International

13 dead as police clash with gang suspects in western Mexico

GUADALAJARA, Mexico (AFP) — A gun battle left four police officers and nine suspected gang members dead in Mexico’s western state of Jalisco, authorities said Thursday. The clash happened on Wednesday night at a house in El Salto on the outskirts of the city of Guadalajara and, according to witnesses, lasted for more than an hour. Following the shootout, the bodies of nine people, including a woman, were found inside the building, state prosecutors said. […]

Supreme Court says Americans have right to carry guns in public

by Chris Lefkow Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Supreme Court ruled Thursday that Americans have a fundamental right to carry a handgun in public, a landmark decision with far-reaching implications for states and cities across the country confronting a surge in gun violence. The 6-3 decision strikes down a more than century-old New York law that required a person to prove they had a legitimate self-defense need to receive a permit […]

Acquitted US protest shooter to launch video game

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP)  — A US teen cleared in court after killing people amid unrest over police mistreatment of African-Americans unveiled Thursday a video game centered on shooting targets representing journalists. Kyle Rittenhouse said in online posts that money raised from sales of the game will be used to sue “leftwing media organizations” for defamation over their coverage of his 2020 case. He did not specify which news outlets he intended to sue, […]

ASEAN must step up pressure on Myanmar junta: UN expert

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Southeast Asia’s regional bloc must increase pressure on Myanmar’s junta or there will be more death and suffering, a UN expert warned Thursday, after a long period of stalled diplomacy. Myanmar has been in turmoil and its economy paralysed since the February 2021 coup that ousted civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who was transferred from house arrest to solitary confinement in prison this week. Efforts by the 10-member Association […]

Myanmar’s Suu Kyi moved to solitary confinement in prison

  YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Ousted Myanmar leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been moved from house arrest to solitary confinement in a prison compound in the military-built capital Naypyidaw, a junta spokesman said on Thursday. Since her ouster in a coup last year, Suu Kyi had been under house arrest at an undisclosed location in Naypyidaw, accompanied by several domestic staff and her dog, according to sources with knowledge of the matter. The Nobel […]

Germany raises gas alert level after Russia dwindles supply

  FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Germany said Thursday it would raise the alert level under its emergency gas plan to secure supply following the recent reduction of pipeline supplies from Russia. “Gas is now a scarce commodity in Germany,” Economy Minister Robert Habeck told reporters. Triggering phase two brings Germany a step closer to the third and final stage that could see gas rationing in Europe’s top economy. Russia was using gas “as a weapon” […]

Russian gas threat revives German nuclear power debate

  FRANKFURT, Germany (AFP) — Germany should extend the lifetime of its nuclear plants to avoid an “extreme scenario” in which a Russian gas stop could wipe 12 percent off the economy, a government advisor said Thursday. Prolonging the operational lifetime of Germany’s remaining reactors could “create some breathing space”, Veronika Grimm, a member of the government’s council of economic advisors, told the Funke media group. Germany turned its back on nuclear energy following the […]

Monkeypox vaccine maker Bavarian Nordic ready to meet demand

by Camille Bas-Wohlert Agence France-Presse COPENHAGEN, Denmark (AFP) — As the lone laboratory manufacturing a licensed vaccine against monkeypox, Danish company Bavarian Nordic has seen its order book fill up as the usually rare disease spreads around the world. “The approval we got in 2019, when we only sold maybe a few hundred doses, all of a sudden became very, very relevant for international health,” the company’s vice president Rolf Sass Sorensen says with a […]

EU debates Ukraine candidacy as Russia makes life ‘hell’ in east

by Benoit Finck, with Anna Malpas in the Donbas Agence France-Presse KYIV, Ukraine (AFP)  — EU leaders will gather in Brussels Thursday to discuss calls to formally grant war-torn Ukraine “candidate status” to join the bloc, as Russian forces slowly advance in the eastern Donbas region despite fierce resistance from Kyiv’s military. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said he had been conducting a “telephone marathon” on his country’s behalf in the run-up to the meeting, making […]

China’s Xi calls for stronger fintech oversight, security

BEIJING, China (AFP) — A high-level Chinese government meeting led by President Xi Jinping has called for stronger oversight and better security in financial tech, state media reported, with the sector hit hard by a regulatory crackdown. The government action has pummelled some of China’s biggest tech firms, wiping out hundreds of billions of dollars in market value since last year. But with the Chinese economy hammered by Covid lockdowns, the government has rolled out […]

Passenger jet catches fire while landing at Miami airport

MIAMI, June 22, 2022 (AFP) –  Officials arrived in Miami Wednesday to investigate a passenger jet that caught fire as it touched down at the US city’s international airport, forcing more than 100 people to flee the burning and mangled aircraft. Three people were hospitalized after the crash of Red Air Flight 203 late Tuesday, according to Miami-Dade fire officials, but no deaths or serious injuries have been reported among those on board. Dramatic video […]

Turkish ship leaves Ukraine’s Mariupol after grain talks with Moscow

ISTANBUL, June 22, 2022 (AFP) – A Turkish cargo ship on Wednesday left Ukraine’s Russian-occupied port of Mariupol after a round of “constructive” grain talks with Moscow, Turkey’s defence ministry said, without specifying if it was carrying wheat. “The meeting in Moscow gave its first concrete result,” the Turkish ministry said in a statement. “Just a few hours after the end of the long meeting, the Turkish dry cargo ship, which had been waiting for […]