Other News

Rihanna vows to ‘never stop’ fight to put children back in school

by Laurence BENHAMOU Agence France-Presse DAKAR, Senegal (AFP) — Megastar Rihanna vowed she would “never stop fighting” to get millions of children back in school on Friday as French President Emmanuel Macron promised a major boost in foreign aid for education in developing nations. Macron co-hosted a conference in Dakar organised by the Global Partnership for Education with Senegalese President Macky Sall, while Rihanna attended as the organisation’s global ambassador. “We have made tremendous progress […]

Continue Reading →

Low-lying Marshall Islands brace for tidal floods

MAJURO, Marshall Islands (AFP) — Emergency services were put on standby Saturday in Majuro, as rising king tides threatened to flood the capital of the low-lying Marshall Islands. The national weather service warned “major inundation” was possible from Saturday evening through to Tuesday at peak tide periods in the Pacific island nation, highlighting its vulnerability to rising sea levels. “We’re on stand-by through Tuesday,” Public Works Minister Tony Muller said Saturday as the 30,000 population of Majuro […]

Continue Reading →

Preserved in time: WWII bunker hidden under Paris train station

by Jean Liou © Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFPI) — t lies hidden deep beneath Paris’s bustling Gare de l’Est railway station, its sprawling subterranean rooms and sparse furniture pristinely preserved if a little dusty. Originally built a few years before World War II for luggage storage, the underground bunker was repurposed after war broke out. French railway historian Clive Lamming said its 1939 overhaul was to provide “a place to retreat in case of an […]

Continue Reading →

Amazon patents could enable worker monitoring via wristband

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Amazon has received patents for electronic systems that could enable warehouse monitoring through electronic pulses that guide employees by location. The patent filings, first reported this week by the news site Geekwire, come amid concerns over workplace conditions for the company, which has seen rapid growth in its warehouses or “fulfillment centers” key to its logistics. The publicly available patent documents show how wrist-worn devices could deliver ultrasonic pulses […]

Continue Reading →

LA school shooting an accident, say police

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — A middle school shooting that left two students injured in Los Angeles was the result of a semi-automatic handgun going off by accident in a 12-year-old girl’s bag, police said Friday. A 15-year-old boy sustained a head wound, described as a “graze,” while a girl of the same age was hit in the wrist in the incident at Salvador Castro Middle School in central Los Angeles on Thursday. Both […]

Continue Reading →

Puigdemont or plan B? Catalan separatists divided

by Daniel Bosque © Agence France-Presse BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Catalonia’s separatist parties have to decide in the coming days whether to set their differences aside and back ousted, exiled leader Carles Puigdemont or seek an alternative. Unlike other major independence movements in Scotland and Quebec, concentrated in one party, three different groupings make up Catalonia’s separatist camp, united in their will to break with Spain but often at odds with each other. These quarrels burst into […]

Continue Reading →

Islam scholar Tariq Ramadan charged with rape: legal source

by Benjamin LEGENDRE Agence France-Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan has been charged with rape, a judicial source said, following claims by two women that he assaulted them in French hotel rooms in 2009 and 2012. Ramadan, who was arrested by French police on Wednesday, was charged on Friday with connected charges of rape and rape of a vulnerable person, the source said. The accused is a Swiss citizen whose grandfather founded […]

Continue Reading →

Myanmar denies report of mass graves in Rakhine

YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — Myanmar officials have denied a report of five mass graves of Rohingya in a village in crisis-hit Rakhine, a border region gutted by a military crackdown on the Muslim minority. Myanmar troops are accused of waging an ethnic cleansing campaign against the Rohingya, nearly 700,000 of whom have fled to Bangladesh since last August. Myanmar denies the allegation, saying it launched a proportionate crackdown on Rohingya rebels, but has blocked reporters and UN […]

Continue Reading →

Spice Girls announce plans to work together again

LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The Spice Girls got back together on Friday for the first time since 2012 and announced plans to explore “incredible new opportunities” in the future. The British 1990s pop phenomenon — Victoria Beckham, Melanie Brown, Emma Bunton, Melanie Chisholm and Geri Horner — reunited at Horner’s house north of London, along with their former manager Simon Fuller. The best-selling female group ever released photographs of the gathering. “We have enjoyed […]

Continue Reading →

Boxing: Mayweather drops another hint at MMA fight

LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — MMA fighter Conor McGregor switched to the boxing ring to make one of the richest professional fights in history possible and now Floyd Mayweather hints he might return the favour. Mayweather, who hasn’t fought since knocking out McGregor in that boxing match last year, teased fans Friday night by posting a picture on his Twitter page of himself wearing mixed martial arts gloves and standing in an UFC cage. “Billion Dollar […]

Continue Reading →

US, Mexico play up increased security cooperation

by Dave Clark / Joshua Howat Berger Agence France-Presse MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) – Secretary of State Rex Tillerson insisted Friday the US and Mexico are bolstering cooperation in the fight against drug trafficking, brushing aside concerns about the impact of his boss Donald Trump’s anti-Mexican barbs. The US-Mexican relationship has been strained by Trump’s attacks on Mexican immigrants and the North American Free Trade Agreement — and his insistence on building a border wall. Critics say […]

Continue Reading →
1 … 4,296 4,297 4,298 4,299 4,300 … 7,408