Washington, United States | AFP | Friday 4/8/2023 by Inès BEL AIBA US President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday showered attention on three Tennessee officials targeted for expulsion from the state legislature over their support for gun control, as the fracas escalated into a major national row over race and representation. Biden spoke via phone with the “Tennessee Three” and “thanked them for their leadership in seeking to ban assault […]
International
Hundreds of thousands without power in Canada after ice storm
Montreal, Canada | AFP | Friday 4/8/2023 by Anne-Sophie THILL Hundreds of thousands of homes in eastern Canada remained without power Friday, two days after an ice storm killed three people and caused widespread property damage, particularly in Montreal. About 400,000 homes in Quebec were in the dark, down from 1.1 million at the height of the outages. “We have restored power to over 50 percent of the customers affected by the outages,” said […]
N. Korea says tested another ‘underwater nuclear attack drone’
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Saturday 4/8/2023 North Korea claimed Saturday it had tested another underwater nuclear attack drone, in its latest response to South Korean and United States military drills, though analysts have questioned whether Pyongyang has such a weapon. In recent weeks, North Korea has tested what state media have described as an underwater nuclear-capable drone, and also carried out the launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. “A national defence science research […]
Israel starts calling up reservists after deadly attacks
by Claire Gounon Israel began calling up police and army reservists Saturday after separate attacks killed three people, including an Italian tourist, in Tel Aviv and the occupied West Bank. Despite appeals for restraint, violence has surged since Israeli police clashed with Palestinians inside Jerusalem’s flashpoint Al-Aqsa mosque on Wednesday, with Israel bombarding both Gaza and Lebanon in response to rocket fire by Palestinian militants. The Italian was killed and seven other tourists wounded when an […]
China launches three days of military drills in Taiwan Strait
Beijing, China | AFP | Saturday 4/8/2023 by James Edgar with Matthew Walsh in Pingtan China launched military drills around Taiwan on Saturday, in what it called a “stern warning” to the self-ruled island’s government following a meeting between its president and the US House speaker. Dubbed “United Sharp Sword”, the three-day operation — which state media said includes rehearsing an encirclement of Taiwan — will run until Monday, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) […]
Schoolgirl poisonings continue across Iran
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Saturday 4/8/2023 Dozens of schoolgirls were poisoned Saturday in several schools across Iran, local media reported, in continuation of the mysterious phenomenon that has shaken the country for months. Since late November many schools, mostly for girls, have been affected by sudden poisoning incidents from gases or toxic substances, in some cases causing fainting and hospitalisation among the students. At least “60 students were poisoned in a girls’ school in […]
Violent explosions in Tyre in southern Lebanon: AFP
TYRE, Lebanon (AFP) — At least three explosions were heard in southern Lebanon’s Tyre region at dawn on Friday, according to AFP reporters, as Israel announced it was carrying out strikes in response to rocket fire. “At least two shells fell near” a Palestinian refugee camp near Tyre city, said camp resident Abu Ahmad, who told AFP he “heard explosions”. A missile fell on a farmer’s house near the camp, causing material damage, an AFP […]
Nearly a million Sahel children face ‘severe wasting’, UN says
DAKAR, Senegal (AFP) — Nearly a million young children in Africa’s Sahel region will face severe acute malnutrition this year amid high food prices, conflict and climate change, UNICEF warned Friday. “An estimated 970,000 children under 5 from West Africa’s three central Sahel countries (Burkina Faso, Mali and Niger) will face severe wasting this year”, the UN children’s agency said in a statement. The three countries are poor, landlocked and fighting jihadist insurgencies. Niger is […]
Quebec ice storm leaves two dead, million without power
MONTREAL, Canada (AFP) — An ice storm that battered eastern Canada left two dead and some million people without electricity on Thursday, as fallen trees blocked roads and downed power lines. The storm pummeled Quebec and Ontario, Canada’s two most populous provinces. “Montreal is devastated,” but the situation is “under control,” Quebec Minister of Economy and Energy Pierre Fitzgibbon said at a media briefing after weather warnings were lifted. Even so, authorities called for caution, […]
Israel strikes Gaza after rocket salvo from Lebanese soil
GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) — Israel launched air strikes against Hamas in the Gaza Strip late Thursday after vowing retaliation for a barrage of cross-border rockets fired from Lebanon, which it blamed on Palestinian groups. Tensions have soared between Israel and Palestinians during what is both the Jewish Passover and the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, prompting condemnations and calls for restraint from abroad. The latest flare-up of violence comes after Israeli police clashed […]
11 Latin American nations announce inflation battle plan
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — The leaders of 11 Latin American nations, including its two biggest economies, Brazil and Mexico, announced on Wednesday a plan to work together to address rampant inflation. The initiative was unveiled after a virtual meeting convened by Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador. He said the aim was to give people access to “food and basic products at better prices” through steps such as removing import tariffs and other trade […]
Attacker kills four children with hatchet at Brazil preschool
by Anderson COELHO Agence France-Presse BLUMENAU, Brazil (AFP) — A 25-year-old man burst into a preschool in southern Brazil and killed four children with a hatchet-like weapon Wednesday before turning himself in to police, an attack President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva condemned as “monstrous.” The attacker, who jumped a wall to get inside, also wounded four other children at the private preschool, known as the Good Shepherd Center, in the city of Blumenau, said […]





