WORLD

Vienna, Austria | AFP | Diplomats Thursday walked out of a UN convention on drugs addressed by Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza, saying his government was illegitimate and did not represent the country. Dozens of officials from Latin America, as well as the US, Canada and some European countries, including France, left the room in …

Baghouz, Syria | AFP | Kurdish-led fighters backed by US warplanes tried Thursday to break the last defences of holdout Islamic State group jihadists making a suicidal last stand in a remote Syrian village. All that remains of a sprawling cross-border “caliphate” the jihadists declared in 2014 is a battered riverside …

  Frankfurt am Main, Germany | AFP | German car giant Volkswagen said Wednesday it would slash thousands of posts to cope with its transition to electric and autonomous driving the day after reporting rising profits, saying heavy costs for investments meant savings were needed elsewhere. Chief executive Herbert Diess had …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | In voting against Prime Minister Theresa May’s divorce deal this week, hardline supporters of Brexit risked helping those who want to undermine the whole process. The so-called Brexiteers declared victory on Tuesday when the House of Commons rejected May’s EU withdrawal agreement for a …

Stockholm, Sweden | AFP | Swedish music streaming giant Spotify said Wednesday it had filed a formal complaint with the EU Commission against Apple, accusing its US rival of stifling competition in the online music market. Analysts were quick to point out that there is no guarantee that the EU’s executive arm will actually investigate …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Britain’s business community on Wednesday urged politicians to avoid a “no deal” Brexit after another crushing parliamentary defeat for Prime Minister Theresa May over her EU-divorce deal with Brussels. MPs will Wednesday vote on whether the country should leave the European Union without a deal in just over two weeks, …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Nissan will stop production of Infiniti cars at its factory in Sunderland, northeast England, the Japanese carmaker said Tuesday, one month after cancelling the plant’s plans for the X-Trail SUV. Infiniti Motor Company, a division of Nissan, said in a statement that it would stop production of Q30 and …

Paris, France | AFP |  The EU closed its airspace to Boeing 737 MAX planes on Tuesday, joining similar action by nations across the globe following a second deadly accident in just five months. Fleets of the best-selling workhorse plane were also grounded by airlines as safety concerns swirled, sending …

Washington, United States | AFP | As investigators probe the latest deadly crash of Boeing’s bestselling airliner, US President Donald Trump weighed in Tuesday with his own explanation: modern planes are too complicated for pilots. “Airplanes are becoming far too complex to fly,” he tweeted, adding that instead of pilots, the planes require “computer scientists …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | British MPs must decide on Tuesday whether to back Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal in a vote that could clear the way for Britain to leave the EU on March 29. As the scheduled departure date loomed nearly three years after Britons voted …