International

Nearly 90 dead in Haiti gang violence, as country slides into chaos due to soaring prices, fuel shortages

  PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — A week of gang violence in Haiti’s capital has left at least 89 people dead, a rights group said Wednesday, as soaring prices, fuel shortages and gang warfare accelerate a brutal downward spiral in the security situation in Port-au-Prince. The unrest erupted on July 7 between two rival factions in Cite Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated neighborhood of Port-au-Prince. As gunfire crackled in the slums for nearly a week, […]

Libyans at boiling point amid summer power cuts

by Hamza Mekouar Agence France-Presse TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Mahmud Aguil has a comfortable house in Libya’s capital Tripoli, but chronic power outages in the war-battered country and roasting summer heat now force him to sleep in his air-conditioned van. “This is my bedroom,” the 48-year-old said pointing to the cramped vehicle, its back seats removed to make space for him and his two young children. “In the morning I wake up with a terrible […]

Solomons says foreign base would make it a military target

SUVA, Fiji (AFP) — Solomon Islands will not host a foreign military base because the nation would be targeted for “military strikes”, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said Thursday, as Pacific leaders grappled with China’s security ambitions. The Solomons leader is attending the Pacific Islands Forum summit, the first gathering of the bloc since his country signed a security agreement with China — details of which have not been made public. China’s security pact with the […]

Biden to meet with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem on second day of Mideast tour

JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — US President Joe Biden will hold bilateral talks on Thursday with Israeli officials in Jerusalem, where the two allies are expected to declare a “united stand” on common foe Iran. Biden touched down in Tel Aviv on Wednesday for the first Middle East tour of his presidency, which will see him meet Israeli and Palestinian leaders before flying onwards to Saudi Arabia. Tehran will top the agenda of talks slated for […]

France nods to Ukraine in Bastille Day military parade

by Daphne BENOIT and Jurgen HECKER Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Paris’s traditional Bastille Day military parade on Thursday is a salute to Ukraine, and to France’s eastern European allies who are among guests of honor, officials said. French troops deployed close to Ukraine since the Russian assault in February have a special place at the event, attended by President Emmanuel Macron, his government and foreign leaders. “The parade is marked by, and takes […]

Western Europe wilts under heatwave

  by Benoit Petit, with AFP Bureaus in Europe Agence France-Presse BORDEAUX, France (AFP) — France suffered soaring temperatures Wednesday, edging closer to the blistering heat already engulfing Spain and Portugal as wildfires destroyed vast stretches of Western European forestland. Large parts of the Iberian Peninsula have seen temperatures surpassing 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) this week and Spain on Wednesday issued an alert to expect temperatures over 45 degrees. Locals in Portugal meanwhile […]

Ukraine severs ties with NKorea after pro-Russia separatists recognition

KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Kyiv said Wednesday it was severing relations with North Korea, as Pyongyang confirmed it was formally recognizing two self-proclaimed pro-Russian republics in eastern Ukraine. North Korea’s recognition of the so-called Donetsk People’s Republic and Lugansk People’s Republic came after another Russian ally, Syria, made the same move last month. The Ukrainian foreign ministry in a statement denounced North Korea’s decision to recognize territories Kyiv described as “temporarily occupied by Russia”. “In […]

Week of gang violence leaves 89 dead in Haiti capital: rights group

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — A week of clashes between rival gangs in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince has left at least 89 people dead and dozens injured, a human rights group said Wednesday. The fresh violence, coupled with soaring food prices and fuel shortages all add to a brutal downward spiral in the security situation in the city. The unrest erupted on July 7 between two rival factions in Cite Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated […]

Bomb in Myanmar’s Yangon kills two, wounds nine

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — A bomb blast near a shopping mall in Myanmar’s commercial hub Yangon has killed two people and wounded eleven, rescue workers and local media said on Wednesday. No group has so far claimed responsibility for the explosion, which took place on Tuesday afternoon, as the country marked a public holiday for a Buddhist festival. “When we arrived there, injured people were scattered about and there was blood on the roadside,” a […]

Former bosses of Fukushima operator ordered to pay $97 bn damages

  by Hiroshi HIYAMA / Tomohiro OSAKI Agence France Presse A Tokyo court Wednesday ordered former executives from the operator of the devastated Fukushima nuclear plant to pay 13.32 trillion yen ($97 billion) for failing to prevent the disaster, plaintiffs said. Four ex-bosses from the Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) were ordered to pay the damages in a suit brought by shareholders over the nuclear disaster triggered by a massive tsunami in 2011. Plaintiffs emerged […]

Macau closes casinos, most businesses as Covid outbreak worsens

  Hong Kong, China (AFP) Macau on Saturday announced a weeklong shutdown of its casinos and non-essential businesses as the city confronted its worst coronavirus outbreak yet. Macau will enter “static management” for a week starting July 11 and residents must stay home, with rulebreakers liable to be jailed for up to two years, top city official Andre Cheong said at a press conference. Some public services and businesses such as supermarkets and pharmacies can […]

Sri Lanka declares state of emergency after president flees

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Crisis-hit Sri Lanka declared an indefinite nationwide state of emergency on Wednesday, hours after President Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled the country, the prime minister’s office said. “Since the president is out of the country, an emergency has been declared to deal with the situation in the country,” Dinouk Colombage, spokesman for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, told AFP. Police said they were also imposing an indefinite curfew across the Western Province, which […]