International

World’s reportedly heaviest man recovering from bypass surgery in Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (Reuters) — The man believed to be the world’s heaviest is recovering from biliopancreatic bypass surgery in Mexico, after doctors recommended the procedure amidst fears for the patient’s health. According to local media, thirty-three-year-old Juan Pedro Franco – who has weighed up to 595 kilos (1,311 pounds) – has been largely bed-ridden for the last seven years due to his large size. He was recently put on a diet to help shed some […]

Trump says he was always going to fire FBI director

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Donald Trump claimed Thursday he always intended to fire Federal Bureau of Investigation director James Comey, undercutting the initial White House explanation that he acted on the recommendation of top justice officials. “I was going to fire him regardless of recommendations,” Trump told NBC in an interview, after days in which the White House has struggled to convince Congress and the American public that the move was not politically motivated. “He’s […]

Robert Lighthizer confirmed as US trade representative

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Reagan-era trade attorney Robert Lighthizer was easily confirmed Thursday as President Donald Trump’s United States trade representative, bringing a tough protectionist approach to national policy. The Senate confirmed Lighthizer by a vote of 82 to 14, with broad bipartisan support. The 69-year-old is returning to familiar territory, having served as deputy US trade representative in the 1980s under president Ronald Reagan. Much of Trump’s trade agenda has been on […]

World’s tallest building delayed to 2019: Saudi prince

JEDDAH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — The completion date for the world’s tallest tower has been pushed back to 2019, a Saudi Arabian billionaire said Thursday, almost six years after launching the record-breaking project. Jeddah Tower is to rise more than a kilometer (almost 3,300 feet), placing it above Dubai’s Burj Khalifa. “The project was delayed… but it’ll open (in) 2019,” Prince Alwaleed bin Talal told AFP during a visit to the site beside the Red […]

Tillerson hosts Arctic forum in shadow of Russia spat

by Dave Clark Agence France-Presse FAIRBANKS, United States (AFP) – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson was in Alaska to play host to the eight nations of the Arctic Council on Thursday, trailed by burning questions about Russia and climate change. The policy forum for the countries of the great white north got underway in the former gold prospecting town of Fairbanks, far away from the political frenzy gripping Washington DC. But two of the questions […]

India school head arrested over child rape

The head of a school in southern India has been arrested on suspicion of raping scores of disabled girls over a period of at least four years, police said Thursday. They said complaints from two former pupils at the school for speech- and hearing-impaired girls in Tamil Nadu state had alerted them to the alleged abuse. Both are now adults and are working at the school. “We received the complaint from two victims who are […]

Suspects in Russia metro bombing charged for involvement in “terrorist act”

(Agence France Presse) — Three suspects in last month’s bombing in the Saint Petersburg metro have been charged for their involvement in a “terrorist act,” Russian investigators said Thursday. Russia’s Investigative Committee said suspects Bakhram Ergashev, Ibragimzhon Ermatov and Makhamadyusuf Mirzaalimov have also been charged for possession of illegally used explosives. Seven other suspects in the April 3 attack, which killed 15 people, will be charged in the near future, the committee said. The Imam Shamil […]

Earthquake kills eight in western China: report

BEIJING, China (AFP) — An earthquake rocked China’s western Xinjiang region on Thursday, killing eight people and injuring another 23 as more than 1,500 homes crumbled, state media reported. The shallow 5.4-magnitude quake struck at 5:58 am (2158 GMT Wednesday) 213 kilometers (133 miles) south-southwest of the ancient Silk Road city of Kashgar, the US Geological Survey said. Some people were buried after their adobe homes collapsed, said Wang Fuyou, Communist Party chief of Taxkorgan […]

The trains and sea ports of China’s new Silk Road

BEIJING, China (AFP) – China’s Silk Road summit on Sunday will highlight the country’s plans to revive ancient trade routes from Asia to Europe and Africa with a massive network of rail and maritime links. The One Belt, One Road Initiative was unveiled by President Xi Jinping in 2013. Xi will host top officials from 28 nations for the two-day conference on the outskirts of Beijing, though few Western leaders will attend the meeting. Beijing’s […]

Xi, Moon agree denuclearizing N.Korea ‘common goal’: Seoul

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping and new South Korean president Moon Jae-In agreed Thursday that denuclearizing North Korea was a “common goal” between them, Moon’s office said. Ties between Seoul and Beijing have soured over the South’s deployment of a controversial US anti-missile system aimed at guarding against threats from the nuclear-armed North. China sees the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system as a threat to its […]

FBI’s Comey says he won’t dwell on sacking, will “be fine”

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – Former FBI director James Comey says in a farewell letter to colleagues that he will “be fine,” and won’t dwell on how he was fired by President Donald Trump, CNN reported Wednesday. Comey was abruptly dismissed Tuesday by the Republican president, who said the issue was Comey’s inability to lead. But Trump floored many since it was Comey himself leading the investigation of Trump’s campaign and Russia. “I have long […]

Putin says Comey’s firing will not impact U.S.-Russia relations: CBS

SOCHI,Russia (AFP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Wednesday (May 10) that U.S. President Donald Trump’s firing of FBI Director James Comey, who was leading an investigation into possible Russian meddling in the U.S. presidential election, will not impact relations between the two nations. “There will be no effect,” Putin told CBS News in a brief interview in the Russian city of Sochi. “Your question looks very funny for me. Don’t be angry with […]