Teresópolis, Brazil | AFP | At just 22 years of age, a back-to-back Premier League title winner with Manchester City and having scored 17 goals in 34 matches for five-time world champions Brazil, it might seem absurd to say it, but Gabriel Jesus was under pressure coming into the Copa America. …
Read More »UN calls for Libya ceasefire as death toll climbs to 1,000
Tripoli, Libya | AFP | The UN Security Council called Friday for a ceasefire in Libya as the death toll from a three-month offensive on Tripoli reached 1,000, including scores killed in an air strike that hit a detention centre for migrants. The council condemned the late Tuesday attack on the …
Read More »Electric scooters: not so eco-friendly after all?
Electric scooters: not so eco-friendly after all? Paris, France | AFP | E-scooters touted as zero-carbon urban transport are flooding city streets worldwide, but just how green they are remains an open question. The companies — from multinationals to local start-ups — distributing them insist the omnipresent two-wheel vehicles are a …
Read More »Sudan protesters hail landmark deal with generals
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Crowds of jubilant Sudanese took to the streets of Khartoum on Friday to celebrate a landmark deal between protest leaders and the country’s ruling generals aimed at turning the page on months of political unrest. The power-sharing deal, reached in the early hours after two days …
Read More »Brazil banking on defense in Copa America final with Peru
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | Brazil will be looking to maintain their defensive invincibility against Peru in Sunday’s Copa America final, midfielder Casemiro says. The hosts have yet to concede a goal in the tournament, including when they thrashed Peru 5-0 in a group-stage match earlier in the competition. …
Read More »E-scooters: a transport ‘tsunami’ flooding cities worldwide
Paris, France | AFP | They appeared in June last year as Paris was waking up from its annual all-night Festival of Music: hundreds of green-and-black electric scooters dotting the pavements of the capital. The timing was perfect, with the city struggling with a botched revamp of its main bike-sharing service …
Read More »Starved, tortured, bombed: the fate of refugees trapped in Libya
Paris, France | AFP | Acute malnutrition, forced labour, torture: NGOs have sharpened their tone against the shocking conditions endured by refugees and migrants in Libya, where over 40 people were killed in an air strike on a detention centre. Tuesday night’s strike on the centre at Tajoura near the capital …
Read More »Algeria interim leader makes new call for dialogue
Algiers, Algeria | AFP | Algeria’s interim president Abdelkader Bensalah has called for a national dialogue to prepare for delayed presidential elections, vowing that the state and the military would remain neutral in the process. What does the proposal mean in a country wracked by months of anti-government protests that led …
Read More »Migrant boat with 86 on board sinks off Tunisia, 4 rescued
Zarzis, Tunisia | AFP | A traumatised young Malian plucked out of the sea off Tunisia after clinging for two days to debris from an inflatable which sank told Thursday of how more than 80 migrants are feared drowned. The latest tragedy came to light the same week as 44 migrants …
Read More »Sudan generals, protesters in landmark agreement on new governing body
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | Sudan’s ruling generals and protest leaders reached an agreement on the disputed issue of a new governing body Friday, in a breakthrough power sharing accord aimed at ending the country’s months-long political crisis. The landmark agreement came after two days of talks following the collapse of …
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