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by Sylvie Lanteaume Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The United States is considering a stepped-up military presence in Africa to pursue Islamic State group jihadists looking for new havens after the fall of their “caliphate,” American officials say. After IS lost its de facto capital Raqa in Syria this month, and its Iraqi stronghold of Mosul earlier, the group “has aspirations to establish a larger presence” in Africa, the US military’s top officer General Joseph […]
by Tristan McConnell Agence France-Presse NAIROBI, Kenya (AFP) – Uhuru Kenyatta, who is set to win a second and final term in Thursday’s election re-run, is the son of Kenya’s founding president and a man who epitomizes the country’s elite. The 55-year-old US-educated multi-millionaire, whose family owns an array of businesses, properties and land, followed in his father’s footsteps when he defeated his rival Raila Odinga to become president in 2013. Their rematch in August was […]
by Cécile Feuillatre Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) – French President Emmanuel Macron welcomes Egyptian leader Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to Paris on Tuesday under pressure from human rights groups to end what they call France’s “disgraceful policies of indulgence” towards him. Sisi, a former general who ousted the elected Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in 2013, will meet the French defense and foreign ministers as well as business groups during his three-day trip that started on Monday. Macron, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The United States announced Monday it was withdrawing military assistance from Myanmar units and officers involved in violence against Rohingya Muslims that has triggered a massive exodus. “We express our gravest concern with recent events in Rakhine state and the violent, traumatic abuses Rohingya and other communities have endured,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said in announcing the punitive measures. “It is imperative that any individuals or entities responsible for atrocities, including […]
CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Four newly-elected opposition governors reluctantly pledged allegiance Monday to Venezuela’s Constituent Assembly, which until now they had dismissed as illegitimate. The assembly was elected July 30 in polls called by unpopular leftist President Nicolas Maduro that were boycotted by the opposition. The Constituent Assembly, packed with government supporters, replaced the opposition-dominated national assembly. Its stated job is to overhaul the constitution of the oil-rich country, but it has been handed sweeping powers to override […]
by Thomas Watkins Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The pregnant widow of an American soldier killed in an ambush in Niger said Monday that Donald Trump struggled to remember his name during a condolence call, in an account the president immediately disputed. Trump’s call to Myeshia Johnson, whose husband Sergeant La David Johnson was one of four US soldiers killed in the October 4 jihadist attack, has generated a storm of controversy and comes as […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Senator John McCain has taken a barely-veiled jab at President Donald Trump’s avoidance of military service, sharply escalating their war of words. Republican McCain was interviewed by broadcaster CSPAN on the 50th anniversary of his being shot down over Vietnam, which led to his five-year stay as a prisoner in the infamous “Hanoi Hilton” prison. “One aspect of the conflict, by the way, that I will never ever countenance is that […]
by Kyoko Hasegawa Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — A powerful typhoon left five dead, one missing and scores injured in Japan Monday, moving northward off the Pacific coast after millions struggled to the polls for a national election. Authorities advised thousands living in coastal areas or near rivers to evacuate to shelters before Typhoon Lan, described as “very large and very strong”, hit Tokyo and surrounding regions early Monday morning. The typhoon […]
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Argentina’s President Mauricio Macri’s center-right coalition swept crucial midterm elections Sunday and emerged with a strengthened hand to carry through pro-market economic reforms, according to nearly completed count results. Ex-president Cristina Kirchner took a seat in the Senate, marking a return to the political stage she dominated for 12 years before stepping down in 2015, and guaranteeing herself parliamentary immunity from a string of corruption charges. “We did not win as a party; […]
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) – Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe’s long-held dream to change the pacifist constitution got a big boost this weekend as his conservative coalition won a crucial two-thirds majority in a snap election. Nationalists like Abe dismiss the constitution as a humiliating relic imposed by US occupiers after Japan’s defeat in World War II, while North Korea’s recent firing of two missiles over the country in less than a month has focused minds on security. […]
by Alfons Luna and Marie Giffard © Agence France-Presse BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Catalan parties were due to meet Monday to discuss their next steps at the start of a week that will see Spain dismiss the region’s government to stave off its threat to break away from the country. “What happens now, with everyone in agreement and unity, is that we will announce what we will do and how,” Catalan government spokesman Jordi Turull said after […]
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AFP) — Iraqi federal and paramilitary forces on Sunday said they lost five men in last week’s clashes with Kurdish fighters, bringing the death toll for all sides to 31. On Friday, Iraq’s central government said its forces had taken back control from the Kurds of all disputed territory in the north of the country located outside the Kurdish autonomous region. The areas were captured as part of a sweeping operation by federal […]
