Breaking News, Latest Philippines Headlines, World, Entertainment, Politics, Weather & Video News
HANOI, Vietnam (AFP) — Vietnam will urge Southeast Asian leaders to set up an emergency fund to tackle the coronavirus at a summit held online on Tuesday, as the pandemic ravages the region’s tourism and export-reliant economies. Hanoi is chairing an Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meeting on COVID-19, with the country touting its success so far in containing the virus with extensive quarantines and social distancing. Vietnam has 265 virus cases and no […]
by Michael Mathes Agence France Press WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Former White House candidate Bernie Sanders on Monday endorsed onetime rival Joe Biden for president, saying it was time to unite in the effort to defeat Donald Trump in November. The two veteran politicians, who each spent the past year battling for the Democratic nomination, appeared together by split-screen on Biden’s livecast. “Today I am asking all Americans — I’m asking every Democrat, I’m […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has carried out a major reshuffle of his State Affairs Commission, official media reported Monday, replacing more than a third of its members. Kim has established an iron grip over the levers of authority in his nuclear-armed country since inheriting power in his late 20s in 2011. He is chairman of the SAC — the North’s highest decision-making body — and five of its […]
QUITO, Ecuador (AFP) — Former Ecuadoran president Rafael Correa was sentenced in absentia to eight years in prison for corruption during his 10-year term in office, the attorney general’s office said Tuesday. Correa — who was president from 2007-17 but now lives in exile in Belgium, where his wife was born — was one of 18 people convicted of bribery, the office said on Twitter. Correa, one of the feistiest characters in Latin American politics, […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States has accused China of lying about the extent of its deadly coronavirus outbreak, according to American lawmakers who on Wednesday cited an intelligence report presented to the White House. Republicans in Congress, pointing to a report by Bloomberg citing US intelligence officials, expressed outrage that Beijing apparently misled the international community on China’s infections and deaths that began in late 2019 in the city of Wuhan. China’s […]
by Abdellah CHEBALLAH ALGIERS, Algeria (AFP) — A year after the unexpected downfall of Algeria’s longtime president Abdelaziz Bouteflika, the ailing octogenarian remains holed up in his plush and medically adopted home, with his detractors still demanding justice. Bouteflika assumed the presidency in 1999, reigning omnipresent over Algeria’s political life until a stroke rendered him largely invisible in 2013. Since he resigned under pressure from protesters and the military in April 2019, the public has […]
by Anuj Chopra with Omar Hasan in Dubai RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia said on Monday it will raise its oil exports to a record 10.6 million barrels per day starting from May despite a global supply glut, escalating a price war with Russia. Oil prices are languishing at 17-year lows as the coronavirus pandemic threatens a painful global recession that could further sap demand. Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter which […]
by Michael Mathes WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Republican opposition to expanding certain unemployment benefits was delaying Senate passage Wednesday of the largest economic rescue package in modern US history, amid fears that New York could be the next epicenter of the coronavirus pandemic. The United States now has over 65,000 confirmed cases, the third-highest number globally behind China and Italy. About half are in New York state. “We still have the trajectory going up,” […]
JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel’s ex-military chief Benny Gantz was Monday nominated to form a government, issuing a call for “unity” after a year of political deadlock and amid the coronavirus pandemic. “I’ll do everything to form in a few days as possible a national, patriotic and broad government… I always wanted unity,” Gantz said, urging his rival, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, to join him. © Agence France-Presse
by Jing Xuan TENG Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — A Chinese government campaign to cast doubt on the origin of the coronavirus pandemic is fuelling a row with the United States, with a Beijing official promoting conspiracy theories and Washington calling it the “Wuhan virus”. The spat comes as China tries to deflect blame for the contagion and reframe itself as a country that took decisive steps to buy the world time […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US Congress on Wednesday gave its final approval to a resolution to restrain President Donald Trump from attacking Iran after months of soaring tensions. The House of Representatives voted 227-186 to join the Senate in support of the resolution, which bars any military action against Iran without an explicit vote from Congress. But the resolution is virtually certain to be vetoed by Trump and the coalition of most Democrats […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders has won the Democratic presidential caucus in North Dakota, his first victory in a night of losses to frontrunner Joe Biden, US media reported Wednesday. NBC News and CNN said Sanders won with 53.3 percent of the vote to 39.8 for Biden, who earlier cemented a commanding lead in the overall race for the Democratic nomination with victories in Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri and Idaho. A sixth […]
