Beijing, China | AFP | Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday praised the normalisation of relations with Norway, six years after a dispute over the Nobel Peace Prize, as Norway’s prime minister said she was glad to be back. The visit by Erna Solberg is the first high-level exchange since December, …
Read More »Sex workers protest in Paris against penalising clients
Paris, France | AFP | Sex workers protested in central Paris on Saturday, marking the first anniversary of a French law which made it illegal for their clients to pay for sex. The protesters, mostly young women but including some men, held up banners saying “Stop the fines, our aggressors, AIDS, …
Read More »Huge asteroid to fly close but ‘safely past’ Earth on April 19
NASA, April: A relatively large near-Earth asteroid discovered nearly three years ago will fly safely past Earth on April 19 at a distance of about 1.1 million miles (1.8 million kilometers), or about 4.6 times the distance from Earth to the moon. Although there is no possibility for the asteroid …
Read More »Iran’s Rouhani says ‘this man in America’ abetting Syria terrorists
Tehran, Iran | AFP | Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Saturday that “terrorists” were applauding his US counterpart Donald Trump for launching a missile strike on an airbase of his Syrian government ally. But he backed calls for an independent inquiry into a suspected chemical weapons attack on a …
Read More »Uruguay to sell marijuana in pharmacies from July
Montevideo, Uruguay | AFP | Uruguay will become the first country in the world to allow recreational marijuana to be sold in pharmacies, starting in July, the president’s office said Thursday. The South American country adopted a revolutionary law in 2013 that fully legalized the production, sale and consumption of marijuana. …
Read More »Nigerian becomes first African to fly solo around the world
Lagos, Nigeria | AFP | Nigerian airline pilot Ademola Odujinrin, known as “Lola”, has become the first African to fly solo around the world, his foundation Transcend said in a statement Thursday. The 38-year-old Nigerian left Washington in September last year abord a Cirrus SR22, a small, single engine airplane, …
Read More »US threatens military response to Syria ‘chemical’ attack
Palm Beach, United States | AFP | The United States Thursday threatened Syria with military action as President Donald Trump warned “something should happen” following a suspected chemical attack that left at least 86 dead and provoked global outrage. An American decision to strike the regime in Damascus could hinge on …
Read More »Republicans go ‘nuclear,’ clear way for Trump court pick
Washington, United States | AFP | US Republicans ditched decades of tradition Thursday by changing Senate rules to ensure Neil Gorsuch’s confirmation to the Supreme Court, bypassing the first-ever successful opposition blockade of a high-court nominee. President Donald Trump’s pick, embraced by conservatives but opposed by most Democrats, failed to …
Read More »Moscow says US has no objective data on ‘monstrous crime’ in Syria
Moscow, Russia | AFP | The Kremlin on Thursday said US allegations that Syrian forces carried out a deadly chemical attack are not based on “objective” information. “We consider a much more measured approach necessary and do not think it is possible to surrender oneself to hasty conclusions about what happened …
Read More »South Africa to defend failure to arrest Bashir at ICC on Friday
The Hague, Netherlands | AFP | War crimes judges will Friday hear why South Africa failed to arrest Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir during a 2015 visit, as they mull whether to report Pretoria to the United Nations for possible action. South Africa’s lawyers will defend the decision not to detain …
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