by Jonah Mandel © Agence France-Presse JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel struck a dozen Syrian and Iranian targets inside Syria on Saturday after an Israeli fighter jet crashed under fire from Syrian air defences, the military said. The confrontation was the most serious between arch foes Israel and Iran since the start of the civil war in Syria in 2011. Israel’s raids came after it intercepted what it said was an Iranian drone entering its airspace from […]
International
Kim Jong Un invites South’s Moon to Pyongyang: Seoul
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has invited the South’s President Moon Jae-in for a summit in Pyongyang, Seoul said Saturday. The invitation, delivered by Kim’s visiting sister Kim Yo Jong, said Kim was willing to meet the South’s leader “at the earliest date possible”, said a spokesman for the presidential Blue House. An inter-Korean summit would be the third of its kind, after Kim’s father and predecessor Kim Jong Il met […]
Publisher detained in China ‘confesses’, blames Sweden
SHANGHAI, China (AFP) – Detained book publisher Gui Minhai has surfaced nearly three weeks after disappearing into police custody in China, confessing wrongdoing and accusing his adopted country Sweden of manipulating him like a “chess piece”. It was unclear whether the Chinese-born Gui’s statement was genuine or made under duress, but a video of his confession shows him flanked by two police officers in a scene likely to prompt accusations of official coercion. The Chinese-born Gui, 53, was […]
Shannon Watts and Dana Loesch, faces of gun control debate
by Sébastien BLANC Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Each time there’s another mass shooting in the United States, Shannon Watts and Dana Loesch take to Twitter on opposite ends of the gun debate. Watts, founder of Moms Demand Action for Gun Sense in America, makes the arguments for stricter gun control in a country with 33,000 gun-related deaths a year. Loesch, spokeswoman for the National Rifle Association (NRA) and a conservative radio host, lays out […]
Canada sits on top of Mixed Doubles Curling event
(Eagle News) – After six rounds of play, Canada sits on top of the Curling standings after day three of round robin match play with five wins and their only loss coming from 2nd placed team Norway. Canada’s team is composed of John Morris and Kaitlyn Lawes, both Olympic Gold Medalists from Vancouver and Sochi, respectively. Trailing Canada is Norway, OAR, and reigning Mixed Doubles World Champions Switzerland who are all tied for 2nd. Team […]
Gerry Adams: pariah turned peacemaker
by Julien LAGACHE Agence France-Presse DUBLIN, Ireland (AFP) – Gerry Adams went from being the political voice of the Irish Republican Army, reviled by the British government and Northern Ireland’s Protestants, to playing the peacemaker in bringing the province’s Troubles to an end. As he hands over the reins of power of Sinn Fein to Mary Lou McDonald, Adams has more recently become an anti-austerity figurehead and an opponent of Brexit while cultivating an avuncular image […]
Mexican marines nab Zetas drug cartel boss wanted in US
by Jennifer Gonzalez Covarrubias Agence France Presse MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexican marines have captured a kingpin in the violent Zetas drug cartel who had a $5-million reward on his head in the United States, authorities said Friday. Jose Maria Guizar Valencia, alias “Z43,” was arrested Thursday in the upscale Mexico City neighborhood of La Roma “without the use of force,” the head of the National Security Commission, Renato Sales, announced in a […]
US Justice Dept’s No. 3 official resigns: report
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The third-ranking official at the US Justice Department is resigning just nine months after taking the powerful position, the New York Times reported Friday. The resignation of Associate Attorney General Rachel Brand, a national security law expert, comes as President Donald Trump and Republican legislators have stepped up attacks on the department over special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s investigation of possible Trump campaign links to Russian interference in the 2016 election. […]
Scores of flights canceled as storm pummels US Midwest
CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — A winter storm brought heavy snowfall to parts of the US Midwest on Friday, causing 1,500 flight cancelations, snarling roads and closing schools. “Snow will make weather headlines from the greater Chicago metro area to Detroit on Friday, with winter storm warnings in effect,” the National Weather Service said. Schools were closed in both cities and multiple car crashes were reported on icy roads. Flight cancelations built up quickly […]
Airbus to pay 81 mn euros to end German corruption probe
by Michelle FITZPATRICK Agence France-Presse FRANKFURT AM MAIN, Germany (AFP) — European aircraft manufacturer Airbus on Friday said it had agreed to pay a fine of 81.25 million euros ($99 million) to end a German corruption probe into the 2003 sale of Eurofighter jets to Austria. Prosecutors in Munich said in a statement that their investigation did not find evidence of bribery to secure the lucrative contract. But they said Airbus management had failed in […]
Taiwan quake death toll reaches 12 as rescuers pull more bodies from quake rubble
HUALIEN, Taiwan (AFP) — After hours of painstaking search efforts, Taiwanese rescue workers pulled two more bodies from the flattened remains of a hotel Friday, bringing the death toll from a deadly 6.4-magnitude quake to 12. Scores of emergency responders combed the rubble of the lower floors of the 12-storey Yun Tsui apartment block, which housed the Beauty Stay Hotel and had pancaked during the quake, leaving the building leaning at a 50-degree angle […]
‘Sinking’ Pacific nation is getting bigger: study
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — The Pacific nation of Tuvalu — long seen as a prime candidate to disappear as climate change forces up sea levels — is actually growing in size, new research shows. A University of Auckland study examined changes in the geography of Tuvalu’s nine atolls and 101 reef islands between 1971 and 2014, using aerial photographs and satellite imagery. It found eight of the atolls and almost three-quarters of the islands […]





