BBC President Donald Trump faces more potentially damning testimony in the Ukraine scandal as a critical week of public impeachment hearings opens Tuesday in the House of Representatives. Trump’s suggestion that he might himself testify in the investigation which threatens his presidency had no impact on the House Intelligence Committee’s plans to interview nine witnesses
BBC Pro-democracy demonstrators holed up in a Hong Kong university campus set the main entrance ablaze Monday to prevent surrounding police moving in, after officers warned they may use live rounds if confronted by deadly weapons. The police warning, which came after one officer was struck by an arrow, marked a further escalation of the
BBC A man has died in Hong Kong after being hit on the head during clashes between government supporters and protesters. The government said the 70-year-old cleaner was on a lunch break on Wednesday when he was struck by “hard objects hurled by masked rioters”. Meanwhile, China’s president Xi Jinping said Hong Kong’s use of
AFP Pro-democracy protesters Wednesday stepped up a “blossom everywhere” campaign of road blocks and vandalism across Hong Kong that has crippled the international financial hub this week and ignited some of the worst violence in five months of unrest. The new phase in the crisis, which has forced schools and shopping malls to close as
AFP Bushfires raging across eastern Australia on Tuesday singed the Sydney suburbs, where firefighters were forced to scramble planes and helicopters to splatter a built-up neighbourhood with water and red retardant. Twin blazes in the north shore suburb of Turramurra around 15 kilometres (nine miles) from the centre of Australia’s largest city tore through a
AP Australia’s most populous state declared a state of emergency on Monday due to unprecedented wildfire danger as calls grew for Australia to take more action to counter climate change. New South Wales state Emergency Services Minister David Elliott said residents were facing what “could be the most dangerous bushfire week this nation has ever
AFP Eight people died and more than two million others spent a night huddled in storm shelters as Cyclone Bulbul smashed into the coasts of India and Bangladesh with fierce gales and torrential rains, officials said on Sunday. The cyclone packed winds of up to 120km/h when it hit late on Saturday, closing ports and
BBC A policeman has shot a protester during another day of violent demonstrations in Hong Kong. Footage posted on Facebook showed the officer drawing his gun before grappling with a man at a roadblock. When another man approached wearing a face mask, the officer fired at him, hitting him in the torso. As the grapple
AFP Turkish forces in northern Syria have detained a sister of Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of the Islamic State group who was killed in a US raid, a senior Turkish official said Tuesday. “Turkey has captured Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s sister” in a raid near the town of Azaz, the official, speaking on condition of
AP New Delhi restricted many private vehicles from the roads Monday to try to lessen pollution as people gasped and their eyes burned in toxic smog that exacerbated a public health crisis. The “odd-even” scheme will restrict private vehicles with odd-number license plates to driving on odd dates while even-numbered plates are allowed on even-numbered
AP For many Vietnamese, a job in a Western European country is seen as a path to prosperity worth breaking the law. But the risks of doing so are high and the consequences can be deadly, as the discovery of 39 bodies in a truck in England last week proved. The victims were believed to
BBC US President Donald Trump has announced he will make Florida his permanent home instead of Trump Tower in New York. He said he had been badly treated by New York’s political leaders, despite having paid millions of dollars in tax. Trump was born in New York but has increasingly spent more time at his
AFP A shoot-out in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus between police and suspected drug traffickers left 17 people dead, local authorities announced on Wednesday. “The individuals exchanged fire with the police, 17 were hit by bullets and transported to hospital, where they were confirmed dead,” the state security secretariat said of the incident late
AFP Boeing announced Thursday up to 50 of its popular 737NG planes had been grounded after cracks in them were detected, in another blow to the US aircraft maker following two deadly crashes. Australian national carrier Qantas became the latest airline to take one of the planes out of the air, as it said it
AFP At least 71 people were killed and dozens injured after cooking gas cylinders exploded on a train packed with pilgrims in Pakistan on Thursday, some dying after leaping from carriages to escape the inferno, authorities said. Television footage showed flames pouring out of three carriages as people could be heard crying during the incident,
BBC Dennis Muilenburg, chief executive of Boeing, was quizzed on Tuesday by the Senate Commerce Committee over the deadly 737 Max 8 crashes. Two deadly 737 Max 8 crashes killed a total of 346 people. Muilenburg admitted the firm had made “mistakes”. The fleet has been grounded for 10 months and BBC Radio 4’s Today
BBC The UK is set to go to the polls on 12 December after MPs backed Boris Johnson’s call for an election following months of Brexit deadlock. By a margin of 438 votes to 20, the House of Commons approved legislation paving the way for the first December election since 1923. The bill is still
BBC A lorry driver is due to appear in court charged over the deaths of 39 people found in a refrigerated trailer in Essex. Maurice Robinson, 25, of Craigavon in Northern Ireland, is due to appear via videolink at Chelmsford Magistrates’ Court on Monday. The bodies were found in a trailer in the early hours
AP The European Council president says the bloc has agreed to grant Britain a new Brexit delay to Jan. 31 next year. Donald Tusk said on Twitter “the EU 27 has agreed that it will accept the UK’s request for a Brexit flextension. The decision is expected to be formalized through a written procedure.” Tusk’s
AFP A 67-year-old woman has given birth in China, a hospital said on Monday, with the parents claiming they are the country’s oldest couple to have a natural birth. The woman, surnamed Tian, delivered a healthy girl by Caesarean section on Friday, Zaozhuang city’s Maternity and Child Health Care Hospital told AFP. “The child was
