International

‘Independent’ Catalonia wakes up under Madrid’s control

by Daniel Bosque with Marianne Barriaux in Madrid © Agence France-Presse Barcelona, Spain | AFP Catalonia woke up Saturday under the direct control of Madrid as the Spanish prime minister took drastic measures to quash secession, deposing the region’s leaders and dissolving its parliament hours after lawmakers declared independence. In a dramatic escalation of a political crisis that has stoked alarm in Europe and sent shockwaves through Spain, Mariano Rajoy also decided to call snap Catalan elections on December […]

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N. Korea nuclear weapon use would meet ‘massive military response’: Mattis

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — US Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis warned Saturday that North Korea would face a “massive military response” if Pyongyang ever used its nuclear weapons. “Make no mistake — any attack on the United States or our allies will be defeated,” he said at a press conference on his trip to Seoul. “Any use of nuclear weapons by the North will be met with a massive military response, effective and overwhelming.” […]

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Typhoon Saola brings heavy rain in southern Japan

TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Typhoon Saola barreled towards Japan’s southernmost Okinawa island chain on Saturday bringing heavy rain as authorities issued a warning for strong winds and landslides. The storm came less than a week after Typhoon Lan left five dead, one missing and scores injured. Saola was moving 60 kilometres (37 miles) southwest of Okinawa’s capital Naha at 11 am (0200 GMT), packing gusts of up to 162 kilometres per hour, Japan’s weather agency […]

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Russia tests nuclear-capable ballistic missiles

PLESETSK, Russia (Reuters) — Russia conducted test launch of nuclear-capable ballistic missiles on Thursday (October 26) as part of a training exercise for the country’s strategic nuclear forces. Russian defence ministry released a video showing a Topol intercontinental ballistic missile being test fired from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northern Russia, hitting a target at the Kura military testing range on the Kamchatka Peninsula thousands of kilometres (miles) away. The ministry said test launches involved land, […]

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World’s first large cargo drone makes maiden flight in China

SHAANXI, China (CCTV) — The world’s first unmanned large transport drone made its maiden flight on Thursday in northwest China’s Xi’an City, capital of Shaanxi Province. The delivery drone of AT200, developed by Chinese Academy of Sciences and other institutions, made two circles in the sky and flew for 26 minutes in its due course. About 12 meters both in length and width, it has a maximum carrying capacity of 1.5 tonnes and flying height […]

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Intriguing details in JFK files — but no bombshell

by Chris Lefkow Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Cuban and Russian spies, false leads, strippers, bizarre CIA murder plots and a furious FBI director. Newly released secret records are full of intriguing details surrounding the assassination of president John F. Kennedy. But Kennedy scholars say the thousands of documents do not appear to contain any bombshell revelations about the November 22, 1963 murder that shocked the world. President Donald Trump ordered the […]

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E.Guinea leader’s son gets suspended jail term in Paris graft trial

by Juliette MONTESSE and Clare BYRNE Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – A French court handed down a three-year suspended jail term on Friday to the son of Equatorial Guinea’s leader, Teodorin Obiang, after convicting him of using public money to fund a jet-set lifestyle in Paris. The 48-year-old vice president of the small west African state, who was tried in absentia, was also given a suspended fine of 30 million euros (35 million dollars) by judges […]

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Catalonia: What does it mean to declare UDI?

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) – Spain’s Senate on Friday voted to grant Madrid powers to impose direct rule on Catalonia, shortly after the semi-autonomous region’s parliament approved a motion declaring independence. Herewith are five questions about what it means to make a unilateral declaration of independence: What is a unilateral declaration of independence? Known by its acronym “UDI”, the term was first coined in 1965 when the former Rhodesia’s minority white government declared unilateral independence from British […]

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Ex-Guatemalan president to stand trial for corruption

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala (AFP) – Former Guatemalan president Otto Perez was ordered Friday to stand trial on corruption charges. Perez is charged with racketeering, illicit enrichment and fraud as leader of a multi-million dollar scheme involving the Central American country’s customs duty system, said Judge Miguel Angel Galvez. The former president served from 2012 until he was forced to resign amid grassroots outrage in 2015. Perez listened calmly as the judge read out his decision after a […]

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Britain calls for UN sanctions on Syria over sarin attack

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) – Britain on Friday urged the United Nations Security Council to impose sanctionson Syria after a UN-led investigation found that government forces were responsible for the sarin gas attack on Khan Sheikhun. A joint UN-Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) panel said the Syrian air force had dropped a bomb on the opposition-held town on April 4, releasing the deadly nerve agent that killed more than 80 people. “A robust international response is now essential to hold those responsible for the Khan Sheikhun attack to account,” British […]

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Indonesia fireworks factory blaze kills 46, injures dozens

by Dessy Sagita Agence France Presse TANGERANG, Indonesia (AFP) — At least 46 people have been killed and dozens more injured in a blaze that tore through a fireworks factory outside Jakarta, police said Thursday, triggering explosions and sending plumes of black smoke into the air. Many of the charred corpses of victims were found clustered at the back of the factory in an industrial complex in Tangerang, police said, indicating there may have been […]

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US impeding investigation into diplomat attacks: Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Cuba on Thursday accused the United States of obstructing its probe into mysterious health attacks on American diplomats, claiming its investigators were denied access to the victims and their medical records. At least 24 US embassy staff in Havana were sickened by a mysterious ailment in the alleged attacks, which began last year and continued until at least August. The US — which has not directly blamed Cuba for the attacks but has […]

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