International

Maldives president declares emergency, former leader arrested

MALÉ, Maldives (AFP) – Maldives President Abdulla Yameen declared a 15-day state of emergency in the honeymoon islands on Monday, before heavily armed troops stormed the country’s top court and a former president was arrested in a deepening political crisis. The tiny tourist archipelago has been plunged into chaos recently, with the president pitted against the Supreme Court after he refused to comply with its Thursday order to release nine political dissidents. The tense standoff comes amid a years-long […]

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Disgraced USA Gymnastics doc sentenced to another 40-125 years

by with Nova SAFO in Chicago / Rena LAVERTY Agence France-Presse CHARLOTTE, United States – Larry Nassar, the former USA Gymnastics doctor who sexually abused girls and young women for decades under the guise of medical treatment, was sentenced Monday to an additional 40 to 125 years in prison. Nassar already faced a lifetime behind bars for two prior sentences after pleading guilty to sexually assaulting women and girls in his role as a high-profile sports medicine […]

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Nassar hearing halted as father lunges at disgraced doctor who abused at least 265 female athletes

https://youtu.be/IAFzWERy5So   by Nova Safo Agence France Presse CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — A father whose three daughters say they were sexually abused by Larry Nassar lunged at the disgraced former USA Gymnastics doctor in a Michigan courtroom Friday, bringing his sentencing hearing to an abrupt halt while order was restored. The disruption came on the last day of victim impact statements before Nassar — already condemned to spend dozens of years behind bars on […]

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Moscow authorities struggle to clear record snowfall

  MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Moscow authorities battled to clear streets and told children they could skip school, and scores of flights were delayed as the city was blanketed by its heaviest snowfall in 100 years. The city hall said that 44 centimeters (17 inches) of snow had fallen between Saturday and Monday morning, or 20 percent more than the average for the whole month. Up to 20 centimetres more was expected to fall on […]

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Japan protests unified Korea Olympic flag with disputed isles

  TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan said Monday it had lodged a protest with South Korea over the “unacceptable” use of a unified Korean Olympic flag that features a set of disputed islands. The two Koreas have agreed to march together under the unification flag — a pale blue silhouette of the peninsula — at the Games’ opening ceremony on February 9, and to form a combined women’s ice hockey team. The flag shows a […]

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Singapore to amend law after ‘showbiz pastor’ case

SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singapore will amend a law that allowed a megachurch pastor to escape a harsher prison term for fraud despite funnelling millions in church funds into his wife’s music career, a senior official said Monday, following a public backlash. In a case that fascinated Singapore with a heady mix of religion, showbiz and fraud, Kong Hee and five other church leaders were convicted in 2015 of spending Sg$24 million ($19.8 million) from a […]

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Maldives opposition urges global community to help end crisis

MALÉ, Maldives (AFP) – Opposition leaders in the Maldives urged the international community Monday to pressure President Abdulla Yameen into obeying a court order to free political prisoners and “restore democracy” to the troubled honeymoon islands. Yameen’s regime has so far refused to release nine jailed dissidents and reinstate opposition lawmakers as ordered by the Maldives’ top court in a shock ruling last week that has deepened turmoil in the atoll nation. The Supreme Court on Sunday […]

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Azerbaijan calls snap presidential poll

by Elman Mamedov Agence France-Presse BAKU, Azerbaijan (AFP) – Azerbaijan’s strongman Ilham Aliyev on Monday called a snap presidential vote for April, six months ahead of schedule, as opposition politicians slammed the surprise move. “Set the date of the election of the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan on April 11,” Aliyev ordered in a decree posted on his website without providing an immediate explanation for the move. The oil-rich country was initially set to hold the […]

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Two crew feared dead in Japan army helicopter crash

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Two crew were feared dead Monday after a Japanese military helicopter crashed in a residential area in the southwest of the country, setting a home on fire. Defense Minister Itsunori Onodera confirmed the crash in the town of Kanzaki and said the two crew on board were retrieved “in a state of cardiac and respiratory arrest,” Jiji news agency reported. The language is often used by Japanese officials before deaths are officially confirmed. […]

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Syrians suffer breathing difficulties after regime strikes

BEIRUT, Lebanon (AFP) — Five people were treated for “suffocation” Sunday after Syrian regime air strikes on the northwestern town of Saraqeb, a monitor said, adding that 10 civilians were killed in southern Idlib province. The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported a “foul smell after regime helicopters struck several areas of the town in Idlib province, causing five civilians to suffer from suffocation.” It quoted residents and medical sources as saying “toxic gas” […]

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China hits back after US tariffs

BEIJING, China (AFP) — China has launched an anti-dumping investigation into sorghum imports from the United States, spurring worries of a brewing tit-for-tat trade war between the world’s top two economies. The commerce ministry announced the self-initiated probe on Sunday, just weeks after President Donald Trump’s administration slapped its latest batch of tariffs on Chinese goods. The ministry did not immediately announce any new tariffs on the grain, though, and the results of the dumping […]

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Anti-gay marriage lawmaker ahead in Costa Rica vote for next president

by Marco Sibaja Agence France-Presse SAN JOSE, Costa Rica (AFP) — A conservative, evangelical lawmaker who fiercely opposes gay marriage emerged as the frontrunner to become Costa Rica’s next president, according to partial results from a first round election Sunday. Fabricio Alvarado of the right-wing National Restoration Party received 26 percent of the vote, according to a count of over half the ballots, according to the country’s Supreme Electoral Tribunal. That placed him in the […]

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