Tag: politics

Mechanical elephants, homemade howitzers as India turns 75

by Aishwarya KUMAR Agence France-Presse NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India marked the 75th anniversary of independence on Monday with Prime Minister Narendra Modi giving a speech from Delhi’s historic Red Fort, which was decorated with portraits of freedom fighters and guarded by mechanical elephants. Following a 21-gun salute, reportedly executed using howitzers made domestically for the first time under Modi’s “Make In India” industrial strategy, the prime minister said Indians should shed “colonialism in […]

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South Korea offering large-scale aid package for North’s nukes

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol said Monday he will offer a wide-ranging aid package to the North in return for denuclearization, a deal long seen as a non-starter for Pyongyang. The proposal comes days after the North threatened to “wipe out” Seoul authorities over a recent Covid-19 outbreak and less than a month after leader Kim Jong Un said his country was “ready to mobilize” its nuclear capability in any […]

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Hong Kong censors animated film over one-second protest scene

Hong Kong, China | AFP | Hong Kong has banned the screening of an award-winning animated short film over a one-second depiction of the city’s 2014 democracy protests, a film society said Friday, as Beijing maintains its chokehold on free speech in the finance hub. The Ground Up Film Society told AFP that it cancelled a Sunday screening of “Losing Sight of a Longed Place” at their film festival after Hong Kong authorities would not […]

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Sealed search warrant from Trump raid poised for release

  Washington, United States | AFP | by Chris Lefkow / Chris Lefkow and Michael Mathes US justice officials were poised Friday to make public a sealed warrant explaining the unprecedented raid on Donald Trump’s Florida estate that triggered accusations of political persecution by the former president and his supporters. The 76-year-old Trump supported the release of the search warrant, although he has had a copy of the document for days and could have revealed […]

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US attorney general says ‘personally approved’ Trump home search

Washington, United States | AFP | by Chris Lefkow and Joshua Melvin US Attorney General Merrick Garland said Thursday he had “personally approved” the dramatic raid on Donald Trump’s Florida estate and, in a highly unusual move, was requesting the warrant justifying the search be made public. The country’s top prosecutor did not reveal the reason for the unprecedented search of the home of a former US president, and condemned “unfounded attacks” on the FBI and […]

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Australian economist pleads not guilty at Myanmar junta trial: source

Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | An Australian economist detained by Myanmar’s junta has pleaded not guilty to breaching the colonial-era official secrets act, a source close to the case said on Friday. Sean Turnell was working as an adviser to Myanmar’s civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi when he was detained shortly after the coup that ousted her government in February last year. On trial in a secretive junta court that journalists cannot access, he […]

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Sri Lankan ex-leader arrives in Bangkok after fleeing protests

Bangkok, Thailand | AFP | Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa on Thursday arrived in Bangkok after his visa ran out following a month-long stint in Singapore where he had taken refuge from protesters at home. The deposed leader landed on a private jet at Don Mueang International Airport around 8pm local time (1200 GMT), a senior Thai official said. He left the airport’s VIP section around 40 minutes later with his wife and got […]

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Hong Kong sees population drop as 113,200 residents leave over the past year

Hong Kong, China | AFP | Hong Kong saw a net outflow of 113,200 residents over the past year, census data showed Thursday, setting a new record in population decline as the city maintained strict pandemic curbs. The finance hub’s population started shrinking in 2020 for the first time since the SARS epidemic in 2003 — and the drop-off showed no signs of stopping, according to government figures. Mid-year estimates put Hong Kong’s population at […]

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Iran brands US claim of assassination plot ‘fiction’

TEHRAN, Iran (AFP) — Iran dismissed as “fiction” Thursday US allegations it had plotted to kill former White House national security adviser John Bolton in retaliation for the assassination of one of its top commanders. The US claim comes at a crunch moment in talks on reviving a nuclear deal between Iran and major powers that Washington had abandoned in 2018 but has said it wants to rejoin. Iran is now considering what European Union […]

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Samsung boss gets presidential pardon: South Korea justice minister

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The heir and de facto leader of Samsung group received a presidential pardon Friday, the latest example of South Korea’s long tradition of freeing business leaders convicted of corruption on economic grounds. Billionaire Lee Jae-yong, who was convicted of bribery and embezzlement in January last year, will be “reinstated” to give him a chance to “contribute to overcoming the economic crisis” of the country, Justice Minister Han Dong-hoon said. Lee […]

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Brazilians march in ‘defense of democracy’

SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Thousands of Brazilians took to the streets of several cities Thursday in “defense of democracy” in the face of President Jair Bolsonaro’s sustained attacks on the voting system, weeks ahead of elections. The demonstrations were sparked by fears the far-right leader, lagging in opinion polls, would not respect the outcome of October’s vote given his repeated attempts to cast doubt on Brazil’s electoral system. “After 200 years of independence in […]

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Ukraine assault sparks talk of Russian ‘cultural revolution’

by Marina LAPENKOVA Agence France-Presse MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Actor Sergei Bezrukov says the world has had enough of “liberal values” and hopes Moscow’s intervention in Ukraine and foreign sanctions can help Russian culture chart its own path. Bezrukov is among artistic figures who say Moscow should leverage the country’s growing isolation to purify Russian culture of Western influence and promote conservative values including patriotism and the Orthodox faith. “We must take advantage of the […]

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