WORLD

Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump and his Republican allies suffered stinging defeats Tuesday as Democrats were projected to win closely-watched elections in two states, results that signal troubling headwinds for his 2020 re-election campaign. The Republican Governor Matt Bevin in deep-red Kentucky was ousted by his …

Lyon, France | AFP |  Twenty-four suspected members of a sex trafficking ring accused of forcing Nigerian women into prostitution in France go on trial Wednesday, the latest case to highlight the growing use of Nigerian migrants as sex slaves in Europe. Nigeria was the main country of origin of the …

Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | President Donald Trump offered Tuesday to help Mexico hunt the killers of nine Mormon women and children shot dead in a lawless border area — and said the United States stood ready to back its southern neighbor in a “war” on the drug cartels. Gunmen …

Lexington, United States | AFP | Taking the stage in a packed Kentucky arena to the strains of America’s unofficial patriotic anthem, “God Bless the USA,” Donald Trump didn’t look like a man in trouble. Harried by impeachment proceedings, yes. Beset by foreign policy worries, yes. Accused of everything from sexual …

Washington, United States | AFP | Governments around the world are increasingly using social media to manipulate elections and monitor their citizens, in a worrisome trend for democracy, a human rights watchdog said Tuesday. An annual report on online freedom by the nonprofit group Freedom House found evidence of “advanced social …

Shanghai, China | AFP | President Xi Jinping on Tuesday pledged to further open China’s economy, declaring the world must “knock down walls” as he opened an annual trade fair against the backdrop of the US tariffs war. Xi addressed an audience including French President Emmanuel Macron at the import exhibition …

New Delhi, India | AFP | India’s top court has ordered a complete halt to stubble burning around Delhi, a major contributor to lethal smog that on Tuesday kept the metropolis of 20 million people choking in air rated “very poor”. The Supreme Court said the capital’s residents were “losing precious …

Istanbul, Turkey | AFP |  A Turkish court on Monday ordered the release under supervision of two prominent journalists jailed over alleged links to the failed 2016 coup in the country. Ahmet Altan and Nazli Ilicak walked out of prison on Monday evening where they had been serving a sentence of …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Anti-EU populist leader Nigel Farage said Monday he will field hardline Brexit candidates across Britain despite fears he could deny Prime Minister Boris Johnson a majority in next month’s election. Farage wants to sever all ties with the European Union and calls Johnson’s divorce deal …

Washington, United States | AFP | The former US ambassador to Kiev told investigators she felt threatened by Donald Trump’s words in his call to Ukraine’s leader, in the first transcripts released Monday in the impeachment investigation against the president. As Democrats unveil a new, public phase of the probe, they …