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OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada announced Sunday it was temporarily shutting its embassy in Venezuela, blaming President Nicolas Maduro for refusing to accredit diplomats critical of his regime. At the same time, Ottawa is reviewing the status of Maduro envoys to Canada. Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said in a statement that “the regime has taken steps to limit the ability of foreign embassies to function in Venezuela, particularly those advocating for the restoration of […]
by Mike Smith JERUSALEM, Undefined (AFP) — Israel’s parliament voted early Thursday to hold new elections only months after April polls in an unprecedented move provoked by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s attempts to remain in power despite failing to form a coalition. Parliament voted 74-45 in favour of dissolving itself and setting elections for September 17. It came as the deadline for Netanyahu to form a coalition expired and followed raucous moments in parliament that […]
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s military has confirmed that Navy pilots were targeted with lasers during flights in the hotly contested South China Sea, with informal Chinese militia vessels believed to be behind the attacks. Beijing has become more assertive in the area, stoking tensions with rival claimants in Southeast Asia as well as Canberra and Washington — traditionally the dominant naval and air power in the Asia-Pacific region. The Australian Defence Force said “assets […]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — More than half of New Zealand’s public schools closed their doors on Wednesday amid a mass walkout by teachers over pay and conditions. The ministry of education estimated that almost 60 percent of schools were closed as some 50,000 teachers staged a “mega-strike”. “We didn’t want to be on strike, but we did it for the future of education in Aotearoa (New Zealand),” the country’s largest education union, NZEI Te […]
by Ryland JAMES BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s favored successor was swept into a new storm Tuesday, with her apparent call for limits to free speech around elections stoking further anger rather than putting down a raging youth-led YouTube revolt. Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer’s call for “rules” for online media around election-time came after her Christian Democratic Union (CDU) and its center-left coalition partner SPD suffered their worst scores in Sunday’s European parliamentary vote. […]
by Jastinder KHERA and Julia ZAPPEI VIENNA, Austria (AFP) — Austria’s Chancellor Sebastian Kurz on Monday became the first chancellor in the country’s post-war history to be removed from office by a no-confidence vote over a corruption scandal that had already brought down his coalition with the far-right. The motion against Kurz and his cabinet is the latest fallout from the so-called “Ibiza-gate” scandal, which saw far-right Freedom Party (FPOe) leader and Vice-Chancellor Heinz-Christian Strache […]
by Dmitry ZAKS Agence France Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — The race to become Britain’s next premier opened Saturday with an array of hopefuls promising to succeed where Theresa May failed and finally pull the divided country out of the EU. But European leaders insisted they had made their final offer during months or acrimonious negotiations that resulted in an unpopular compromise for which May ended up paying with her job. The British […]
by Paul HANDLEY WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Justice Department on Thursday charged WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange with violating the US Espionage Act by publishing military and diplomatic files in 2010, rejecting his claim that he is a journalist. The department unveiled 17 new charges against Assange, accusing him of directing and abetting intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning in stealing secret US files, and also recklessly exposing confidential sources in the Middle East and China […]
JARATA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesian police fired tear gas to disperse demonstrators in downtown Jakarta early Wednesday after a rally opposed to President Joko Widodo’s re-election, an AFP reporter said. The country’s election commission on Tuesday released official results that confirmed Widodo, 57, had beaten retired military general Prabowo Subianto for the presidency in a poll held on April 17. Subianto has said he would challenge the results in court, and warned that his claims […]
Australia’s conservative government held on to power at national elections thanks to a highly effective negative campaign warning voters against the centre-left Labor Party’s large policy reform agenda, analysts said Sunday. Labor led every opinion poll in the two years prior to Saturday’s election but fell well short of a parliamentary majority after the vote, in a surprise result for the ruling Liberal-National coalition. Analysts said opposition leader Bill Shorten’s unpopularity with voters and his […]
Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen said Sunday he wanted snap elections to take place in September after the government collapsed over a corruption scandal. “My preference is for early elections in September, if possible the beginning of September,” he told journalists after holding talks with Chancellor Sebastian Kurz. The legal procedures to fix the date will now have to take place over the coming weeks, with Van der Bellen set to hold further talks […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Federal Aviation Administration has warned US airlines flying over the Gulf to exercise caution “due to heightened military activities and increased political tensions in the region.” The advisory, which also covers airspace over the Gulf of Oman, comes amid rising tensions between the US and Iran. Increased tensions in the region “present an increasing inadvertent risk to US civil aviation operations due to the potential for miscalculation or […]
