International

Monster hurricane pummels Florida coast with wind and rain

MIAMI, United States (AFP) – by Kerry Sheridan with Leila Macor in Jacksonville Hurricane Matthew unleashed torrential rains and up to 120 mile-an-hour winds as it hugged the Florida coast Friday, after a blast through the Caribbean that reportedly left more than 300 dead in Haiti. Matthew was downgraded to a Category Three storm early Friday by the National Hurricane Center, as its wind speed dropped slightly. But Florida still faced its most dangerous hurricane […]

Colombian president wins Nobel Prize for peace efforts

OSLO, Norway (AFP) – by Hazel WARD Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos won the Nobel Peace Prize Friday for his “resolute” efforts to end more than five decades of war in his country, despite voters’ shock rejection of a historic peace deal. The award was unexpected after voters rejected the terms of a landmark accord Santos clinched last month with FARC leader Rodrigo Londono, alias Timoleon “Timochenko” Jimenez and some observers expressed surprise the rebel […]

UKIP ‘at breaking point’ after European Parliament bust-up

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) – by Dario THUBURN British UKIP MEP Steven Woolfe is being kept in hospital until Sunday after he collapsed following a bust-up in the European Parliament that threatens to bring down a key driving force behind Brexit. UKIP colleague Nathan Gill said on Friday that Woolfe, favourite to take over from Nigel Farage as party leader, was asked to stay in Strasbourg “for observation in the hospital’s neurological ward for the […]

Harrowing reports emerge from Bahamas as storm smashes through

    NASSAU, Bahamas (AFP) — Hurricane Matthew’s blast through the Bahamas brought harrowing reports of roofs blown off, windows shattering and water rising perilously, including a social-media post from one desperate resident who said, “I’m on a chest of drawers. Phone battery low.” But there were no reports of fatalities from the National Emergency Management Agency. After the storm passed and headed northwest towards Florida, residents emerged from their homes to assess the damage, […]

Activity at N. Korea nuclear site fuels test fears

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Analysis of recent satellite images of North Korea’s nuclear test site shows activity at all three of its tunnel complexes, fuelling speculation of another test ahead of a key political anniversary next week. North Korea has already conducted two nuclear tests this year — in January and September — and experts say it is capable of carrying out a third as soon as the order is given. Past nuclear tests, […]

US coast evacuated as historic hurricane bears down

https://youtu.be/LR1eByFrTJk   by Kerry Sheridan / with Leila Macor in Jacksonville MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Florida faced the most dangerous storm in living memory as Hurricane Matthew moved in from the Atlantic on Friday, threatening coastal cities with surging tides, torrential rain and 130 mile-an-hour winds. After cutting a deadly swath across the Caribbean and leaving more than 300 dead in Haiti — according to a senator from the hard-hit south of the country […]

More than 300 dead in southern Haiti from hurricane: senator

    PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Hurricane Matthew killed more than 300 people as it smashed through southern Haiti, a senator from the region said Thursday. Senator Herve Fourcand said that figure is still preliminary, as some areas hit by the powerful storm are still inaccessible. Haiti’s southern peninsula was the hardest hit by the storm. Fourcand disputed the official toll given by the government so far, which was 122. Earlier, Radio Television Caraibes put […]

15 years on, the Afghan war still defies US timelines

by Andrew BEATTY WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Fifteen years after the US invasion of Afghanistan, President Barack Obama and the American military have dug in for a long campaign that defies rigid timelines and easy barometers of victory. On October 7, 2001, in response to the 9/11 attacks, President George W. Bush launched Operation Enduring Freedom to dislodge the Taliban and capture or kill Al-Qaeda militants they were harboring. For much of the 15 […]

Battleground states in the US presidential election

by Brigitte DUSSEAU WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A dozen or so states are particularly important in the US presidential election — states where the race is tight and the outcome could throw the contest one way or the other. As their campaigns progress, Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump spend increasing amounts of time in these battlegrounds, all but ignoring the rest of the country. The United States has an indirect electoral system in which […]

The US presidential election: a how-to guide

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The American presidential election falls this year on November 8. The quadrennial exercise always takes place on the Tuesday following the first Monday in November, as prescribed by the US Constitution. How the voting system works The vote, by universal suffrage, is conducted in a single round in all 50 states and the District of Columbia (the city of Washington, which is not part of any state). Voters choose among […]

Antonio Guterres, refugee champion to UN chief

by Thomas Cabral LISBON, Portugal (AFP) — Former Portuguese prime minister Antonio Guterres, nominated Thursday to be the next UN secretary-general, is a self-described man of action who earned his stripes as the world body’s refugee chief, tirelessly pressing rich nations to do more. An engineer by training and fervent Catholic, Guterres, 67, fought unflaggingly for migrants’ rights over a decade as UN High Commissioner for Refugees from June 2005 to December 2015. He repeatedly […]