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BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) – Catalan leader Carles Puigdemont will make a statement at 1130 GMT on Thursday, the regional government said, amid speculation he could declare independence from Spain or call new elections. The Catalan government said he would make an announcement, without giving further details. Puigdemont is under intense pressure from members of his party to call early elections to ease the separatist crisis, according to a source close to the Catalan leader, who […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) – The European Union on Thursday announced a major probe into a British scheme protecting multinationals from tax avoidance rules, in the latest move in the bloc’s campaign to get international companies to pay their share. Europe’s competition chief Margrethe Vestager will investigate whether certain exemptions allowed under British rules amount to a breach of European Union regulations against state aid. The EU has waged a major crackdown on member states bending […]
by Sally Mairs and Sippachai Kunnuwong Agence France-Presse BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) — A sea of black-clad mourners massed across Bangkok’s historic heart Thursday as funeral rituals began for King Bhumibol Adulyadej, a revered monarch whose passing after a seven-decade reign left Thailand bereft of its only unifying figure. As dawn broke an estimated 200,000 Thais had gathered around the Grand Palace to bid an emotional farewell to a monarch known as “father of the nation,” […]
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) – A Pakistani court on Thursday issued arrest warrants for ousted prime minister Nawaz Sharif in two cases of corruption spiralling from the Panama Papers leak, his lawyers said. Sharif is currently in London with his wife Kalsum as she undergoes cancer treatment, and has not returned to Pakistan since he was indicted in the corruption allegations earlier this month, despite reports he would do so. “The accountability court issued bailable warrants […]
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) – Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen said Thursday that the end of China’s landmark party congress signals an “opportunity for change,” as she called for dialogue with Chinese leader Xi Jinping. Tsai was speaking publicly for the first time since Xi was handed a second term during the 19th Communist Party meeting that concluded this week, which cemented the Chinese president’s grip on power. Ties between Taiwan and China have become increasingly frosty […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) – The US on Wednesday announced anti-dumping measures on carbon and alloy steel wire rods from Italy, South Korea, South Africa, Spain, Turkey and the Ukraine and the United Kingdom imposing duties of up to 147.6 percent. Washington held that the countries sold their goods in the US at “less than fair value,” according to a statement. “The dumping of goods below market value in the United States is something […]
NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – Kenyan police clashed with opposition protesters in parts of Nairobi and in the west of the country who tried to block voting Thursday in an election boycotted by their leader Raila Odinga, AFP correspondents said. In several western towns, protesters blocked roads and barricaded the entrances to polling stations, lobbing rocks at police who fired teargas to disperse them. In the slums of the Kenyan capital, police also engaged in running […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) – With the funeral of late king Bhumibol Adulyadej underway, his untested and unpredictable heir has taken center stage. King Maha Vajiralongkorn, 65, is leading the day-long ceremony on Thursday that culminates in the cremation of his father, who reigned for 70 years. Less than a year after taking the throne, the new sovereign (Rama X of the Chakri dynasty) has begun reshaping an enormously wealthy institution that sits at the head […]
COX’S BAZAR, Bangladesh (AFP) – The lines on their foreheads tell more than the forced smiles on the faces of the Rohingya refugees photographed by AFP for a special series. All are among nearly one million of the stateless Muslim group now crowded into camps in Bangladesh after fleeing a military crackdown in neighboring Myanmar. More than 600,000 have arrived in the past two months alone. Many are emaciated. Some carry the trauma of attacks […]
by Sonia Avalos Buenos Aires, Argentina (AFP) — A former key minister in Argentina’s husband-and-wife Kirchner governments was arrested for corruption involving hundreds of millions of dollars Wednesday after a Congress vote stripped him of his parliamentary immunity. Former planning minister Julio de Vido was a key figure in the 12-year period between 2003-2015, handling billions of dollars while in charge of Argentina’s public works contracts and also acting as a gatekeeper to the Kirchners. Acting on orders […]
by Hazel Ward with Nicolas Delaunay in Kisumu Agence France-Presse NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) — A divided Kenya heads to the polls on Thursday in a bitterly disputed presidential re-run that has sparked fears both at home and abroad for the stability of the east African powerhouse. It will be the second time in three months that Kenyans vote after the August victory of President Uhuru Kenyatta was overturned by the Supreme Court in an unprecedented ruling that unleashed […]
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) – The brother of the man behind the worst mass shooting in modern US history has been arrested on suspicion of having child pornography, police said on Wednesday. Bruce Paddock — one of Stephen Paddock’s three brothers — was arrested early Wednesday in Los Angeles, officer Norma Eisenman told AFP. She said Paddock, 59, is facing child pornography charges in relation to a probe that began before the shooting in Las Vegas that left 58 […]
