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by Su Xinqi As a former beat cop who rose to become Hong Kong’s security chief, John Lee is the one person China’s leaders trust to run the city as their loyal lieutenant, analysts and insiders say. Lee, 64, is expected to be anointed Hong Kong’s next chief executive by a small committee on Sunday, the culmination of a choreographed, Beijing-blessed race with no other candidates. His elevation caps a remarkable rise for a man […]
by Holmes CHAN Hong Kong has emerged a more unequal city, its freedoms curtailed and international shine dulled after five years with Carrie Lam at the helm, analysts say, as her turbulent leadership draws to an end. Lam, Hong Kong’s first woman leader, took office promising to heal divisions and tackle livelihood issues, especially a housing crisis. Her term was instead dominated by massive democracy protests and Beijing’s subsequent crackdown, as well as a zero-Covid […]
by Luján Scarpinelli © Agence France-Presse SAO PAULO, Brazil (AFP) — Brazilian businesswoman Luiza Trajano has made it onto a lot of lists: TIME’s most influential people, Forbes’ billionaires, the biggest fortunes in Brazil… But although she has been touted as a potential contender in Brazil’s presidential elections this year, there is one list she says she is determined to stay off: the ballot. With the country deeply polarized ahead of October’s polls, “I want […]
Ex-president Donald Trump testified under oath that he feared protesters would pelt him with “very dangerous” fruit like pineapples, tomatoes, and bananas saying: “You can get killed with those things.” The comments were revealed in court documents made public Tuesday which included a transcript of a deposition Trump gave last October as part of an ongoing civil lawsuit in New York. The case was brought by several activists of Mexican descent who say they were […]
Russia and the United States swapped prisoners Wednesday despite fierce tensions over Ukraine, with Moscow handing over a jailed ex-Marine in exchange for a Russian pilot convicted of drug smuggling. Trevor Reed, a 30-year-old from Texas who was jailed in Russia in 2020, was exchanged for Konstantin Yaroshenko, 53, who had been serving a 20-year US prison sentence since 2011. In footage shown on Russian state television, Yaroshenko emerged from a US plane onto a […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — One of the Myanmar military’s first moves during its coup last year was to arrest the country’s democracy figurehead Aung San Suu Kyi, who has spent decades battling military rule. The Nobel laureate, 76, has been kept out of the public eye ever since as the junta seeks to crush resistance to its putsch. AFP takes a look at what we know about Suu Kyi’s detention. – Where is she? […]
YANGON, Myanmar (AFP) — A Myanmar junta court on Wednesday sentenced Aung San Suu Kyi to five years in jail for corruption, part of a barrage of criminal cases that could see the deposed civilian leader jailed for decades. Since a military coup ousted her government in February last year, plunging Myanmar into upheaval, Suu Kyi has been in military custody. In the latest case, the Nobel laureate was accused of accepting a bribe […]
US Vice President Kamala Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on Tuesday but is asymptomatic and not considered a current close contact of President Joe Biden, the White House said. “Today, Vice President Harris tested positive for Covid-19 on rapid and PCR tests. She has exhibited no symptoms, will isolate and continue to work from the vice president’s residence,” said Harris’ press secretary, Kirsten Allen. “She has not been a close contact to the president or […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States was “deeply troubled” by the conviction Monday of a leading Turkish activist, calling his life sentence on controversial charges of trying to topple the government “unjust,” the State Department said. “The United States is deeply troubled and disappointed by the court’s decision to convict Osman Kavala,” a critic of President Recep Tayyip Erdogan who had already been jailed without a conviction for more than four years, State […]
MIAMI, United States (AFP) — Florida governor Ron DeSantis on Friday signed a law that eliminates a statute that has for decades allowed entertainment giant Disney to act as a local government in Orlando, where it has its theme park. The move was the latest episode in a dispute between DeSantis’ Republican administration and Disney, after the company criticized the passage in March of a law banning school lessons on sexual orientation. There was […]
Around 200,000 employees of foreign companies in Moscow could lose their jobs due to sanctions over Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, the city’s mayor said on Monday. “According to our estimates, about 200,000 people are at risk of losing their jobs,” Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin said in a blog post. He said authorities had last week approved a $41-million programme to support employment in the Russian capital. “First of all, the programme is aimed at […]
by Charles Onians © Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson offered a “full apology” on Tuesday after being fined for breaching Covid-19 lockdown laws in the so-called “Partygate” scandal, but looked set to defy calls for his resignation. Embattled finance minister Rishi Sunak and Johnson’s wife Carrie will also be fined, as the political storm following revelations of a swathe of lockdown-busting parties in and around Downing Street threatens […]
