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WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US First Lady Melania Trump had surgery Monday for what aides called a “benign” kidney condition, and will remain in hospital for the rest of the week. The Slovenia-born wife of Donald Trump underwent an embolization procedure, said her communications director Stephanie Grisham. “The procedure was successful and there were no complications,” Grisham said. But the 48-year-old former model is expected to stay in hospital “for the duration of the week.” […]
BEIJING, China (AFP) — China’s first domestically manufactured aircraft carrier started sea trials Sunday, state media said, a landmark in Beijing’s ambitious plans to modernize its navy as the Asian giant presses its claims in disputed regional waters. The carrier, known only as “Type 001A”, set out for the trials from a port in northeastern China at around 6.45 am (2245 GMT Saturday), according to state broadcaster CCTV. Expected to be commissioned by 2020, […]
by James Mannion © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States is prepared to offer North Korea security assurances and bountiful private investment if it makes the strategic choice to give up its nuclear weapons, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pledged Sunday. The US price for normalization — complete, verifiable and irreversible denuclearization — is one Pyongyang has never before been willing to pay, seeing nuclear weapons as the ultimate […]
by Kerry Sheridan Agence France Presse TAMPA, United States (AFP) — The US space agency said Friday it plans to launch the first-ever helicopter to Mars in 2020, a miniature, unmanned drone-like chopper that could boost our understanding of the Red Planet. Known simply as “The Mars Helicopter,” the device weighs less than four pounds (1.8 kilograms), and its main body section, or fuselage, is about the size of a softball. It will be […]
by Daniel Bosque © Agence France-Presse BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Catalonia’s parliament will vote Saturday on whether to appoint hardline independence supporter Quim Torra as regional president, after deposed leader Carles Puigdemont stepped aside from the running. Torra, a 55-year-old father-of-three, is an independence advocate cut from the same cloth as Puigdemont who picked him and has tasked him with continuing his fight with Spain’s central government to achieve independence. On Friday, Torra said his […]
by Sam Reeves © Agence France-Presse KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AFP) — Malaysia’s scandal-ridden former leader Najib Razak was hit with a travel ban Saturday as speculation mounted he was about to flee the country following his shock election loss, in a possible bid to avoid prosecution over a massive financial scandal. An angry crowd had gathered at a Kuala Lumpur airport, shouting at vehicles and seeking to stop them entering, after Najib tweeted that he was […]
BARCELONA, Spain (AFP) — Quim Torra, the man chosen by ousted Catalan president Carles Puigdemont to be his successor, may be a newcomer to politics but has long been a committed separatist. Puigdemont on Thursday rejected being re-appointed leader of the region a day after the Madrid government stepped in to block him from once again becoming president of Catalonia. The man the self-exiled Catalan leader has named as his preferred candidate to form a regional […]
BAMAKO, Mali (AFP) — Gunmen killed at least five people near Mali’s troubled northeastern border with Niger, several sources said Thursday. A vehicle traveling from Indelimane to a market in Menaka on Wednesday “was attacked by armed men,” a local elected official told AFP on the condition of anonymity. Five civilian passengers were killed by “assassins who then went to a camp to kill other Tuareg civilians,” he added. Other sources reported a higher toll. […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — At least 350 people were detained at opposition protests across Russia on Saturday, as police violently attempted to disperse an unsanctioned rally in Moscow using tear gas, an independent monitor and AFP correspondents said. Top opposition leader Alexei Navalny, his ally Nikolai Lyaskin and a number of their supporters were detained in Moscow as police roughly rounded up protesters, according to AFP correspondents. Independent monitoring group OVD-Info said more than 350 […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russian police on Saturday detained several dozen supporters of opposition leader Alexei Navalny as nationwide protests kicked off on the eve of Vladimir Putin’s inauguration for a fourth Kremlin term. Navalny, who was barred from challenging Putin in the March presidential election, had called on Russians to stage a day of rallies across the country ahead of Putin’s inauguration. Protests kicked off in Russia’s Far East and Siberia regions, with several […]
YEREVAN, Armenia (AFP) — Tens of thousands of Armenians on Wednesday converged on the capital, blocking roads and government buildings, as popular anger exploded over the ruling party’s rejection of opposition leader Nikol Pashinyan’s premiership bid. In an unprecedented show of defiance, protesters paralyzed Yerevan, with nearly all streets closed to traffic and many stores shut, AFP correspondents reported. The road linking Yerevan with its airport was also blocked. © Agence France-Presse
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would move the country’s clocks 30 minutes forward to unify with the South’s time zone as a conciliatory gesture after Friday’s inter-Korean summit, Seoul said Sunday. The two countries on the divided peninsula have had different time zones since 2015 when the North suddenly changed its standard time to 30 minutes behind the South. Pyongyang cited a nationalistic rationale, saying it would […]
