Washington, United States | AFP | A prominent US senator on Saturday fired his chief of staff for improper relations with subordinates, as US lawmakers increasingly grapple with the issue of sexual harassment. Republican Senator Marco Rubio said he received by Saturday “sufficient evidence to conclude that while employed by this …
Read More »Cambodia arrests foreigners for ‘pornographic dancing
Phnom Penh, Cambodia | AFP | Cambodia has charged 10 foreigners arrested for “singing and dancing pornographically”, officials said Sunday, as the kingdom cracks down on racy behaviour at popular tourist sites. The group appeared in court three days after police arrested them Thursday at a villa in Siem Reap, …
Read More »Trump says US ‘deeply respects’ Africa in letter to AU
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia | AFP | President Donald Trump said the United States “deeply respects” Africans and will dispatch its top diplomat to the continent, in a letter to African leaders seen by AFP on Sunday. The letter sent last week comes after Trump provoked a firestorm of indignation among …
Read More »Kabul on high alert after ambulance bomb toll tops 100
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | Afghanistan Sunday declared a day of national mourning as the toll for those killed by a huge bomb hidden in an ambulance in Kabul topped 100 people and tensions remained high after insurgents struck in the city for the second time in a week. At …
Read More »Defective wiring suspected cause of S. Korea hospital fire: police
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | Defective wiring is suspected to have caused the deadly South Korean hospital fire that killed dozens and injured more than 150, police said, as public anger swelled over the country’s worst fire disaster in a decade. The huge blaze that erupted at the hospital …
Read More »Fourteen killed in Brazil nightclub shootout
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | AFP | At least 14 people were killed in an early Saturday shootout at a nightclub in Fortaleza, in northeastern Brazil, officials said. “We can confirm 14 deaths,” Andre Costa, security secretary for the state of Ceara — of which Fortaleza is the capital — …
Read More »Nameless heroes of South Korea fire disaster
Miryang, South Korea | AFP | The deadly hospital blaze in Miryang killed 37 people and injured more than 100 in South Korea’s worst fire disaster in a decade. But witnesses said Friday’s toll could have been far higher without the heroic acts of ordinary citizens and medical staff who …
Read More »Families voice anger over deadly South Korea hospital fire
Miryang, South Korea | AFP | Distraught relatives of those killed in a deadly South Korean hospital fire voiced anger Saturday at what they perceived as another man-made disaster in Asia’s fourth largest economy, just as it prepares to host the Winter Olympics. The huge blaze that erupted at the …
Read More »Ambulance bomb kills 40, wounds 140 in Kabul attack: officials
Kabul, Afghanistan | AFP | An ambulance packed with explosives blew up in a crowded area of Kabul on Saturday, killing at least 40 people and wounding 140 others, officials said, in an attack claimed by the Taliban. The explosion — one of the biggest since a truck bomb ripped …
Read More »Mattis wants to keep pressure on N. Korea
Honolulu, United States | AFP | The United States and South Korea are going to keep tightening the screws on Pyongyang so that the hermit state gives up its nuclear program, Pentagon chief Jim Mattis said Friday. “As two peace-loving nations, the Republic of Korea and America welcome the Olympic …
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