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MANILA, Dec. 21 – Labor Secretary Silvestre Bello III reiterated his call for private employers for the release of workers’ 13th month pay. “In the spirit of this holiday season, I appeal to employers to give your workers their 13th month pay. Better yet, pay them now,” Bello said. The 13th month pay is a general labor standard. Private sector employers are duty-bound under the law to report their compliance with this worker benefit. Under the law, all employers […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A massive explosion that gutted Mexico’s biggest fireworks market on Tuesday left at least 26 dead, an official said. “We recovered 26 bodies at the scene of the incident” in the Mexico City suburb of Tultepec, Mexico state prosecutor Alejandro Gomez told reporters at the site. The conflagration, in the suburb of Tultepec, set off a quickfire series of multicolored blasts and a vast cloud of smoke that hung over […]
MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — A massive explosion gutted Mexico’s biggest fireworks market Tuesday, killing at least nine people and injuring 70, police said. The conflagration, in the suburb of Tultepec, set off a quickfire series of multicolored blasts and a vast cloud of smoke that hung over Mexico City. The market was packed at the time with customers buying pyrotechnics for traditional end-of-year festivities. Christmas and New Year’s parties in many Latin American countries […]
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Nike reported higher second-quarter earnings Tuesday behind increased sales in key markets, including China, and said it was making progress in cutting inventory in North America. Executives gave an upbeat outlook on China, where sales jumped 12 percent to $1.1 billion. Net income for the quarter ending November 30 rose seven percent to $842 million. Sales rose six percent to $8.2 billion. Participation in the Shanghai marathon was 38,000 […]
KAGOSHIMA, Japan (Reuters) — Japan launched an Epsilon-2 rocket on Tuesday (December 20) carrying the Exploration of Energization and Radiation in Geospace (ERG) mission satellite. The satellite will study the creation and disappearance of highly charged electrons in the region of outer space near the Earth along with space storms and the effects of solar winds. The rocket was successfully launched from the Uchinoura Space Center in Kagoshima prefecture, south-western Japan, at 8 p.m. local […]
by Michel Moutot Agence France Presse PARIS, France (AFP) — Even the best-laid security plans cannot protect an open-air event against the lethal potency of a truck attack like those carried out in Berlin and Nice, experts say. The sheer scope of places, demonstrations and public gatherings needing protection is such that the risk of someone using a moving vehicle as a weapon of terror — as called for by the Islamic State group and Al-Qaeda […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — A Russian plane carrying the body of the ambassador assassinated in Turkey landed on Tuesday in Moscow, met by the top Russian and Turkish diplomats. Andrei Karlov’s coffin and his widow traveled back to Russia after the veteran diplomat was shot dead by a 22-year-old Turkish policeman at an art exhibit in Ankara on Monday in what Moscow called an “act of terror”. TV footage from the Vnukovo airport showed Karlov’s […]
BRATISLAVA, Slovakia (AFP) — Slovak President Andrej Kiska on Tuesday vetoed a law he called “discriminatory”, which would have made it even harder for Muslims and other religious minorities in the EU member to receive state subsidies. “This law infringes fundamental rights,” Kiska said in a statement, a couple of weeks after Slovak lawmakers adopted the legislation tabled by the right-wing Slovak National Party (SNS), a governing coalition member. The bill would have required a […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President-elect Donald Trump took on Bill Clinton Tuesday in a new tweet attack, after the former president questioned his intelligence. In an impromptu discussion at a book store in upstate New York earlier this month, Clinton said this when asked if he thought Trump was smart: “He doesn’t know much. One thing he does know is how to get angry, white men to vote for him.” Clinton made the remarks […]
by Kamal Taha Agence France-Presse AMMAN, Jordan (AFP) – Gunmen killed four Jordanian policemen in a new shootout Tuesday in Karak, where a weekend attack claimed by the Islamic State group left 10 people dead, an official said. Security forces came under fire during an operation to track down suspects following Sunday’s assault, whose victims included a Canadian tourist, government spokesperson Mohammed Momani said. “The operation is ongoing but has entered its final stages and […]
by Frank Zeller with Michelle Fitzpatrick in Frankfurt Agence France-Presse BERLIN, Germany (AFP) – The Islamic State group on Tuesday claimed responsibility for a truck rampage through a Berlin Christmas market that killed 12 people, as German police hunted for the attacker. “A soldier of the Islamic State carried out the Berlin operation in response to appeals to target citizens of coalition countries,” the IS-linked Amaq news agency said, without identifying the perpetrator. The claim came […]
by Adem ALTAN with Stuart WILLIAMS in Istanbul Agence France-Presse ANKARA, Turkey (AFP) – Russian investigators arrived in Turkey on Tuesday to probe the assassination of Moscow’s ambassador at an Ankara art show, as both sides pledged the murder would not damage improving relations. Veteran diplomat Andrei Karlov was shot nine times in the back by off-duty Turkish policeman Mevlut Mert Altintas at the art gallery opening of a show of Russian photography on […]
