WORLD

Beijing, China | AFP | China on Friday denounced US tariffs on aluminium and steel imports, saying that they would profoundly harm the international trade environment. The US’s “abuse” of national security concerns as a reason for implementing the measures will lead to “a serious attack on normal international trade …

Paris, France | AFP | The Spanish flu outbreak 100 years ago is the modern world’s deadliest epidemic, its toll of more than 50 million surpassing that of World War I. Here is some background. – Why ‘Spanish flu’? – Countries caught up in the 1914-1918 war censored information about …

Seoul, South Korea | AFP | The stunning announcement that US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will hold an unprecedented meeting is the latest and most astonishing step forward in a flurry of diplomacy. The two and their respective allies fought each other to a …

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States has approved a request from Qatar to upgrade the emirate’s air force operations center, officials said Thursday, despite the Gulf diplomatic crisis. Qatar has fallen out with fellow US allies in the Gulf, led by Saudi Arabia and the United Araba …

Bogota, Colombia | AFP | Colombia’s FARC said Thursday it is pulling out of the country’s presidential race after its candidate, 59-year-old ex-guerrilla leader Rodrigo “Timochenko” Londono, suffered a heart attack. Ivan Marquez, a senate candidate and senior member of the political party formed by the former Revolutionary Armed Forces …

Hatzor Air Base, Israel | AFP | US and Israeli commanders overseeing a major joint air defence exercise spoke Thursday of preparing for evolving threats in the Middle East during the month-long drill. The Juniper Cobra exercise, held every two years since 2001, comes as Israel is increasingly concerned by …

Miami, United States | AFP | The US state of Florida, scene of America’s latest school shooting, on Wednesday passed bill that raises the minimum age to buy firearms to 21 while funding a program that allows some teachers and school employees to be armed. The “Marjory Stoneman Douglas High …

Santiago, Chile | AFP | Eleven Asia-Pacific nations on Thursday are to sign a slimmed-down trade pact to lower tariffs just as US President Donald Trump seeks to raise them after withdrawing from the deal last year. The Trans-Pacific Partnership, which would have represented 40 percent of the global economy …

Toulouse, France | AFP | Aircraft giant Airbus is to axe around 3,700 jobs in Europe as it cuts back production of its troubled A380 superjumbo and A400M military transporter, the company and union officials said Wednesday. The cuts come as France-based Airbus downscales deliveries of the under-selling A380 — the …

Geneva, Switzerland | AFP | The UN labour agency warned Wednesday that gradual progress toward parity between the sexes in the workplace was expected to soon grind to a halt and could even reverse. “On average around the world, women remain much less likely to participate in the labour market than …