International

British PM’s party suspends MP over ‘serious allegations’

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – Britain’s ruling Conservatives suspended an MP Friday over unspecified “serious allegations”, as Prime Minister Theresa May announced a new party code of conduct in response to a growing sexual harassment scandal. The action was taken against lawmaker Charlie Elphicke “following serious allegations that have been referred to the police”, announced chief whip Julian Smith, who enforces Conservative party discipline in parliament. Elphicke said on Twitter: “The party tipped off the press before […]

Continue Reading →

Twitter steps up security after Trump account cut off

  by Rob Lever Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Twitter said it had boosted security measures Friday in response to a rogue employee’s move cutting off Donald Trump’s account, an 11-minute outage which drew mocking praise from the president’s critics but also warnings of a dangerous precedent. The US social network initially said the account had been “inadvertently deactivated due to human error” after the outage late Thursday but subsequently indicated it […]

Continue Reading →

US strikes IS in Somalia for first time

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The US conducted a pair of drone strikes against Islamic State fighters in Somalia on Friday, the first time America has hit the jihadists in the Horn of Africa nation, officials said. The strikes occurred in northeastern Somalia and killed “several terrorists,” the US military’s Africa Command said in a statement. According to Voice of America, which cited the chairman of the town of Qandala in the semi-autonomous region of Puntland, six […]

Continue Reading →

Bomb attack kills 9 in Syria Golan Heights village: state media

DAMASCUS, Syria (AFP) — A suicide car bomb attack killed nine people in a government-held village in Syria’s Golan Heights on Friday, state media said, reporting clashes between government forces and jihadists afterwards. State news agency SANA said the car bomb hit the outskirts of the village of Hader, which lies near the disengagement line that divides the Syrian-controlled part of the Golan from that occupied by Israel. “A suicide bomber from Al-Nusra Front detonated […]

Continue Reading →

Ex-PM Sharif returns to Pakistan for court hearing

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) — Pakistan’s ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif appeared in court on Friday, a day after returning from overseas to face corruption allegations that saw him ejected from office and targeted with an arrest warrant. In a brief hearing in Islamabad, Sharif paid two surety bonds of five million rupees ($48,000) each before leaving under tight security, his lawyer Khawaja Haris told AFP. The court is set to reconvene on November 7. The […]

Continue Reading →

Harassment of women ‘can never be tolerated’: Ivanka Trump

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Sexual harassment of women should “never be tolerated”, Ivanka Trump told an audience in Tokyo on Friday, calling for women to be treated with greater respect at work. The speech came as global headlines are dominated by sexual harassment claims against prominent men in entertainment and politics. The new round of claims has revived memories of her father Donald Trump’s boasts about groping women, which emerged during the US presidential campaign. […]

Continue Reading →

One killed, two hurt in Morocco tourist town shooting

RABAT, Morocco (AFP) — One man was shot dead and two others were hurt in a tourist area of Marrakesh, authorities in Morocco said, adding that it appeared to be a local settling of scores. Two attackers wearing balaclavas shot the victim at a cafe in the town, a popular destination for foreign visitors. The man, who was hit in the head, died instantly. The two assailants also injured two other people in a hail […]

Continue Reading →

US must ‘tell truth’ on alleged Cuba attacks: foreign minister

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Cuba’s foreign minister on Thursday accused anyone claiming attacks took place against US diplomats in Havana of “deliberately lying,” echoing comments he made last week in an ongoing dispute. “It is time the United States tells the truth or presents evidence,” Bruno Rodriguez insisted during a press conference in Washington, referring to incidents which affected the health of at least 24 US embassy officials in Havana, according to the State Department. “Those […]

Continue Reading →

US supersonic bombers conduct exercise in S.Korea region

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US bombers accompanied by Japanese and South Korean warplanes flew a mission in the South Korea region Thursday amid high regional tensions, the US Air Force said. Two supersonic B-1B Lancer bombers took off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, then flew south of South Korea and west of Japan where they were joined by Japan Air Self-Defense Force fighters, the US Pacific Air Force said in a statement. […]

Continue Reading →

Trump wants federal death penalty for NY attacker, but it is rare

by Sébastien BLANC Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump on Thursday called for the death penalty for the Uzbek national charged with carrying out the New York truck attack, demanding swift justice. But the death penalty remains a rare sentence — and typically it takes years to be carried out. A legal possibility Sayfullo Saipov, a 29-year-old immigrant from Uzbekistan, is accused of killing eight people in Tuesday’s onslaught on […]

Continue Reading →

Internal dissent as US Republicans roll out tax bill

by Michael Mathes Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Republican leaders unveiled a sweeping tax bill Thursday that would dramatically slash corporate rates, but the measure was already under fire from within the party despite pressure from President Donald Trump. Simmering disagreements persisted over what should end up in the largest tax overhaul since Ronald Reagan’s 1980s presidency, with at least one House Republican openly opposing the legislation. The effort, conducted largely […]

Continue Reading →

Spain issues arrest warrant for ousted Catalan leader: lawyer

BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — A Spanish judge has issued a European warrant for the arrest of ousted Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont, his Belgian lawyer told Flemish television late Thursday. Puigdemont, dismissed last week as Catalan president by the Spanish government and who has since been holed up in Belgium, would fight an eventual bid to extradite him, his lawyer Paul Bekaert told the VRT channel. “I have just received word from my client that indeed it […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 1,696 1,697 1,698 1,699 1,700 … 2,486