HANOI, Sept 23, 2023 (AFP) – Vietnam has executed long-time death row prisoner Le Van Manh, a lawyer confirmed Saturday, despite international pleas to spare his life. In 2005 Manh was charged with robbery, as well as the rape and murder of a 13-year-old girl in the northern Thanh Hoa province. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said police obtained a confession through torture that was relied upon to convict him. Manh later retracted […]
International
Alligator killed after Florida woman’s body found in jaws
MIAMI, Sept 24, 2023 (AFP) – An alligator was killed as it was removed from a creek in the US state of Florida along with a 41-year-old woman’s body, officials said Saturday. Police said they had responded to a report of a body seen in the creek in Largo, Florida, and that the 13-foot, 8.5-inch (4-meter) male alligator was “humanely killed” on Friday. Officers identified the body on Saturday, but said “the manner and cause […]
Filipino fisherman chased by China coast guard in disputed waters
SOUTH CHINA SEA, Philippines, Sept 24, 2023 (AFP) – Filipino fisherman Arnel Satam guns the motor of his tiny wooden boat as he makes a dash for the shallow waters of Scarborough Shoal in the disputed South China Sea, with Chinese coast guard speedboats in hot pursuit. In a high-seas chase lasting several minutes, Satam tries in vain to outrun the faster boats in the hope of slipping inside the ring of reefs controlled by […]
Concern mounts for ethnic Armenians in Karabakh
SHUSHA, Azerbaijan, Sept 24, 2023 (AFP) – Concern was growing for ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh on Sunday as Azerbaijani forces tightened their grip on the breakaway region. If the new ceasefire there holds, it could mark the end of a conflict between the Christian and Muslim Caucasus rivals that has raged, off and on, through the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union. But the years of fighting in Nagorno-Karabakh have been marked […]
EAGLE NEWS INTERNATIONAL – SEPT. 23, 2023
Pres. Biden to visit striking US auto workers Tuesday
WASHINGTON, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – President Joe Biden announced Friday he will travel to the US state of Michigan next week to show support for striking auto workers, a visit coming on the eve of a similar trip by his right-wing 2024 election challenger Donald Trump. “Tuesday, I’ll go to Michigan to join the picket line and stand in solidarity with the men and women of (United Auto Workers) as they fight for a […]
Ukraine’s Zelensky bolsters war support in Canada trip
OTTAWA, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky met Friday with close ally Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on a visit to Canada, the third leg in a tour aimed at bolstering international support for his country’s struggle to repulse a brutal Russian invasion. Zelensky, who landed late Thursday in Ottawa, earlier this week addressed the United Nations and stopped in Washington on Thursday for meetings with the US Congress and President Joe Biden, […]
Karabakh rebels negotiate withdrawing their forces
KORNIDZOR, Armenia, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Nagorno-Karabakh separatists said Friday they were negotiating the withdrawal of their troops from the disputed enclave after Azerbaijan reclaimed control in a lightning offensive. Azerbaijan on Thursday held a first round of “reintegration” talks with the ethnic-Armenian rebels after they agreed to lay down their arms in the face of the day-long military assault. The separatists said they were in talks with Baku to organise the withdrawal process […]
Five injured in latest Colombia car bomb blast
JAMUNDI, Colombia, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – A car bomb exploded Friday outside a police station in southwest Colombia, injuring five civilians just days after two people died in a similar attack attributed to guerrilla fighters in talks with the government. The blast happened in the Jamundi municipality in the Valle del Cauca department where rebels are fighting soldiers engaged in a clampdown on drug trafficking. “Reprehensible attack in Jamundi,” President Gustavo Petro wrote on […]
Jailed Thaksin could be advisor to new Thai govt: deputy PM
BANGKOK, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Thailand’s jailed former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra could act as advisor to the new government, the ruling party said Friday, a move likely to raise hackles among the billionaire’s critics. The 74-year-old, ousted by a military coup in 2006, returned to the kingdom last month and was immediately jailed for historic convictions for graft and abuse of power. New Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, of Thaksin’s Pheu Thai party, […]
China’s recent military activities ‘abnormal’: Taiwan defence minister
TAIPEI, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – Taiwan’s defence minister said China’s recent military activities were “abnormal”, after a spike in incursions by Chinese warplanes around the island this week. China claims self-ruled Taiwan as its territory and has maintained it will seize it one day — by force, if necessary. Beijing performs near-daily aerial incursions around the island, and on Monday Taiwan’s defence ministry reported a “recent high” of 103 warplanes within a 24-hour window. […]
US auto workers union expands strike at General Motors, Stellantis
NEW YORK, Sept 22, 2023 (AFP) – The US auto workers union expanded a potentially economically and politically damaging strike against two of Detroit’s “Big Three” Friday — and invited President Joe Biden to support workers on the picket line. UAW President Shawn Fain announced a strike of all 38 US parts and distribution centers at General Motors and Stellantis, where negotiations are stalled. Fain did not expand the stoppage at Ford, where there […]
