International

Brazil’s Lula in Argentina to ‘rebuild bridges’ in first foreign trip

by Mauricio RABUFFETTI Agence France-Presse BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AFP) — Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva on Monday started his first foreign trip since being elected with a meeting in Buenos Aires with Argentine counterpart Alberto Fernandez. Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira said before the trip that Lula was looking to “rebuild bridges” with the international community after four years of his far-right predecessor Jair Bolsonaro’s populist leadership. The two leftist leaders were to […]

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Japan PM says tackling birth rate crisis ‘cannot wait’

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Monday 1/23/2023  Japan’s low birth rate and ageing population pose an urgent risk to society, Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said Monday, pledging to address the issue by establishing a new government agency. Birth rates are declining in many developed countries, but in Japan the issue is particularly acute because it has the world’s second-highest proportion of people aged 65 and over, after the tiny state of Monaco, according to World […]

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Pakistan hit by nationwide power outage

Islamabad, Pakistan | AFP | Monday 1/23/2023 A massive power breakdown in Pakistan on Monday affected most of the country’s more than 220 million people, including in the mega cities of Karachi and Lahore. Local outages are common across Pakistan, and the national power system is a complex and delicate web where problems can quickly cascade. The hours-long outage, the second in two years, was caused by a fault in the national grid at around […]

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Pakistan hit by nationwide power outage

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AFP) – A massive power breakdown in Pakistan on Monday affected most of the country’s more than 220 million people, including in the mega cities of Karachi and Lahore. Pakistan’s electricity distribution system is a complex and delicate web, and a problem in one section of the grid can lead to cascading breakdowns across the country. The hours-long outage, the second in the past two years, was caused by a fault in the national […]

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Two children among 11 burned to death in Thai van crash

BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) – Eleven people, including two children, burned to death in a passenger van crash in central Thailand over the Lunar New Year holiday, police said Monday. Traffic accidents are common in the kingdom, which has a notorious road safety record, particularly during busy public holidays. The van carrying 12 people was travelling from northeastern Amnat Charoen province to Bangkok when it veered off the highway in central Nakhon Ratchasima province Saturday night, said […]

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‘Not afraid of the virus’: Wuhan turns page on Covid, three years on

by Sébastien Ricci and Vivian Lin Agence France-Presse WUHAN, China (AFP) — Residents of China’s Wuhan said Monday they were hopeful for the future and no longer afraid of Covid-19, three years after the city was locked down over what was then a mysterious virus. Since Beijing ordered Wuhan sealed off in a bid to suffocate the outbreak in January 2020, Covid has devastated the planet, killing millions and plunging the global economy into turmoil. […]

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Building collapse in war-damaged Syria city kills 16

ALEPPO, Syria (AFP) – A building collapsed Sunday in Syria’s war-damaged second city of Aleppo, killing 16 people including children, with the search for survivors extending into the night. Much of Aleppo was destroyed during Syria’s conflict that began nearly 12 years ago and left many of the remaining structures in a decrepit state. “The number of victims of the residential building collapse… has risen to 16 dead,” said state news agency SANA. A war monitor […]

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US van standoff ends as police hunt Lunar New Year mass shooter

Torrance, United States (AFP) by Robyn BECK California police hunting the gunman who killed 10 people at a dance club during Lunar New Year celebrations broke into a van after a lengthy standoff Sunday, where images showed a body slumped in the driver’s seat. The hunt began 12 hours earlier after a man — described by police as Asian — began firing at a club in Monterey Park, a city in Los Angeles County with […]

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Four killed, four critical after Japan apartment fire

Tokyo, Japan | AFP | Sunday 1/22/2023  A fire at an apartment building in Kobe in western Japan killed four men and left four in critical condition on Sunday, an official said. The fire department was alerted to the blaze in the three-storey building by an emergency call at around 1:30 am (1630 GMT Saturday). Four bodies were found after it was extinguished. Four other men, aged between their 40s and 70s, “were taken to […]

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Brazil’s Lula sacks army commander after anti-government riots

Brasília, Brazil | AFP | Sunday 1/22/2023  by Ramon SAHMKOW President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva sacked the commander of Brazil’s army Saturday, two weeks after an election-denying mob loyal to his far-right predecessor ransacked the halls of power in Brasilia. The veteran leftist’s dismissal of Julio Cesar de Arruda came a day before Lula was to make his first trip abroad — to Argentina — as he moves to put the South American powerhouse […]

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Six more classified docs found in Justice Dept search of Biden home

  Washington, United States | AFP | Sunday 1/22/2023 Officials from the US Department of Justice found six more classified documents during a search of Joe Biden’s family home in Delaware this week, the president’s personal lawyer said in a statement Saturday. The new disclosure served up another embarrassing twist for Biden in an affair dogging him just as he gets ready to declare whether he will run for another term in 2024. Biden insists […]

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Ten dead in Lunar New Year shooting in California

Monterey Park, United States | AFP | Sunday 1/22/2023 by Gilles CLARENNE Ten people have died and at least 10 others have been wounded in a mass shooting in a largely Asian city in southern California, police said Sunday, with the suspect still at large hours later. The gunman opened fire at a dance venue in Monterey Park, as the local community were celebrating Lunar New Year, with witnesses saying he shot indiscriminately with a […]

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