World

Girl Guides of Canada cancel US trips over Trump order

Published on Mon, 03/13/2017 - 4:27pm

By ROB GILLIES, Associated Press

TORONTO (AP) — The Girl Guides of Canada are cancelling all travel to the United States because of fears girls might have trouble at the border due to travel restrictions enacted by President Donald Trump.

Spokeswoman Sarah Kiriliuks said Monday the organization's membership is diverse and inclusive and leaders worried some girls could get left behind when a group tried to enter the U.S.

Guatemala fire death toll rises to 36 amid calls for change

Published on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 2:21pm
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GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala's president called for a restructuring of his country's youth shelter system following a fire that killed at least 36 girls at an overcrowded government facility for children, sending a nation into shock and anger.

Japan to end 5-year peacekeeping mission in South Sudan

Published on Fri, 03/10/2017 - 2:12pm

TOKYO (AP) — Japan is ending its peacekeeping mission in troubled South Sudan after five years, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe announced Friday.

Abe said Japan would not renew the mission after the current rotation returns in May. The 350-person team has focused on road construction.

The team, which arrived in South Sudan in November, was Japan's first with an expanded mandate to use force if necessary to protect civilians and U.N. staff. The Japanese military's use of force is limited by the post-World War II constitution.

US rejects China's call to halt drills if NKorea stops tests

Published on Wed, 03/08/2017 - 3:02pm
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UNITED NATIONS (AP) — The United States on Wednesday rejected China's proposal for a halt to joint U.S.-South Korean military exercises if North Korea suspends its nuclear and missile activities. It called North Korean leader Kim Jong Un irrational and demanded "positive action" before the U.S. can take his regime seriously.

NKorea: US-SKorea exercises leading to 'nuclear disaster'

Published on Mon, 03/06/2017 - 4:27pm
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UNITED NATIONS — North Korea warned Monday that U.S.-South Korean military exercises, which it called "the most undisguised nuclear war maneuvers," are driving the Korean Peninsula and northeast Asia toward "nuclear disaster."

The North Korean ambassador to the United Nations, Ja Song Nam, said in a letter to the U.N. Security Council that the U.S. is using nuclear-propelled aircraft carriers, nuclear submarines, nuclear strategic bombers and stealth fighters in the joint exercises that began Wednesday.

Sinn Fein enjoys vote surge in Northern Ireland election

Published on Fri, 03/03/2017 - 1:45pm
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DUBLIN (AP) — Sinn Fein enjoyed a potentially historic surge in support Friday as ballots were counted for seats in the Northern Ireland Assembly, a contest triggered by the Irish nationalist party in a bitter showdown with its longtime Protestant partners in government.

At stake in the outcome from Thursday's snap election is the revival or demise of power-sharing between Irish Catholics and British Protestants, the central objective of the U.S.-brokered Good Friday peace accord nearly two decades ago.

Kremlin: Sessions controversy an impediment to new relations

Published on Thu, 03/02/2017 - 7:59am
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MOSCOW (AP) — The intense attention being given to the new U.S. attorney general's meetings with Russia's ambassador could obstruct improved Washington-Moscow relations, the spokesman for Russian President Vladimir Putin said Thursday.

The spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters he did not know about the meetings last year between Ambassador Sergei Kislyak and Jeff Sessions, who at that time was a U.S. senator. Sessions also was a policy adviser to President Donald Trump's campaign.

Suspects charged with murder in airport nerve agent attack

Published on Wed, 03/01/2017 - 8:58am
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KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia (AP) — Their eyes red and heads bowed, two young women accused of smearing VX nerve agent on the estranged half brother of North Korea's leader were charged with murder Wednesday in a Malaysian court.

The women, who arrived in court protected by masked special forces carrying machine guns, are at the center of the bizarre killing of Kim Jong Nam at a busy Kuala Lumpur airport terminal. Many speculate the attack was orchestrated by North Korea, but it has denied any role.

The strange life, and sudden death, of a North Korean exile

Published on Tue, 02/28/2017 - 7:56am
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MACAU (AP) — The heavy-set man got out of a Macau taxi one night last September, heading to the lobby bar at one of the city's most expensive hotels. The bar at the Wynn Macau is a quiet place, where the women are often in evening dresses and the gamblers can relax with $300 Cuban cigars. He was dressed casually, nondescript really. There were no bodyguards, no flashy women. It wasn't what you'd expect for a man once tipped to be the next dictator of North Korea.

Police officer: Not clear if ransom was paid for Germans

Published on Mon, 02/27/2017 - 8:46am
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ABUJA, Nigeria (AP) — Nigerian police say it is not clear if a ransom was paid for the release of two German archaeologists freed by their kidnappers over the weekend.

Professor Peter Breunig and Johannes Behringer of Frankfurt's Goethe University were seized at gunpoint Wednesday from Jenjela village in Kaduna state, less than 100 kilometers (60 miles) northeast of Abuja, Nigeria's capital. Two villagers who tried to help them were killed by the kidnappers.

The kidnappers released the Germans unharmed on Saturday night, said a police statement.

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