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by David Harding Agence France Presse DOHA, Qatar (AFP) — Energy-rich Qatar said Tuesday it plans to increase natural gas production by 30 percent over the next several years, as it faces pressure from its neighbors in a diplomatic crisis. State-owned Qatar Petroleum said it would go ahead with the output boost regardless of whether or not Saudi Arabia and its allies maintain a sweeping embargo they imposed last month. The company’s head, Saad Sherida […]
UNITED NATIONS,United States (AFP) — United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday strongly condemned North Korea’s launch of a ballistic missile that Pyongyang claimed was its first successful ICBM test. “This action is yet another brazen violation of Security Council resolutions and constitutes a dangerous escalation of the situation,” Guterres said in a statement. He added that North Korea’s “leadership must cease further provocative actions and comply fully with its international obligations.” The Security Council […]
MOUNT ETNA, Italy (Reuters) — A robot scuttles across a dry and arid moonscape but it is not in outer space, it is on Europe’s most active volcano, Mount Etna, which is being used for research by the German Aerospace Center, testing robots ahead of the next mission to the moon. A variety of experts from Germany, England, the United States and Italy are involved in Robotic Exploration of Extreme Environments, which aims not only […]
AGUADILLA, Puerto Rico (Reuters) — A company in Aguadilla, Puerto Rico, is preparing to launch an electric motorized surfboard which can rise up above water and reach top speeds of 25 miles per hour. Nick Leason, the co-founder of the company Lift Foils which creates the boards named eFoil, told Reuters he envisages their use to be on inland waterways where there are no waves to surf. The 13.6-kilogram (30 pounds) boards run on batteries […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The cost of lighting up at a French sidewalk cafe may finally dissuade even the most ardent smoker, if Prime Minister Edouard Phillippe gets his way. With 80,000 tobacco-related deaths in France each year, “doing nothing is not an option,” Philippe said Tuesday, announcing a plan to raise the price of a packet of cigarettes to 10 euros ($11.3) from the current seven euros. Tobacco “is the leading cause of preventable […]
BERLIN, Germany (Reuters) — Chinese President Xi Jinping arrived in Berlin on Tuesday (July 4) for talks with German chancellor Angela Merkel ahead of the G20 summit in Germany’s second largest city of Hamburg, which starts on Thursday (July 7). Merkel, hosting the meeting of the G20 leaders, and Xi will dine on Tuesday and discuss G20 strategy over lunch on Wednesday. After that, the two leaders will indulge in classic “panda diplomacy,” opening a […]
TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — The head of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday described Saudi Arabia as a “terrorist state” as he announced his position had been extended for three years. Major General Mohammad Ali Jafari’s 10-year stint as commander of the elite military force was due to expire in three months. But in a speech carried by the semi-official Fars and Tasnim news agencies, he said it would continue until at least 2020. In a […]
by Max Delany with Sebastien Berger in Seoul Agence France Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — North Korea’s declaration of a successful first intercontinental ballistic missile test on Tuesday triggered a joint appeal from China and Russia for a military freeze to try and lower soaring tensions between Pyongyang and the United States. The launch came as Americans prepared to mark Independence Day and it sparked a Twitter outburst from President Donald Trump who urged China […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia and China on Tuesday called for a simultaneous freeze on North Korean nuclear and missile tests and military exercises by the United States as tensions ratcheted up on the peninsula. “The two sides propose that the DPRK (North Korea) as a voluntary political decision declares a moratorium on testing nuclear explosive devices and ballistic rocket launches, and the US and South Korea refrain from carrying out large-scale joint exercises,” their […]
by Tran Thi Minh Ha Agence France Presse Officials in Vietnam’s traffic-choked capital Hanoi vowed on Tuesday to banish motorbikes by 2030 to ease environment and congestion woes, a decision that swiftly divided a city where two-wheelers are the main means of transportation. Hanoi is famed for legions of motorbikes — sometimes stacked with entire families or overloaded with deliveries — that clog roads in a fast-growing city with limited public transportation. There are […]
Filipino social workers taught evacuees fleeing Marawi how to identify and react to unexploded bombs on Monday (July 3), as fighting between government troops and Islamist militants continue in the besieged city for the 42nd day. Unexploded Ordinance Risk Facilitator Jhaharah Barrat presented images of grenades, mortar shells and mines to evacuees residing in neighboring Saguiran town, and taught them to immediately report any sighting to authorities. “Anywhere you go when you go to Marawi… […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia will start supplying gas to China through a new pipeline by the end of 2019, state gas giant Gazprom said Tuesday, as part of a mammoth $400-billion deal. “Today a deal was signed…about the date of the start of gas deliveries through the ‘Power of Siberia’ pipeline. It is December 20, 2019,” Gazprom boss Alexei Miller told journalists. After a decade of negotiations, Russia inked a mammoth 30-year deal in […]
