Bogota, Colombia | AFP | At least five police officers were killed and 41 others wounded Saturday when alleged drug traffickers detonated a bomb at a station in the northern city of Barranquilla, hours after a car explosion ripped through a security post near the border in neighboring Ecuador. There …
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 »Spanish tourists ‘raped, robbed’ in southern Senegal
Ziguinchor, Senegal | AFP | A group of Spanish tourists were robbed and raped in Senegal’s restive Casamance region by armed men, a security source and state media said on Friday. The tourists’ vehicle was stopped near the village of Karonge, around 60 kilometres (37 miles) from the regional capital …
Read More »Mexican minister suggests legalizing marijuana in tourist spots
Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Mexico’s tourism minister Thursday proposed legalizing recreational marijuana use in Baja California Sur and Quintana Roo, two of the country’s most popular states for tourists. Enrique de la Madrid told journalists in Mexico City it is “absurd” that Mexico, which approved the scientific and medical …
Read More »Egypt military accuses Sisi presidential rival of committing crimes
Cairo, Egypt | AFP | Egypt’s military on Tuesday accused a former armed forces chief of staff who plans to challenge President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in March elections of forgery and other crimes linked to his candidacy announcement. The general command of the Egyptian armed forces made the allegations against …
Read More »German police arrest 15-year-old for killing classmate
Berlin, Germany | AFP | German police have arrested a 15-year-old schoolboy suspected of killing a classmate on Tuesday by stabbing him in the neck, authorities and media reports said. Media reports said the teenager did not resist when police tracked him down through a helicopter search and arrested him. …
Read More »Jamaica declares emergency over parts of island as gun crime soars
Montego Bay, Jamaica | AFP | Jamaica has declared a state of emergency in the island’s second city Montego Bay, where authorities are battling to stem a wave of killings. Tourists have been urged to remain in their resorts following the declaration by Prime Minister Andrew Holness on Thursday, resulting …
Read More »Red Pepper offices to remain closed for another month
Kampala, Uganda | GODFREY SSALI | Buganda Road Court has given the state handling the offensive communication case against eight Red Pepper Publication journalists a month to complete investigations on the seized electronics and accessories of the Red Pepper. This follows an exparte application granted by Chief Magistrate James Eremye …
Read More »Journalists protest Philippine move to close news website
Manila, Philippines | AFP | Philippine journalists took to the streets Friday in support of a news website facing state-enforced closure, accusing President Rodrigo Duterte of trampling on press freedom. The government withdrew the corporate registration of the Rappler website this week and has summoned its chief executive to answer …
Read More »Siberian teen wounds six in school axe attack
Moscow, Russia | AFP | A teenage boy injured six people, five of them minors, in an axe attack in a Siberian classroom on Friday, local authorities said, days after 15 were injured in a knife fight at another Russian school. Investigators said the boy, thought to be 15 or …
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