Coatzacoalcos, Mexico | AFP | A municipal mayor in Mexico’s violent eastern state of Veracruz was killed Friday, local authorities said, just four days after a mayor-elect was murdered in the same state. Victor Manuel Espinoza — mayor of Ixhuatlan de Madero, located some 270 kilometers (168 miles) northeast of …
Read More »Trump condemns ‘horrible and cowardly’ mosque attack in Egypt
Washington, United States | AFP | US President Donald Trump condemned as “horrible and cowardly” a bomb and gun attack Friday that killed more than 200 people at a mosque in Egypt and called his counterpart Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to offer condolences. “The world cannot tolerate terrorism, we must defeat …
Read More »US cop wins tweeting award for creative posts
Chicago, United States | AFP | A twitter post in late October from Kansas policeman Ben Gardner featured a large cow curled up on top of a BMW sedan’s hood. The message from the spokesman for the Midwestern US state’s highway patrol department was that animals seek warm cars during …
Read More »France’s Macron nods to the left with cabinet mini-shuffle
Paris, France | AFP | French President Emmanuel Macron named a Socialist lawmaker to a top budget post as part of a cabinet shuffle unveiled Friday, following grumblings from leftists who accuse his centrist government of favouring the rich. The moves were prompted by the nomination of Macron’s ultra-loyal government spokesman, …
Read More »EU chief says Brexit deal ‘possible but huge challenge’
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | EU President Donald Tusk said Friday that a Brexit deal in December was possible but a “huge challenge” and gave Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May 10 days to act. Tusk issued the ultimatum after crunch talks with May on the sidelines of a Brussels summit, …
Read More »From Myanmar to Zimbabwe, China’s global footprint grows
Beijing, China | AFP | China has traditionally rejected US-style interventionism, but its deepening economic involvement in volatile countries like Myanmar and Zimbabwe is thrusting Beijing towards a more assertive global role, analysts say. China’s foreign policy has been guided by its principle of “non-interference in other countries’ internal affairs”, …
Read More »EU working without ‘letup’ to help migrants in Libya
Brussels, Belgium | AFP | The EU said Thursday it is working without “letup” for a durable solution to the plight of migrants in Libya, adding it shared French President Emmanuel Macron’s anger over slave markets there. The US network CNN triggered a wave of condemnation when it aired footage last …
Read More »Bangladesh, Myanmar agree to start Rohingya return in two months
Yangon, Myanmar | AFP | Bangladesh and Myanmar will start repatriating refugees in two months, Dhaka said Thursday, as global pressure mounts over a crisis that has forced more than half a million Rohingya to flee across the border. The United Nations says 620,000 Rohingya have arrived in Bangladesh since …
Read More »Netanyahu slams deputy minister’s digs at US Jewry
Jerusalem, Undefined | AFP | Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday rapped his deputy foreign minister for “offensive” remarks in which she said US Jews were too “comfortable” to understand threats to Israel. Tzipi Hotovely of Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party apologised later on Israeli public television. “I apologise from the depth …
Read More »Pope prays for peace in South Sudan and DR Congo
Vatican City, Holy See | AFP | Pope Francis led a special prayer for peace in South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of Congo on Thursday, saying the mass murder of women and children is where “war shows its most horrid face”. “This evening, in prayer, we want to sow …
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