International

1,000 migrant kids still separated from parents: US official

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States is still trying to reunite an estimated 1,000 migrant children separated from their parents under a controversial 2018 policy by former president Donald Trump, the US homeland security chief said Thursday. Speaking at a congressional hearing on funding for his agency, Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas noted that a task force established by President Joe Biden had successfully reunited 200 children with their parents. However, “there are approximately […]

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Billionaire Luiza Trajano, the businesswoman shaking up Brazil

by Luján Scarpinelli © Agence France-Presse SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian businesswoman Luiza Trajano has made it onto a lot of lists: TIME’s most influential people, Forbes’ billionaires, the biggest fortunes in Brazil… But although she has been touted as a potential contender in Brazil’s presidential elections this year, there is one list she says she is determined to stay off: the ballot. With the country deeply polarized ahead of October’s polls, “I want […]

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Mexico blames drug traffickers for journalist murders

  MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — The Mexican government on Thursday blamed drug traffickers for the murders of two journalists in the northwestern border city of Tijuana in January that triggered international condemnation. Prosecutors believe reporter Lourdes Maldonado was killed by remnants of the Arellano Felix cartel because of her allegations against drug dealers, Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejia said. The group’s alleged leader, nicknamed Cabo 16, is one of 13 suspects that have been […]

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In Kharkiv, no let-up for Ukraine firefighters

  by Emmanuel Peuchot © Agence France-Presse KHARKIV, Ukraine (AFP) — Blackened by smoke and dripping with sweat, firefighters in Ukraine’s second city Kharkiv are totally exhausted after two months of chasing blazes sparked by the constant explosion of Russian rockets. Since Russia invaded on February 24, there have been more than 1,000 fires in the eastern Kharkiv region which borders Russia, the area’s emergency services spokesman Yevgen Vasylenko said. In the city alone, over […]

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War in Ukraine: Latest developments

  KYIV, Ukraine (AFP) – Here are the latest developments in the war in Ukraine: – Kyiv hit as UN chief visits – Russian missiles slam into buildings in a residential area of Kyiv as UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres visits the Ukrainian capital. Guterres and his team are unhurt, but casualties are reported and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky says it is part of Russian leaders’ attempts to humiliate the United Nations. – Biden in […]

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Indonesia suspends all exports of palm oil, raising risk of destabilizing global vegetable oil market

  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia began imposing a complete ban on palm oil exports Thursday, as the world’s largest producer of the commodity risked destabilising a global vegetable oil market already hitting peak prices. The archipelago nation is facing a domestic shortage of cooking oil as well as soaring prices, with consumers in several cities having to queue for hours in front of distribution centres to buy the essential commodity at subsidised rates. Authorities […]

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Jobs crisis widening as boomers retire: Canada statistical agency

A record number of baby boomers that are set to retire from the labor force threatens to compound a worker shortage in Canada, according to data from a 2021 census released Wednesday. “Never before has the number of people nearing retirement been so high,” Statistics Canada said in a statement, with more than one in five workers (21.8 percent) close to the mandatory or proposed retirement age of 65. The statement cited the boomer cohort’s […]

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China megacity mass-tests, cancels flights after suspected Covid case

The Chinese megacity of Guangzhou cancelled hundreds of flights Thursday and launched mass testing of 5.6 million people after one suspected Covid case, as the battle to contain the coronavirus sweeps across the country. China is facing its worst outbreak since the peak of the first wave in early 2020, with eastern Shanghai recording dozens of daily deaths and the capital Beijing sealing off whole neighbourhoods where handfuls of cases have been detected. Under its […]

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Another 52,000 Ukrainians flee war as refugees

by Nina LARSON More than 5.3 million Ukrainians have fled their country since Russia invaded two months ago, the United Nations said Wednesday, with more than 52,000 joining their ranks in the past 24 hours. In total, 5,317,219 people have fled Ukraine as refugees since February 24, according to the latest data from the UN refugee agency, UNHCR. That marks an increase of 52,452 over the figure given on Tuesday. While the outflow has slowed […]

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Russia expels eight Japanese diplomats

Moscow said Wednesday it was expelling eight Japanese diplomats in a tit-for-tat response to expulsions by Tokyo over the conflict in Ukraine. Accusing Tokyo of pursuing an “openly hostile anti-Russian course,” the foreign ministry said in a statement that the Japanese diplomats must leave by May 10, in a reciprocal answer to Japan’s expulsion of eight Russian diplomats. It accused Tokyo of “taking steps that were unprecedented in modern Russian-Japanese relations” and “abandoning friendly, constructive […]

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Trump testifies he feared being hit by ‘very dangerous’ fruit

Ex-president Donald Trump testified under oath that he feared protesters would pelt him with “very dangerous” fruit like pineapples, tomatoes, and bananas saying: “You can get killed with those things.” The comments were revealed in court documents made public Tuesday which included a transcript of a deposition Trump gave last October as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit in New York. The case was brought by several activists of Mexican descent who say they were […]

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EU defies gas ‘blackmail’ as Russia pushes deeper into Ukraine

by Dave CLARK with Emmanuel PEUCHOT in Kharkiv The European Union warned Russia on Wednesday it would not bend to “blackmail” over its support for Kyiv, after the Kremlin cut off gas supplies to Bulgaria and Poland. The warning came as UN chief Antonio Guterres arrived in Kyiv to meet Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky following talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow. Putin issued his own warning on Wednesday, saying that if Western forces […]

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