James Walsh of the State Department’s Bureau […]

South Korea’s Moon to visit China for talks on N. Korea

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Moon Jae-In will visit China next week for talks on North Korea and other issues, his office said Wednesday, amid tentative signs of diplomatic movement after months of high tensions over Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threats. The announcement came as a high-level United Nations representative held talks with a senior North Korean official during a rare trip to Pyongyang. Jeffrey Feltman, UN undersecretary general for political affairs, […]

Putin says no Russian Olympics boycott despite ‘political’ ban

by Anna Malpas Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said Russia would allow athletes to compete at the 2018 Winter Olympics under a neutral flag, after the country was banned from the Games over a state-orchestrated doping program. There had been speculation Moscow could boycott the Games entirely after the International Olympic Committee (IOC) on Tuesday barred the country from competition over what its chief Thomas Bach described as […]

Trump recognizes Jerusalem as Israel’s capital; sparks firestorm

by Andrew Beatty with Mike Smith in Jerusalem Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump recognized the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Wednesday, prompting an almost universal diplomatic backlash and fears of new bloodshed in the Middle East. Trump’s defiant move, making good on a core campaign pledge, ended seven decades of US ambiguity on the status of the Holy City, which is vociferously claimed by both Israelis and […]

New blaze ignites near LA as fierce California wildfires rage

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — An inferno engulfed the Los Angeles region Wednesday, forcing more than 200,000 people to evacuate and threatening thousands of homes, including the luxe Bel-Air neighborhood dotted with mansions. The flames have swallowed some 80,000 acres (32,000 hectares) in just over a day since the “Thomas” fire, currently the state’s largest, broke out, leaving at least one dead in an area about 45 minutes from downtown LA. High winds caused another wave […]

Putin will seek new term as Russia president

  by Anna Smolchenko Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday said he would seek a new six-year term in March elections, a move that would make him the longest-serving Russian leader since Joseph Stalin. Putin, who has run Russia both as president and prime minister for the past 18 years, is expected to sail to victory, with only token opponents competing against him. “I will offer my candidacy for […]

California struck once more by devastating infernos

  by Javier Tovar Agence France Presse SANTA PAULA, United States (AFP) — More than a thousand firefighters were struggling to contain a wind-whipped brush fire in southern California on Tuesday that has left at least one person dead, sent thousands fleeing, and was choking the area with thick black smoke. The Ventura County Fire Department said more than 27,000 people had been told to evacuate as the fast-moving fire in the coastal county north […]

Indonesia cyclone death toll more than doubles to 41

  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — A tropical cyclone that pounded Indonesia’s main island of Java has killed 41 people, the country’s disaster agency said Wednesday, more than double the initial toll, with tens of thousands displaced by severe flooding and landslides. Among the victims of Cyclone Cempaka were 25 people killed by a single landslide in east Java last week, the agency said. The initial cyclone death toll was 19. Some 28,000 people have been […]

Trump to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital

by Mike Smith with Andrew Beatty in Washington Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Israel (AFP) — President Donald Trump will recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital Wednesday, upending decades of careful US policy and ignoring dire warnings of a historic misstep that could trigger a surge of violence in the Middle East. A senior administration official said Trump would make the announcement — ignoring frantic warnings from US allies in the region and around the world — at […]

Cambodia seizes shipment of ivory hidden in hollow logs

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AFP) — Cambodia has seized nearly a tonne of ivory hidden in hollowed-out logs and discovered inside an abandoned shipping container, an official said Wednesday. The country has become a key regional transit point for the illicit wildlife trade. Nearly 280 pieces of ivory — full and partial elephant tusks — were found in the container at the southwestern port of Sihanoukville after sitting there for a year. The shipment, owned by […]

Nearly 50 injured in Germany train crash: fire dept

BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — At least 47 people were injured when a passenger train crashed into a freight train near the western German city of Duesseldorf on Tuesday, prompting a large rescue operation. At least three of the passengers were “badly hurt” while the vast majority suffered light injuries, the Meerbusch fire department said on Twitter, giving the overall toll. The train was carrying 155 people. It was not immediately clear what caused the accident, which happened […]

US to study legality of bump stocks used in Las Vegas massacre

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Justice Department announced Tuesday that it is reviewing the legality of “bump stocks,” two months after a man shot down 58 concert-goers from a Las Vegas hotel window using the devices. The Department and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives — which regulates firearms but not gun accessories — will determine whether the devices, which make a semi-automatic weapon perform like an automatic weapon, are illegal. “Possessing firearm […]