New York, United States | AFP | Several people were killed and numerous others injured in New York on Tuesday when a suspect plowed into cyclists and pedestrians in Lower Manhattan, and rammed another vehicle on Halloween, police said. The man left the vehicle holding up fake guns, before being …
Read More »Protestants, Catholics mark 500 years since Reformation
Wittenberg, Germany | AFP | Catholic and Lutheran leaders Tuesday asked forgiveness for violence sparked by the Reformation, as worshippers celebrated 500 years since the religious revolution that created the Protestant church. Chancellor Angela Merkel and President Frank-Walter Steinmeier arrived for a service at the church where German theologian Martin …
Read More »Trump administration opposes curtailing war powers
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump’s top military and diplomatic aides told US lawmakers Monday that the administration was not seeking new authority for conducting military operations in the world’s hot spots. Congress first passed an authorization to use military force, or AUMF, on September 14, 2001 — …
Read More »Former army chief says ‘team’ ready to lead Singapore if asked
Singapore, Singapore | AFP | A fast-rising cabinet minister and former army chief seen as a frontrunner to succeed Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Monday that he and other younger officials were ready to lead Singapore if asked. Political succession in the affluent city-state was thrust into the limelight …
Read More »Trump aide Manafort under house arrest as Russia probe accelerates
Washington, United States | AFP | Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman was placed under house arrest Monday, as an investigation into Russia’s manipulation of the 2016 election shifted to a new and more perilous stage for the White House. After a first wave of indictments were unsealed, Paul Manafort and …
Read More »N. Korea’s Kim tours cosmetics plant with wife, sister
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un took his stylish wife and powerful sister to a make-up plant for a “field guidance trip” amid the country’s nuclear standoff with the US. During a visit to the Pyongyang Cosmetics Factory in the capital, Kim hailed its “world-level” products …
Read More »Crunch day for Catalonia as Madrid takes control
Barcelona, Spain | AFP | Spain enters uncharted and potentially perilous territory on Monday as Madrid moves to take over the running of Catalonia in response to the rebellious region’s parliament unilaterally declaring independence. Catalan leaders, dramatically sacked late Friday by the central Spanish government, have urged “democratic opposition” to …
Read More »Business leaders bow to Xi as Communist Party pushes in
Beijing, China | AFP | Chinese billionaires are boasting about their Marxist bonafides. The Communist Party is tightening its grip on state-owned companies. And foreign companies are being asked to invite party cells into their offices. Under President Xi Jinping, the country’s ruling party is muscling back into business, expanding …
Read More »Hillary Clinton marks painful date with Twitter quip
Washington, United States | AFP | Hillary Clinton got a reminder that exactly one year ago, then FBI director James Comey said he was re-opening a probe into her emails. “Oh is that today?” the former Democratic presidential candidate quipped on Twitter late Saturday, in response to a post by …
Read More »‘Bigotry seems emboldened’: George W. Bush slams Trump-era politics
New York, United States | AFP | George W. Bush issued a sharp denunciation of bigotry, white supremacy and falsehoods on Thursday, in what was seen as a clear rebuke of politics in the age of President Donald Trump. In a New York speech, the two-term former president warned that …
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