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MONTGOMERY, United States (AFP) — Democrat Doug Jones scored a stunning upset victory Tuesday in a fiercely contested US Senate race in conservative Alabama, defeating a controversial Donald Trump-backed Republican who failed to overcome damaging accusations of sexual misconduct. The Democratic victory in the most contentious US election of 2017, and in one of the reddest of deep South states, marks a bitter blow to the president, who gave his full endorsement to Republican Roy […]
by Alison Tahmizian Meuse Agence France Presse DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Saudi filmmakers and major cinema chains alike are basking in the news the kingdom will lift its decades-old ban on movie theaters, opening a market of more than 30 million people. At the Dubai International Film Festival on Tuesday, short-film directors talked shop on a seaside veranda, the city’s iconic sailboat-shaped hotel in the background. And Saudi Arabia was on everyone’s mind. […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A crack has been found in a Japanese “bullet train” that could have caused a derailment, officials said Wednesday, in the first-ever “serious incident” for the iconic mode of transport. Crew aboard a “shinkansen” bullet train reported a burning smell and strange noises when it pulled out of a station in southern Japan on Monday. The train stopped for checks at Nagoya station in central Japan and inspectors discovered a crack […]
KINSHASA, DR Congo (AFP) — The United Nations on Tuesday warned that more than 400,000 children in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) are severely malnourished and could die within months without emergency intervention. The crisis — the latest to hit the poverty-stricken, strife-torn central African country — is unfolding in the vast region of Kasai, the UN’s children fund Unicef said. An 18-month-long combination of violence, mass displacement and slumping agricultural output are having a […]
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — A senior UN official returning from Pyongyang said Tuesday that North Korean officials had told him it was important to prevent war but offered no concrete proposal for talks. “They agreed that it was important to prevent war,” Jeffrey Feltman, the UN’s political affairs chief, told reporters after briefing the Security Council on his trip. Feltman met with North Korea’s Foreign Minister Ri Yong-Ho and Vice Foreign Minister Pak Myong-Kuk […]
by Veronique Dupont Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Crews battling wildfires ravaging southern California for a week have managed to slow the spread of the worst of the blazes, officials said Tuesday, as residents were taking stock of the catastrophic damage. The biggest “Thomas” fire has charred nearly 95,000 hectares (234,000 acres) of land and is only 20 percent contained, according to the state agency Calfire. But in the past day […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — A 6.2-magnitude earthquake struck Iran’s southeastern province of Kerman on Tuesday, the Iranian seismological center reported, though minimal damage was reported. Eighteen people were wounded in the quake, which struck in the villages of Hejdak and Ravar in Kerman province, the national emergency service told state broadcaster IRIB. Officials said old houses were damaged in six villages, and classes at schools and universities were cancelled. The quake struck at 12:13 pm […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Kim Jong-Un has vowed to make North Korea the “world’s strongest nuclear power,” state media reported Wednesday, as the reclusive nation shows little sign of reining in a weapons program fuelling global alarm. The North has rattled the international community with a flurry of missile launches and its largest ever nuclear test in recent months in its bid to develop a warhead capable of striking the United States. Kim told workers […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — White House National Security Advisor HR McMaster warned Tuesday that shipping companies caught smuggling goods into North Korea could be making their “last delivery” anywhere. McMaster said UN sanctions have not halted deliveries of essential goods like refined fuel products that North Korea wants. The smuggling is done by ship-to-ship transfers, he said, suggesting that foreign vessels are moving the goods on the high seas to North Korean ships that take them […]
by Michel Comte © Agence France-Presse OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada announced Tuesday it would buy 18 used Australian jets instead of new Boeing Super Hornets, signaling limits in its unwavering friendship with its US neighbor. A little more than a year after saying it would buy 18 Super Hornets for more than $5 billion, and amid trade tensions, Ottawa formally rejected the deal in favor of used planes from Australia. Senior government and military officials said […]
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Agence France Presse) — Former Paralympic champion and convicted murderer Oscar Pistorius has been injured in a prison brawl over the use of a public phone, a South African official said on Tuesday. The double amputee — who is serving a 13-year jail term for the murder of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp — was left with a bruise after “an altercation with another inmate over the use of a public phone” on […]
by Shafiqul Alam Agence France Presse Bangladesh police scrambled Tuesday for details about alleged New York subway bomber Akayed Ullah, but uncovered few early leads that might shed light on what might have driven him to try and kill commuters with a homemade bomb. US police say the 27-year-old immigrant from Bangladesh set off a crude bomb strapped to his body in a crowded New York subway passage on Monday but the device failed to […]
