Washington, United States | AFP | Joe Biden expressed fear that President Donald Trump will try to “steal” November’s election or not leave office if he loses, prompting the White House on Thursday to slam the Democrat’s comments as conspiracy theories. “My single greatest concern” is that “this president’s going to try and steal this …
Read More »US surgeons perform double-lung transplant on COVID-19 patient
Washington, United States | AFP | Surgeons have performed a double-lung transplant on a COVID-19 patient in Chicago, the hospital that carried out the procedure said Thursday, in what is thought to be a first in the United States. The patient is a young Hispanic woman in her twenties, and had spent six weeks on …
Read More »Trump authorizes sanctions against ICC officials who prosecute US troops
Washington, United States | AFP | President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered sanctions against any official at the International Criminal Court who prosecutes US troops as the tribunal looks at alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. “The International Criminal Court’s actions are an attack on the rights of the American people and threaten to infringe upon …
Read More »US retailers condemn racism but critics say profiling persists
New York, United States | AFP | As racial justice protests have swept the US, leading retailers have taken to social media to proclaim their commitment to equality. But such statements decrying racism in the wake of the George Floyd killing have been met with incredulity by some non-white customers, who …
Read More »‘Stop the pain’, George Floyd’s brother tells US Congress
Washington, United States | AFP | The brother of George Floyd, whose killing by police sparked worldwide protests against racism made an emotional plea on Wednesday to the US Congress to “stop the pain” and pass reforms that make officers accountable for brutality. One day after burying his brother in Houston, …
Read More »Trump nixes idea of renaming US bases honoring Confederate heroes
Washington, United States | AFP | US military bases honoring Civil War Confederate leaders will not be renamed, President Donald Trump said Wednesday, pushing back on pressure to rid public places of monuments glorifying the once pro-slavery South. “These Monumental and very Powerful Bases have become part of a Great American …
Read More »Central Europe leaders hold first face-to-face talks of virus crisis
Prague, Czech Republic | AFP | Masks and gloves will be the order of the day when the prime ministers of four ex-communist countries on Thursday hold the first major face-to-face meeting of European leaders since the coronavirus crisis. The Czech, Hungarian, Polish and Slovak leaders are due to discuss the …
Read More »HSBC under fire in UK for backing China’s Hong Kong law
London, United Kingdom | AFP | Asia-focused banking giant HSBC’s vocal support for China’s controversial Hong Kong security law has not been well received in Britain, the former ruler of the city. The London-headquartered lender last week backed Beijing’s contentious legal proposal for Hong Kong, which critics fear will be used …
Read More »Death of George Floyd prompts soul-searching among US minority communities
Washington, United States | AFP | The posters began appearing at protests rocking the United States, all with the same message of support — Arabs, Latinos and South Asians for “Black Lives Matter.” George Floyd’s shocking death in police custody has prompted many minority communities across the country to begin reflecting …
Read More »Renewables booming but not enough to meet climate targets: UN
Paris, France | AFP | The world added 12 percent more clean power capacity in 2019 than the year before, but new renewable energy planned over the next decade falls far short of what is needed to forestall dangerous global warming, the UN warned on Wednesday. An additional 184 gigawatts (GW) …
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