Yangon, Myanmar | AFP An American citizen is being wrongfully detained in junta-ruled Myanmar, a US embassy spokesperson told AFP on Friday. “We are aware of the wrongful detention of a US citizen in Burma,” the spokesperson told AFP, using the country’s former name. The US has led Western criticism of the coup that ousted Aung San Suu Kyi’s government last year and slapped sanctions on top-ranking members of the junta and military-linked companies. Several foreigners have […]
Tag: politics
New Sri Lanka president sworn in eyeing unity government
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka’s six-time prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe was sworn in Thursday as president of the crisis-hit South Asian nation, as officials said he was looking to form a unity government to manage the turmoil. The 73-year-old veteran politician, who was overwhelmingly elected as head of state in a parliamentary vote Wednesday, took his oath of office before Chief Justice Jayantha Jayasuriya, his office said. Live coverage of the swearing-in at […]
Russian Nord Stream gas pipeline restarted after maintenance: operator
BERLIN, Germany (AFP) — The Nord Stream gas pipeline linking Russia to Germany restarted on Thursday after 10 days of maintenance work, its operator told AFP. “It’s working,” a Nord Stream spokesman said, without specifying the amount of gas being delivered. The German government had feared the pipeline would not be reopened by Moscow after the scheduled work. According to data given by Russia’s state-owned energy giant Gazprom to Gascade, the German operator of the […]
China condemns US warship passage through Taiwan Strait
TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — China on Wednesday slammed Washington as “a destroyer of peace” in the Taiwan Strait, following the latest in a series of passages by US warships through the waterway. Beijing views Taiwan as part of its territory to be re-taken one day — and the narrow body of water that separates the island and mainland China is a flashpoint between the two sides. In contrast to Beijing’s position, the United States […]
Myanmar rebels claim killing and capturing junta troops
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — A Myanmar ethnic rebel group said Tuesday it had captured 14 junta troops and killed an unspecified number, in the latest blow to a fragile peace in the only region to have seen no post-coup crackdown. Days after its putsch last year, the junta reaffirmed a ceasefire with the Arakan Army (AA), which has for years fought a war for autonomy for Rakhine state’s ethnic Rakhine population. Thanks to the truce, […]
The kidnapped Sri Lankan dissident who helped oust a president
by Sean Gleeson Agence France-Presse COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Activist Premakumar Gunaratnam says he was marked for death by Sri Lanka’s security boss a decade ago. The architect of his abduction went on to become president, but now the dissident has played a key role in the leader’s downfall. Now 56, Gunaratnam was snatched by armed gunmen from his home near Colombo, bundled into a white van, and driven away to a secret location […]
‘Shocking’ report lists devastation to Australia wildlife
by David Williams Agence France-Presse SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Australia’s unique wildlife is being devastated by bushfires, drought, habitat loss and global warming, a government report said Tuesday, warning that more species were headed for extinction. The five-yearly State of the Environment report prompted calls for dramatic action to reverse the “poor and deteriorating” state of flora and fauna depicted by scientists on land and at sea. The damage is being hastened by a climate […]
India’s parliament begins voting for new president
NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India’s parliament began voting Monday for a new president, with a female politician from the country’s marginalised tribal community the favourite for the post. Droupadi Murmu, from the Santhal tribe, has been nominated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party for the largely ceremonial position. If elected, she would be India’s first tribal president and second female president. The incumbent, Ram Nath Kovind, is the country’s second […]
Donald Trump’s first wife Ivana dies aged 73
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Ivana Trump — Donald Trump’s first wife and mother of his three eldest children — died on Thursday at the age of 73, the former president announced. Ivana Trump “passed away at her home in New York City,” Donald Trump wrote on his social media platform Truth Social. He did not provide a cause of death but the New York Times reported that law enforcement officials were investigating […]
Sri Lanka president emails resignation from Singapore: official
Colombo, Sri Lanka | AFP | Thursday 7/14/2022 by Amal JAYASINGHE Sri Lanka’s president submitted his resignation Thursday shortly after reaching Singapore, the parliamentary speaker’s office said, days after the head of state fled protests triggered by his country’s worst-ever economic crisis. Gotabaya Rajapaksa resigned by email, the speaker’s spokesman said hours after he landed in the city-state, after protesters overran his palace on the weekend. Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives on Wednesday, and left […]
Libyans at boiling point amid summer power cuts
by Hamza Mekouar Agence France-Presse TRIPOLI, Libya (AFP) — Mahmud Aguil has a comfortable house in Libya’s capital Tripoli, but chronic power outages in the war-battered country and roasting summer heat now force him to sleep in his air-conditioned van. “This is my bedroom,” the 48-year-old said pointing to the cramped vehicle, its back seats removed to make space for him and his two young children. “In the morning I wake up with a terrible […]
Solomons says foreign base would make it a military target
SUVA, Fiji (AFP) — Solomon Islands will not host a foreign military base because the nation would be targeted for “military strikes”, Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare said Thursday, as Pacific leaders grappled with China’s security ambitions. The Solomons leader is attending the Pacific Islands Forum summit, the first gathering of the bloc since his country signed a security agreement with China — details of which have not been made public. China’s security pact with the […]
