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by André VIOLLAZ UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday apologized for the first time to the people of Haiti for the role played by the world body’s peacekeepers in sparking a devastating cholera epidemic in the country. “On behalf of the United Nations, I want to say very clearly we apologize to the Haitian people,” he said three times — in Haitian Creole, French and English — to […]
by Adam PLOWRIGHT Guy JACKSON PARIS, France (AFP) — French President Francois Hollande dramatically announced Thursday he would not seek re-election next April at the end of his five-year term as he bowed to historic low approval ratings. The withdrawal means the 62-year-old Socialist will be the first president of France’s fifth republic, founded in 1958, to quit after just one term. “I have decided that I will not be a candidate,” Hollande said in […]
BANGKOK, Thailand (AFP) – by Aidan JONES Boonradom Chitradon Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn became the king of Thailand late Thursday, opening a new chapter for the powerful monarchy in a country still mourning the death of his father. The 64-year-old inherits one of the world’s richest monarchies as well as a politically febrile nation, and was proclaimed 50 days after King Bhumibol Adulyadej’s death. After weeks of complex palace protocols the prince was invited by […]
JUBA, South Sudan (AFP) – UN human rights experts on Thursday said “ethnic cleansing” was under way in South Sudan after visiting the country where violence has soared since a peace deal collapsed in July. “There is already a steady process of ethnic cleansing underway in several areas of South Sudan using starvation, gang rape and the burning of villages; everywhere we went across this country we heard villagers saying they are ready to shed […]
BANJUL. Gambia (AFP) – by Jennifer O’MAHONY Gambian President Yahya Jammeh faced the strongest electoral challenge of his 22-year rule Thursday as voters went to the polls, braving an internet and phone blackout the government defended as a security measure. After an unprecedented two-week opposition campaign that has energised his rivals, Jammeh rumbled into the capital’s cricket ground in a 4X4 and after casting his vote predicted his best score ever. “By the grace of […]
(Reuters) Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn, 64, became Thailand’s new king on Thursday after he accepted an invitation from parliament to succeed his father, King Bhumibol Adulyadej, who died in October. King Bhumibol, 88, was widely loved and regarded as a pillar of stability during decades of political turbulence and rapid development in the Southeast Asian nation. Prince Vajiralongkorn, who will be known as King Maha Vajiralongkorn Bodindradebayavarangkun, according to a statement released by parliament’s […]
JIBRIN, Syria (AFP) – by Maher Al-Mounes Fawwaz al-Ashaari stayed on in rebel-held east Aleppo through the loss of his eldest son and his home. But as fighting got closer, he joined a mass exodus to government territory. Some 20,000 civilians have made the same journey since Saturday as a government offensive on rebel-held areas has intensified. Another 30,000 have sought refuge in a Kurdish-controlled enclave between the city’s two sectors. “I can’t lose any […]
KHAZIR, Iraq (AFP) – by Rouba El Husseini Ihsan Ismail has spoken to his family just twice in a month. In the desperate flight from their village outside Mosul they were separated and are now confined to different camps for the displaced. More than 70,000 people have fled their homes since Iraqi forces launched their offensive on October 17 to retake Mosul, Iraq’s second-largest city, from the Islamic State group. As if living under IS rule […]
by Rigoberto DIAZ SANTA CLARA, Cuba (AFP) — Fidel Castro’s ashes were taken Thursday to a symbolic reunion with his fallen comrade-in-arms Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Santa Clara, the first stop in the late Cold War titan’s last trip across Cuba. After two days of tributes in Havana, hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Cubans lined the streets to bid farewell as a military jeep began a four-day journey on Wednesday morning with the cedar urn […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s ruling party on Thursday urged scandal-hit President Park Geun-Hye to step down in April next year, giving her a week to accept their ultimatum or risk impeachment. Park this week said she would be willing to step down early after coming under huge pressure to quit over an influence peddling scandal that has drawn more than a million people onto the streets in protest. The ruling Saenuri Party’s 128 […]
by Rosa SULLEIRO CHAPECO, Brazil (AFP) — Fans of Brazil’s Chapecoense football club whose team was wiped out in a Colombian air crash crammed into the home stadium late Wednesday for tearful prayers around the empty pitch. The stadium in Chapeco, southern Brazil, was a solid wall of green as fans and mourners dressed in the team shirt stood shoulder to shoulder. They gathered at exactly the hour their team, which just a few years […]
SOUTH CAROLINA, Unite States (Reuters) — Defense attorneys urged a South Carolina jury on Wednesday (November 30) to look beyond a shocking video of a white police officer shooting a fleeing black motorist to death last year and consider all the evidence presented at the former policeman’s murder trial. Lawyers were making their closing arguments to jurors who will decide whether Michael Slager, 35, committed a crime when he killed 50-year-old Walter Scott in […]
