by Jocelyne ZABLIT LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Authorities ratcheted up security on the Los Angeles metro following a tip from overseas about an impending bomb attack Tuesday against a station in the sprawling rail network. The threat was relayed by an anonymous man who called a public safety line run by an unidentified foreign government, which then passed on the information to a Federal Bureau of Investigation terrorism task force, said Deirdre Fike, […]
South America
New York thief grabs pot of gold off armored truck: police
NEW YORK, United States (Reuters) — New York police are searching for a green-clad man who swiped an 86-pound (39 kg) pail of gold flakes off an armored truck two months ago and disappeared with the estimated $1.6 million in treasure. The city’s police department late Tuesday (November 29) released photos and video of the suspect, who was lingering near the truck on the afternoon of Sept. 29 and took advantage of a moment of […]
5.5 magnitude quake damages homes in southeast Peru
LIMA, Peru (AFP) — A 5.5 magnitude earthquake struck southeast Peru on Thursday, damaging some homes and roads but causing no casualties, the National Civil Defense Institute (INDECI) said. The quake in the Puno region hit at 5:40 pm local time (2240 GMT), its epicenter 58 kilometers (36 miles) from the town of Lampa and at a depth of 30 kilometers, according to the Geophysical Institute of Peru (IGP). “Eight collapsed homes are reported in […]
New Haiti leader claims victory and calls for order
by Amelie BARON PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Jovenel Moise, the provisional winner of Haiti’s presidential election with 55 percent of the vote in the first round, has claimed victory, calling on demonstrators to stand down and restore order in the capital. “The people have had their say,” he said Thursday in an interview with AFP, adding that it was now time for his rivals “to begin to realize that the country can no longer wallow […]
Fans cram into Brazil football stadium to mourn dead players
by Rosa SULLEIRO CHAPECO, Brazil (AFP) — Fans of Brazil’s Chapecoense football club whose team was wiped out in a Colombian air crash crammed into the home stadium late Wednesday for tearful prayers around the empty pitch. The stadium in Chapeco, southern Brazil, was a solid wall of green as fans and mourners dressed in the team shirt stood shoulder to shoulder. They gathered at exactly the hour their team, which just a few years […]
Brazilian foreign minister arrives in Colombia after soccer plane crash
MEDELLIN, Colombia (Reuters) — Brazil’s chancellor, Jose Serra, said authorities should withhold any premature conclusion on what caused the plane crash in Colombia which virtually wiped out a Brazilian soccer team among 71 victims on Monday night. Serra spoke alongside his Colombian counterpart, Maria Angela Holguin, on Wednesday (November 30) on arriving in the western Colombian city of Medellin near to where the crash took place. “With respect to subjective analyses of the accident, we […]
Colombia crash pilot reported he was out of fuel: tape
by Rodrigo ALMONACID MEDELLIN, Colombia (AFP) — Fans mourned Wednesday for a Brazilian football team decimated in a plane crash that killed 71 people in Colombia, as a recording emerged of the panicked pilot reporting he was out of fuel. Authorities are still investigating what caused the charter flight to crash in the mountains outside Medellin as it carried Cinderella story team Chapecoense Real to a major match. A haunting recording aired by Colombian media […]
Football mourns Brazilian players killed in air crash, lack of fuel suspected
by Rodrigo Almonacid Agence France Presse LA UNION, Colombia (AFP) — A plane that crashed in the mountains of Colombia, killing 71 people, including members of a Brazilian football team, may have run out of fuel, a Colombian military source told AFP. “It is very suspicious that despite the impact there was no explosion. That reinforces the theory of the lack of fuel,” the source said Tuesday. Six people miraculously survived the crash Monday […]
Plane carrying Brazilian football players crashes in Colombia
by Rodrigo Almonacid BOGOTA, Colombia (AFP) — A charter plane carrying a Brazilian football team crashed in the mountains in Colombia late Monday, killing 76 people, officials said. They said five survived the disaster. The LAMIA airlines charter declared an emergency at around 10 pm local time” 0300 GMT Tuesday, reporting it had suffered “electrical failures,” and crashed a short time later near the city of Medellin, officials said. The plane was carrying members […]
Presidents attending, skipping Castro’s funeral rites
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — African and Latin American heads of state will attend funeral rites for Cuba’s communist icon Fidel Castro on Tuesday, but US President Barack Obama and several European leaders are staying away. Three days after his death at age 90, the list of attendees and absentees highlights the polarizing effect of the major Cold War player. Western absences – Barack Obama: While the US leader and Fidel’s brother, Cuban President Raul Castro, […]
Cubans begin emotional farewell to Fidel Castro
HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) – by Laurent THOMET Massive crowds of Cubans streamed onto Havana’s iconic Revolution Square to pay tribute to Fidel Castro on Monday, kicking off an emotional, week-long farewell to the divisive Cold War titan. Long lines of mourners, many of whom had been waiting since before dawn, filled the square as the memorial began with a salvo of 21 cannon shots from a colonial fort overlooking Havana harbor. They filed silently past […]
Bakersfield — a California town firmly in Trumpland
by Veronique DUPONT Bakersfield, United States (AFP)- Though just a few hours by road from California’s progressive bastions of Los Angeles or San Francisco, Bakersfield is a world away from Tinseltown or Silicon Valley and firmly in Trumpland. In this town, 54 percent of the population voted for Donald Trump and only 39 percent backed his Democratic rival Hillary Clinton though she won two thirds of the overall vote in California. “I voted for Donald Trump […]
