world
NewsAFP NewsIndia's opposition pitch Dalit for president
Opposition parties Thursday picked a former parliament speaker from India's lowest Dalit caste as their presidential candidate, pitting her against the ruling party's hot favourite Ram Nath Kovind -- also from the marginalised community. Following hours-long negotiations led by the main Congress
NewsAFP NewsMigrant death truck 'mastermind' tight-lipped at trial
The alleged kingpin of a human trafficking gang accused of killing 71 migrants found in a truck in Austria refused to testify on the second day of his trial on Thursday. "I will only speak once I've heard what my associates have had to say," 30-year-old Afghan Samsoor L. told the court
NewsAFP NewsCanterbury: city of faith, students and Brexit anguish
Twelve months after British voters rejected the EU, university cities such as Canterbury are on the frontlines of a political realignment shaped in part by students' revulsion at Brexit. Britain's general election two weeks ago featured a surge in turnout by younger voters, who plumped by and
NewsAFP NewsMerkel waves flag in election battle against populists
Chancellor Angela Merkel's party on Thursday placed the German flag front and centre in its campaign advertising for September elections, in a bid to snatch back a claim on patriotism from anti-immigration populists. About 100 days before the polls, the Christian Democratic Union unveiled its campaign
NewsAFP NewsIS destroys iconic Mosul minaret as Iraqi forces advance
Mosul's trademark leaning minaret was missing from its skyline for the first time in centuries Thursday after desperate jihadists blew it up as Iraqi forces advanced on an ancient mosque compound in the embattled northern city. Explosions on Wednesday evening levelled both the Nuri mosque where
NewsAFP NewsEU pledges 85 mn euros to Uganda for S.Sudan refugees
The EU pledged 85 million euros ($95 million) to Uganda on Thursday as UN chief Antonio Guterres urged donors to give 20 times that amount to help the country deal with nearly one million refugees from South Sudan. Guterres visited a refugee camp in Uganda's remote north where he met with South
NewsAFP NewsWashington's UN envoy urges action on Venezuela crisis
US Ambassador Nikki Haley on Thursday called for international action to address the crisis in Venezuela, after a US-backed proposal for regional mediation failed to win support at the Organization of American States. "The tragic situation in Venezuela calls out for action," Haley said in
NewsAFP NewsMain forest fires in Portugal under control
The main forest fires that have raged in Portugal since the weekend, killing more than 60 people, were brought under control on Thursday, the civil protection agency said, but grief and anger smouldered across the country. The giant blaze broke out initially at Pedrogao Grande and spread to adjacent
NewsAFP NewsSears Canada files for creditor protection
Sears Canada filed for court protection from creditors Thursday as the onetime retail giant seeks to adapt to a changed landscape and tougher online competition. The company's roots in the American mail order business Simpsons-Sears sprouted a chain of department stores across Canada that anchored
NewsAFP NewsOne dead as rain storms lash Germany, spark rail chaos
Heavy summer storms in northern Germany on Thursday killed a man when a tree crashed onto his car, while railway services were crippled and a tornado was seen near Hamburg. Gale-force winds, torrential rains and hail damaged rail tracks and power lines, forcing trains to be halted between Berlin, Hamburg
NewsAFP NewsTurkey lifts foreign travel ban on charged novelist
A Turkish court on Thursday lifted a foreign travel ban imposed on one of the country's leading contemporary novelists after she was put on trial on charges of supporting "terror" groups. The move by the Istanbul court will allow Asli Erdogan to travel abroad and receive prizes she had
NewsAFP NewsColombia's ELN rebels to release two Dutch journalists
Colombia's National Liberation Army admitted Thursday that it has detained two Dutch journalists and announced plans to free them, in the midst of talks for the country's last guerrillas to end more than five decades of fighting. Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and his cameraman Eugenio Ernest Marie
NewsAFP NewsColombia's ELN rebels to release two Dutch journalists
Colombia's National Liberation Army admitted Thursday that it has detained two Dutch journalists and announced plans to free them, in the midst of talks for the country's last guerrillas to end more than five decades of fighting. Derk Johannes Bolt, 62, and his cameraman Eugenio Ernest Marie
NewsAFP NewsPolish lawmakers legalise medicinal marijuana
Poland's lower house of parliament, which is controlled by the conservatives, on Thursday voted to make medicinal marijuana legal under certain circumstances. The EU member follows in the steps of the Czech Republic, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal, Spain, as well as 23 US states and Uruguay,
NewsAFP NewsFrench farmer detained again for helping migrants
A French farmer who became a symbol of the migrant crisis for helping Africans sneak across the border from Italy has been detained again, his lawyer said Thursday. Cedric Herrou, a 37-year-old organic olive farmer, has been hailed as a hero by some and branded irresponsible by others for driving migrants
NewsAFP NewsIndia expands bad debt taskforce
India's central bank on Thursday drafted more top bankers onto a special panel that will decide which companies owing more than $125 billion of crippling bad debt have to be rejigged or liquidated. The Reserve Bank of India has already said that 12 companies with debts of two trillion rupees ($31
NewsAFP NewsBubbling Chinese market centre-stage at world wine fest
With a middle-class increasingly thirsty for reds, whites and Italian bubbly, China is the hot ticket for wine traders looking for opportunities at this year's Vinexpo industry extravaganza. The world's most populous nation has for years been seen as an El Dorado for foreign wine-makers -- but
NewsAFP NewsSafety fears for thousands of tower block residents after London inferno
Tower blocks housing thousands of people across England are being urgently tested to check if their cladding poses a serious fire risk following the Grenfell Tower disaster, as the government on Thursday blamed decades of neglect. Prime Minister Theresa May said the government had arranged to test cladding
NewsAFP NewsIsraeli woman wins discrimination case over airline seat
An 83-year-old woman has won a lawsuit against Israel's national airline after being asked to move seats on a transatlantic flight because an ultra-Orthodox man did not want to sit next to her. The Jerusalem court on Wednesday ordered El-Al to pay Holocaust survivor Renee Rabinowitz 6,500 shekels
NewsAFP NewsMerkel slaps down May on Brexit talks
German Chancellor Angela Merkel insisted Thurday that the EU's future took priority over Brexit talks as Prime Minister Theresa May met European leaders for the first time since a disastrous election gamble. Under intense pressure on all sides since losing her majority, May said her task at the
NewsAFP News6.8-magnitude quake hits Guatemala, second in eight days
A 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit near Guatemala's coast Thursday, the US Geological Survey said, just eight days after another strong tremor killed five people in the Central American country.
NewsAFP NewsMarine Le Pen to meet judges over party funding claims
French far-right leader Marine Le Pen told AFP Thursday she had arranged to meet investigating magistrates over claims her party misused European Parliament funds to pay for staff in France. "The meeting has already been arranged," said Le Pen, who had refused to answer any questions over
NewsAFP NewsUN Security Council visits Haiti ahead of peacekeeper departure
The United Nations Security Council began a visit to Haiti on Thursday to assess the poorest country in the Americas three months before ending its 13-year peacekeeping mission there. The delegation will meet President Jovenel Moise as well as representatives of civil society, the country's private
NewsAFP NewsMourners gather for US student jailed by N. Korea
A long line of mourners waited to enter funeral services early Thursday for Otto Warmbier, the US student imprisoned in North Korea who returned home last week in a coma that proved fatal. Sentenced to hard labor for stealing a political poster from a North Korean hotel, the 22-year-old Warmbier was
NewsAFP NewsAthens rubbish piles up as Greeks protest contracts
Authorities said around 5,000 people gathered in central Athens, closing roads to traffic in the latest protest against austerity measures imposed by the country's international creditors. Protesters descended on Syntagma Square, which has become a crucible for popular discontent over Greece'
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