Author: AFP
Russia on Wednesday accused the US of prolonging the “war in Ukraine” by stepping up weapons deliveries to Kyiv ahead of Donald Trump entering the White House. The US will soon provide Ukraine with antipersonnel land mines to shore up its defences against Russian forces, a US official said late Tuesday, the latest step-up in military supplies announced by the administration of US President Joe Biden following Trump’s election victory. “If you look at the trends of the outgoing US administration, they are fully committed to continuing the war in Ukraine and are doing everything they can to do so,”…
Tottenham’s Rodrigo Bentancur was Monday given a seven-match domestic ban by the Football Association over an alleged racist remark made about teammate Son Heung-min in a TV interview. The midfielder was charged by the FA in September in connection with an alleged breach of its rules during an interview in his home country of Uruguay. The former Juventus player, who has also been fined £100,000 ($126,000), had been asked in June by a presenter for a Spurs player’s shirt. He replied: “Sonny’s? It could be Sonny’s cousin too as they all look the same.” Bentancur, 27, apologised to the South…
The Russian opposition, forced into exile and weakened by internal conflicts, will organise its first major demonstration against Moscow’s Ukraine invasion in Berlin on Sunday, testing its political credibility in the third year of the war. The Kremlin has in recent years eradicated any political competition at home and waged a massive crackdown on dissent, with hundreds — possibly thousands — of Russians in prison for their political views. With Vladimir Putin in power for almost 25 years, all of his political opponents are now dead, in prison or in exile. The Russian opposition lost its main figurehead in February,…
Israel issued evacuation orders Sunday for parts of south Beirut where it is targeting Hezbollah militants, hours after the Iran-backed group said it fired on several Israeli military bases around the coastal city of Haifa. Israel ordered residents of three areas in the capital’s southern suburbs to leave ahead of planned strikes on multiple buildings, in a warning published on X by military spokesman Avichay Adraee. Further south, overnight Israeli airstrikes and artillery shelling hit the flashpoint southern town of Khiam, some six kilometres (four miles) from the border, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency reported early Sunday. The bombardment came…
China’s President Xi Jinping told his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden that the issues of Taiwan, democracy, human rights and rights to development are “red lines” for China and not to be challenged, the official state media Xinhua said on Sunday. Xi warned the United States not to get involved in bilateral disputes over islands and reefs in the South China Sea or “aid or abet the impulsion to make provocations” in that region, it said. China and United States would roil or even see relations take a setback in rivalry with each other, but could make considerable progress by treating…
Pope Francis for the first time tackled claims of Israel’s ongoing “genocide” of Palestinians in Gaza in a forthcoming book, urging further investigation into whether Israel’s actions meet the definition. Titled “Hope Never Disappoints. Pilgrims Towards a Better World”, the book includes his latest and most forthright intervention into the more than year-long war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack on Israel. “According to some experts, what is happening in Gaza has the characteristics of genocide,” the pontiff wrote in extracts published on Sunday in Italy’s La Stampa daily. “This should be studied carefully to determine whether (the situation) corresponds…
Australia, Japan and the US on Sunday committed to closer military cooperation in training their forces as the countries deepened their ties in a bid to counter China’s military strength. Australia’s Minister of Defence Richard Marles hosted the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japan’s Defence Minister Gen Nakatani, Sunday for the trilateral ministers’ meeting — the first to be held in Australia. Under the new agreement, Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade — an elite marine unit — will be deployed to Darwin to regularly work and train alongside Australian and US forces. “It is a very important statement to…
Australia, Japan and the US on Sunday committed to closer military cooperation in training their forces as the countries deepened their ties in a bid to counter China’s military strength. Australia’s Minister of Defence Richard Marles hosted the US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Japan’s Defence Minister Gen Nakatani, Sunday for the trilateral ministers’ meeting — the first to be held in Australia. Under the new agreement, Japan’s Amphibious Rapid Deployment Brigade — an elite marine unit — will be deployed to Darwin to regularly work and train alongside Australian and US forces. “It is a very important statement to…
Saudi Arabia has executed more than 100 foreigners this year, according to an AFP tally indicating a sharp increase which one rights group said was unprecedented. The latest execution, on Saturday in the southwestern region of Najran, was of a Yemeni national convicted of smuggling drugs into the Gulf kingdom, the official Saudi Press Agency reported. That brought to 101 the number of foreigners executed so far in 2024, according to the tally which is compiled from state media reports. This is almost triple the figures for 2023 and 2022, when Saudi authorities had put to death 34 foreigners each…
Hundreds of protesters marched in support of Palestinians in Rio on Saturday, in a demonstration aimed at world leaders about to converge on the city for a G20 summit. The march, held peacefully under constant rain along Copacabana Beach, was watched by dozens of police and soldiers deployed as security for the summit to be held Monday and Tuesday. The meeting will see heads of state and government, including US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping, discuss coordination on international issues. The Rio protesters, a few wearing Arabic keffiyeh scarves, held aloft the Palestinian flag and banners, including…