International

Red vs. Blue: DeSantis and Newsom set to clash in televised debate

By Christopher Monterrosa, with Frankie Taggart in Washington ATLANTA, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – They are ambitious and relatively young leaders whose passionate views about running their large, powerful states offer contrasting ideals on how the deeply-polarized United States should be run. But Republican Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Gavin Newsom, his counterpart in Democratic California, will swap social media antagonism for an in-person televised debate Thursday that could be preview the White House race […]

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Israel says it received new list of hostages to be released

JERUSALEM, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – The Israeli government said it received a new list of women and children hostages in the Gaza Strip to be released by Hamas on Thursday in exchange for a one-day extension of the truce. “A short time ago, Israel was given a list of women and children in accordance with the terms of the agreement, and therefore the truce will continue,” said the statement from the Israeli Prime Minister’s […]

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Japan PM hails Kissinger’s ‘significant contributions’ to peace and stability in Asia

TOKYO, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida hailed on Thursday the late Henry Kissinger’s “significant contributions” to peace and stability in Asia. Kissinger “made significant contributions to the regional peace and stability, including the normalisation of diplomatic ties between the US and China,” Kishida told reporters after the former US secretary of state died aged 100. “I’d like to express my most sincere respect to the great achievements he made,” Kishida […]

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Life expectancy in the US ticks up, but remains below pre-pandemic levels

WASHINGTON, Nov 29, 2023 (AFP) – Americans’ life expectancy rose in 2022 after two years of sharp decline, although it did not return to pre-pandemic levels, health officials said Wednesday. Life expectancy at birth in the United States rose by 1.1 years between 2021 and 2022, and stood at 77.5 years, according to initial estimates from the Centers for Disease Prevention and Control (CDC). “The increase… primarily resulted from decreases in mortality due to Covid-19,” […]

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Israel, Hamas say truce is extended

By Adel Zaanoun with Didier Lauras in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – A truce between Israel and Hamas will continue, both sides said Thursday, moments before the deal was due to expire, though details of any official agreement remained unclear. Minutes before the halt in fighting was due to expire at 0500GMT, Israel’s military said the “operational pause” would be extended, without specifying for how long. “In light of the […]

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Thai hostages set to return after release by Hamas

BANGKOK, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Seventeen Thai hostages kidnapped and held for weeks by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are expected to return home on Thursday to be met by overjoyed relatives at the Bangkok airport. Tens of thousands of Thais were working in Israel, mostly in the agricultural sector, when Palestinian militants poured over the border on October 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 240, according to Israeli authorities. At […]

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Seven missing after US Osprey crashes off Japan

TOKYO, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Rescuers scoured waters off Japan on Thursday for seven missing US Air Force personnel whose Osprey crashed during a training exercise, in the latest incident involving the tilt-rotor military aircraft. Japan’s defence minister said he had requested that US forces in the country suspend Osprey flights in the wake of the deadly incident. One unconscious person was found in the sea and later declared dead after the aircraft crashed […]

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Kissinger, giant of statecraft, molded post-war US history

By Carlos HAMANN, Shaun TANDON WASHINGTON, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Brilliant, abrasive and ruthlessly ambitious, Henry Kissinger towered over post-World War II US foreign policy like no one else and shaped a fateful new course for the world’s relationship with China. As secretary of state to presidents Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford, Kissinger was a master tactician whose intellectual gifts were begrudgingly acknowledged even by his many critics, who nevertheless faulted his disregard for […]

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US families recount ‘horrific’ Gaza hostage ordeal, urge more action

By Michael Mathes Four-year-old American hostage Abigail is surrounded by family in Israel who “brought her life back” after seven weeks of captivity, her great aunt said Wednesday, as relatives stressed they will not rest until everyone held by Hamas is freed. The young girl, whose parents were murdered in front of her on a kibbutz near Gaza as militants stormed Israel on October 7, is the first confirmed US citizen to have been freed […]

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Henry Kissinger, singular US diplomat, dead at 100

WASHINGTON, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – Henry Kissinger, the former US secretary of state whose unapologetic promotion of raw American power helped shape the post-World War II world, died Wednesday at the age of 100, his consulting firm said. “Dr. Henry Kissinger, a respected American scholar and statesman, died today at his home in Connecticut,” Kissinger Associates announced in a statement late Wednesday. It said that Kissinger’s family would hold a private funeral, with a […]

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Hamas frees more hostages as Gaza truce expiry looms

By Adel Zaanoun with Didier Lauras in Jerusalem GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories, Nov 30, 2023 (AFP) – More hostages were freed from Gaza on Wednesday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners, as mediators raced to broker another extension to the truce between Israel and Hamas hours before it was due to expire. Underscoring the urgency, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Israel for talks on aid for Gaza and the truce, which is scheduled […]

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Climate crises drove 27 mn children into hunger in 2022: charity

NAIROBI, Nov 28, 2023 (AFP) – Extreme weather events in countries vulnerable to climate change drove more than 27 million children into hunger last year, Save the Children said on Tuesday. The figure represented a sharp 135 percent increase over 2021, the UK-based charity said in an analysis ahead of the COP28 climate summit opening in Dubai on Thursday. It said children made up nearly half the 57 million people pushed into crisis levels of […]

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