By Jack MOORE JAKARTA, Feb 11, 2024 (AFP) – Indonesians vote in a presidential election Wednesday with Defence Minister Prabowo Subianto the clear favourite after a campaign mixing nationalist rhetoric and pledges to continue the era of popular outgoing leader Joko Widodo. The former general lost to Widodo in 2014 and 2019 but is on course to finally lead the world’s third-largest democracy after rehabilitating his image. Widodo is constitutionally barred from running for a […]
Tag: politics
Pakistan army chief tells politicians to show ‘maturity’ after indecisive poll
By David FOX, with Saad SAYEED in Lahore ISLAMABAD, Feb 10, 2024 (AFP) – Pakistan’s army chief told feuding politicians Saturday to show “maturity and unity” after an election failed to produce a clear winner, leaving the military’s favoured party having to cobble together a coalition in order to rule. The South Asian country faces days of political horse-trading after a strong performance by independent candidates loyal to jailed former prime minister Imran Khan scuppered […]
Video update: President Biden lashes out over criticism of failing memory
By Danny KEMP and Aurelia END WASHINGTON, Feb 9, 2024 (AFP) – An angry, emotional US President Joe Biden defended his mental competence Thursday in a rare evening address to Americans to respond to biting comments in a report released hours earlier on his mishandling of classified documents. Appearing on live television from the White House, Biden was furious over the report’s claim that he was unable to remember even the date of his son […]
Putin tells West: Russia cannot be defeated in Ukraine
By Danny Kemp and Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, Feb 9, 2024 (AFP) – President Vladimir Putin said in an interview released Thursday with controversial right-wing US talk show host Tucker Carlson that the West should understand it is “impossible” to defeat Russia in Ukraine. In a two-hour interview with the former Fox News host — coming just ahead of the two-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine — Putin also said a deal “can be reached” […]
Five dead in Haiti as armed environmental group clashes with police
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Feb 8, 2024 (AFP) – Five agents of an environmental protection body were killed in clashes with police near the Haitian capital Wednesday, as the country is seized by violent protests calling for the ouster of Prime Minister Ariel Henry. Haiti has been engulfed in unrest since Monday, with thousands of people in Port-au-Prince and across the country demanding that Henry step down in line with a political agreement forged in 2022. A police […]
President Biden attends ritual return of three US soldiers killed in Jordan
By Aurélia END DOVER, United States, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – President Joe Biden on Friday joined a solemn military ritual at a Delaware air base for the return of three US soldiers killed in Jordan by a drone attack blamed on an Iran-backed militia. Six servicemen wearing camouflage, dark berets and white gloves marched slowly three times on and off the ramp of a huge C-5 transport plane to carry the bodies in flag-draped […]
North Korea fires more cruise missiles in testing spree
SEOUL, Feb 2, 2024 (AFP) – North Korea fired multiple cruise missiles Friday, Seoul’s military said, continuing a fresh streak of weapons testing as Kim Jong Un’s regime ramps up what it calls “war preparations”. So far this year, Kim has declared South Korea his country’s “principal enemy”, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement. Pyongyang has also carried out ever more weapons tests, including […]
Jury orders Trump to pay $83 mn for sex assault defamation
By Gregory WALTON NEW YORK, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – A jury in New York ordered former US president and 2024 candidate Donald Trump on Friday to pay $83.3 million to compensate the writer E. Jean Carroll whom he was found to have sexually assaulted and defamed. The civil order, which prompted an audible gasp in the federal court, far exceeds the more than $10 million in damages for defamation that Carroll had sought. Trump […]
Global turbulence the ‘new normal’: EU’s von der Leyen
BERLIN, Jan 26, 2024 (AFP) – European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen warned on Friday that global disruptions and volatility are the “new normal”, with more geo-economic tensions on the horizon. “2024 will be a decisive year, with more geo-economic tensions expected — from the Red Sea to the Taiwan Strait — which also means more frequent disruptions to supply chains and greater volatility on the energy markets,” she told a climate conference in […]
URGENT: Seoul lawmaker ‘attacked’ in street : Yonhap news agency
SEOUL, Jan 25, 2024 (AFP) – A South Korean ruling party lawmaker was “attacked” on a street in Seoul’s upscale Gangnam district on Thursday by an unidentified assailant, Yonhap news agency reported. Bae Hyun-jin, 40, was struck with an “object believed to be a blunt instrument” and was taken to hospital, the report said, adding her condition was “not life threatening”. The attack comes just about a month after the country’s opposition party leader Lee […]
Biden wobbles under weight of multiple open fronts around the world
By Léon BRUNEAU WASHINGTON, Jan 25, 2024 (AFP) – Long gone is the Joe Biden of February 2023, strolling confidently through the streets of Kyiv, basking in the role as champion of the Ukrainian cause in the fight against Vladimir Putin’s Russia. Nearly one year after that triumphant appearance, the US president is instead facing the harsh realities of running for re-election while bogged down in one stagnant war and navigating the volatility of another, […]
N. Korea’s Kim seeks to level up ‘huge’ gaps in living standards
SEOUL, Jan 25, 2024 (AFP) – North Korean leader Kim Jong Un called for “leveling up” the living standards of rural areas, saying a failure to provide necessities, including food, was a “serious political issue”, state media said Thursday. Nuclear-armed North Korea has a fragile economy and its government has long been criticised for prioritising the military and its banned weapons programmes over adequately providing for its people. The North has periodically been hit by […]





