by Jocelyne ZABLIT LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Authorities ratcheted up security on the Los Angeles metro following a tip from overseas about an impending bomb attack Tuesday against a station in the sprawling rail network. The threat was relayed by an anonymous man who called a public safety line run by an unidentified foreign government, which then passed on the information to a Federal Bureau of Investigation terrorism task force, said Deirdre Fike, […]
International
S. Korea Park says she will accept impeachment, hedges resignation
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye said Tuesday she would accept the result of a looming and possibly lengthy impeachment process, but defied pressure to resign immediately. An opposition-sponsored impeachment motion is almost certain to be adopted by the national assembly on Friday, with some 30 rebel MPs from Park’s Saenuri party saying they will vote in favour. The motion would then require the approval of the Constitutional Court, whose deliberations […]
Mass grief as India political star Jayalalithaa dies
by Claire COZENS CHENNAI, India (AFP) — Tens of thousands of mourners filed past the coffin of the Indian politician Jayalalithaa Jayaram on Tuesday in an emotional farewell to the former movie star who enjoyed almost god-like status in the state of Tamil Nadu. The 68-year-old Jayalalithaa, described by her party as the Iron Lady of India, died late Monday after suffering a massive cardiac arrest at the weekend following a long period of ill […]
French PM quits to enter presidential race
by Clare BYRNE PARIS, France (AFP) — French Prime Minister Manuel Valls is set to resign on Tuesday to free himself to do battle for the Socialist nomination in next year’s presidential election. Announcing his candidacy on Monday France’s prime minister of the past two-and-a-half years said he would step down to try to rally the fractured left ahead of a primary in January. Health Minister Marisol Touraine and Interior Minister Bernard Cazeneuve are among those tipped […]
Chinese media offer stern warning to ‘rookie’ Trump
BEIJING, China (AFP) — Donald Trump is a “diplomatic rookie” who must learn not to cross Beijing on issues like trade and Taiwan, Chinese state media said Tuesday, warning America could pay dearly for his inexperience. A protocol-shattering call with Taiwan’s president followed by a Twitter tirade against Beijing’s policies by the president-elect could risk upending the delicate balance between the world’s two largest economies, Chinese editorials in major media outlets said. “Provoking friction and […]
1,300 migrants rescued in Mediterranean, 16 found dead
ROME, Italy (AFP) — Over 1,300 migrants have been rescued from the Mediterranean over the past 48 hours with 16 bodies recovered, the Italian coastguard said Monday. On Sunday, the Italian coast guard ship Diciotti discovered 11 bodies on a boat which had run into difficulty, while a commercial vessel intervening at another boat found three dead. The Aquarius, a relief vessel chartered by the NGOs SOS Méditerranée and Doctors Without Borders (MSF), meanwhile, said efforts […]
Italy’s Renzi to quit after budget
by Angus MACKINNON Ella IDE ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi formally resigned Monday after a crushing referendum defeat that has sent shockwaves around Europe — though his departure will be delayed by a final task, passing a budget. Renzi handed his resignation to President Sergio Mattarella after Italians resoundingly rejected his constitutional reform proposals in Sunday’s referendum, to the delight of the country’s populist leaders, fresh after Brexit and Donald Trump’s […]
Abe to make first Pearl Harbor visit by Japan leader
by Natsuko FUKUE TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is to become the first Japanese leader to visit Pearl Harbor, announcing Monday a trip to the site of his country’s surprise attack that launched World War II in the Pacific. News of the journey comes just two days ahead of the 75th anniversary of the deadly December 7, 1941 assault on the US naval base in Hawaii. The war ended in August 1945 […]
Japanese navy veteran recalls Pearl Harbor 75 years on
by Shingo ITO OSAKA, Japan (AFP) — Navy aircraft mechanic Kuniyoshi Takimoto watched as Japanese planes roared off the aircraft carrier Hiryu to attack Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. The shock assault 75 years ago Wednesday in Hawaii sparked patriotic celebration in Japan but left Takimoto feeling uneasy. “I wondered if such a poor country would be all right fighting such a big one,” the former real-estate agent, now 95 and one of the […]
Fake US embassy in Ghana shut down — after 10 years
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Fraudsters posing as consular officers operated a fake American embassy in the Ghanaian capital Accra for about a decade and printed counterfeit visas, a US official said Monday. US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said no one was believed to have entered the United States with one of the fake visas, which were reproductions based on genuine travel documents the con-men had obtained. “This fake embassy made and printed counterfeit […]
India’s filmstar politician dies after prolonged illness
CHENNAI, India (AFP) — Jayalalithaa Jayaram, the chief minister of south India’s Tamil Nadu state and one of the country’s most popular political leaders, has died after a prolonged illness, hospital authorities announced late Monday night. “It is with indescribable grief, we announce the sad demise of our esteemed honorable chief minister of Tamil Nadu … at 11:30pm (local time) today (December 5),” Chennai’s Apollo Hospital said in a statement released to the media. Doctors […]
Two early bids to replace Key as New Zealand PM
WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — New Zealand will have at least a two-way race to decide their next prime minister following the bombshell resignation of the popular John Key. Current deputy Bill English and Health Minister Jonathan Coleman both confirmed Tuesday, following a government caucus meeting, that they would contest the leadership. A third MP, Police Minister Judith Collins, said she was still considering her options. When three-term leader Key announced Monday he was stepping […]
