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SINGAPORE (AFP) — An establishment stalwart was named Singapore’s first female president Wednesday but the milestone was overshadowed by criticism her selection was undemocratic after she was handed the job without a vote. Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament from the Muslim Malay minority, did not have to face an election for the largely ceremonial post originally due this month after authorities decided her rivals did not meet strict eligibility criteria. It was not the […]
by Hwang Sunghee Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea vowed Wednesday to accelerate its weapons programs in response to the “evil” sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council following its latest and most powerful nuclear test. The respected 38 North website in the US raised its estimate for the yield from the explosion, which Pyongyang says was a hydrogen bomb small enough to fit onto a missile, to around 250 […]
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) — South Korea said on Wednesday (September 13) traces of radioactive xenon gas were confirmed to be from a North Korean nuclear test earlier this month, but it was unable to conclude whether the test had been for a hydrogen bomb as Pyongyang claimed. North Korea conducted its sixth nuclear test on September 3, prompting the United Nations Security Council to step up sanctions with a ban on the reclusive regime’s […]
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro said Tuesday he was prepared to meet the opposition for talks brokered by the Dominican Republic and former Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriquez Zapatero. “Zapatero and President (Danilo) Medina know very well that I have been a promoter of this dialogue and I accept this new day of dialogue,” the president said during a cabinet meeting broadcast on television. © Agence France-Presse
by Leila Macor Agence France Presse ISLAMORADA, United States (AFP) — Residents of the storm-ravaged Florida Keys discovered scenes of desolation as they returned home Tuesday as officials launched a massive operation to restore electricity to millions of people still without power in three southern US states. Shattered mobile homes, grounded sailboats and jumbled mounds of debris greeted Keys residents as police began lifting roadblocks to the islands following the passage of Hurricane Irma. “We […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump will travel to storm-battered Florida on Thursday to survey damage caused by Hurricane Irma, the White House said. The White House has been keen to show that Trump is on top of coordinating the federal response to hurricanes Irma and Harvey — which earlier this month flooded Houston, Texas. Trump traveled twice to Texas in the wake of that storm and now looks set to visit Florida. […]
LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — After navigating the first hurdle of a key Brexit bill, British Prime Minister Theresa May on Tuesday won another parliamentary vote which will help prevent opposition MPs from blocking future legislation. MPs in the House of Commons voted by 320 to 301 in support of a government motion to guarantee that it holds the majority of places on public bill committees. The move by the ruling Conservative party was aimed […]
by Leila Macor, with Kerry Sheridan in New Orleans Agence France-Presse MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Hurricane Irma was supposed to be a monster storm, immense and record-breaking in size as it charged toward Florida packing a punch that could lay waste to a state that is home to some 20 million people. But as the sun rose Monday, floodwaters in Florida quickly receded, and torn off roofs, tree-damaged homes and toppled boats were limited to isolated pockets […]
ROME, Italy (AFP) — At least eight people died in flooding after violent rains lashed the Tuscan city of Livorno over the weekend, Italian rescue services said Tuesday. The body of a 67-year-old man, who had been reported missing since Sunday, was found on Tuesday, while the body of a 34-year-old woman had been found the day before. Heavy rainstorms swept across the country overnight from Saturday to Sunday, with Livorno bearing the brunt of the flooding. Four […]
GENEVA, Switzerland (AFP)–North Korea on Tuesday blasted “vicious” sanctions imposed by the UN Security Council over its latest and most powerful nuclear test, threatening revenge against Washington, who it blamed for leading the charge. “Yesterday the Washington regime fabricated the most vicious sanctions resolution,” Pyongyang’s ambassador in Geneva told the UN Conference on Disarmament in the first North Korean reaction to Monday’s unanimous vote. “My delegation condemns in the strongest terms and categorically rejects the latest illegal […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump on Monday paid tribute to the 2,977 people killed on September 11, 2001, warning that “savage killers” who threaten the United States will find no haven on earth. On the 16th anniversary of the attacks, Trump’s first as president, he observed a moment of silence at a White House before laying a wreath and delivering remarks at the Pentagon, where 184 people died. His tone unbending […]
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Singaporeans Tuesday poured scorn on the process to select their new president after an establishment figure was deemed the only eligible candidate, meaning no election will be held. Halimah Yacob, a former speaker of parliament from the city-state’s Muslim Malay minority, will be the first woman to hold the largely ceremonial role if — as expected — she is formally nominated to the presidency Wednesday. But the 63-year-old will avoid an election […]
