WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump faced fresh accusations of abuse of power Tuesday after the Justice Department moved to override its own prosecutors who are seeking a stiff sentence of seven to nine years for Republican political operative Roger Stone. In new turmoil for the administration, the four prosecutors who tried the Stone case resigned as the Justice Department suggested a new sentence of less than half of what was originally recommended. The proposed reduction appeared

World News Feb. 12, 2020

HOLLYWOOD (AFP) -- The Oscars kicked off Sunday with a historic early triumph for South Korea's black comedy thriller "Parasite" -- tipped to battle war epic "1917" for the night's top prize -- as winners including Brad Pitt struck a political note. Hollywood's biggest night began with a vibrant musical medley, which addressed a swirling row over the lack of minorities and female directors on the star-studded nominee list. "We celebrate all the women who directed phe

Film Feb. 10, 2020

  HOLLYWOOD (AFP) -- Hollywood's awards season comes to a close Sunday at the Oscars, with war epic "1917" battling a South Korean thriller for glory as a row swirls over the lack of minorities on the night's star-studded nominee list. A lavish, spiral stage featuring 40,000 crystals at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre will be the glittering setting as the 24 golden statuettes are handed out on Tinseltown's biggest night. Nominees and actors arrived on the red carpet under overcast

Film Feb. 10, 2020

NAKHON RATCHASIMA, Thailand (AFP) -- The Thai soldier who killed at least 20 people and holed up in a mall overnight was shot dead Sunday morning by commandos, ending a near-17-hour ordeal which left dozens wounded and stunned the country. It was unclear how many people remained trapped inside the Terminal 21 mall in Nakhon Ratchasima -- also known as Korat -- where the gunman held out through the night, armed with assault weapons stolen from his barracks. Volleys of gunfire rang out as the

World News Feb. 9, 2020

BEIJING (AFP) - The death toll from the novel coronavirus outbreak soared to 803 in China on Sunday, according to official figures, overtaking the global toll for SARS. With 81 more people dying in Hubei -- the province at the centre of the outbreak -- the toll is now higher than the 774 killed worldwide by the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome in 2002-2003, according to figures released Sunday. The latest data came after the World Health Organisation said numbers were "stabilising"

World News Feb. 9, 2020

BEIJING (AFP) -- The endangered pangolin may be the link that facilitated the spread of the novel coronavirus across China, Chinese scientists said Friday. Researchers have long suspected that the virus, which has now killed more than 630 people and infected some 31,000, was passed from an animal to a human at a market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. Researchers at the South China Agricultural University have identified the scaly mammal as a “potential intermediate

World News Feb. 7, 2020

  GENEVA (AFP) -- The world is running out of masks and other protective equipment against the novel coronavirus, the World Health Organization chief warned on Friday. “The world is facing a chronic shortage of personal protective equipment,”  Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told the WHO‘s executive board in Geneva. He said he would be speaking to members of the supply chain network for protective gear to try and resolve “bottlenecks” in the production. WH

World News Feb. 7, 2020

GAPYEONG (AFP) -- Thousands of couples -- some in facemasks -- tied the knot in a mass Unification Church wedding Friday, despite concerns in South Korea over the spread of the coronavirus outbreak. The church founded by Sun Myung Moon -- revered as a messiah by his followers -- distributed face coverings to the 30,000 crowd, but only some donned them. "I am overwhelmed that I am getting married today," said Choi Ji-young, who met her husband -- matched by the church -- only two mon

Social Affairs Feb. 7, 2020

BEIJING (AFP) -- The official Chinese death toll from the coronavirus outbreak rose on Friday to 636, with the government saying total infections had climbed past 30,000. The toll was raised by 73 new deaths from the epidemic, the National Health Commission said in its daily update. Another 3,143 new cases of infection were confirmed, bringing total infections in the country thus far to 31,161, it said. The central province of Hubei where the virus originated continued to be hardest-hit, acc

World News Feb. 7, 2020

BEIJING (AFP) -- A Chinese doctor, among the first to raise the alert about China's new coronavirus, himself died from the pathogen on Friday,  emphasizing the depth of a worsening crisis that has killed at least 630 people. Global panic also spread, with thousands trapped on quarantined cruise ships. Ophthalmologist Li Wenliang died at 2:58 am, Wuhan Central Hospital said in a post on its verified account on Chinese social media platform Weibo. The 34-year-old sent out a message about

World News Feb. 7, 2020

Human Rights Watch on Thursday accused China of suppressing criticism of its response to the deadly novel coronavirus and said it had made the outbreak worse. HRW chief Kenneth Roth also criticised the Chinese government's lockdown on various cities in an attempt to contain the virus as a "sledgehammer" approach. "There have been big problems in China's response to the coronavirus that have worsened the outbreak," Roth told reporters in Geneva, although he also said China d

National Feb. 6, 2020

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President Donald Trump drew on staunch Republican support to defeat the gravest threat yet to his three-year-old presidency on Wednesday, winning acquittal in the Senate on impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Only the third US leader ever placed on trial, Trump readily defeated the Democratic-led effort to expel him from office for having illicitly sought help from Ukraine to bolster his 2020 re-election effort. Trump immediately claimed &

World News Feb. 6, 2020

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- US silver screen legend Kirk Douglas, the son of Jewish Russian immigrants who rose through the ranks to become one of Hollywood's biggest-ever stars, has died, his family said Wednesday. He was 103. One of the last survivors of the golden age of cinema and the father of Oscar-winning actor and filmmaker Michael Douglas, the "Spartacus" actor was renowned for the macho tough guy roles he took on in around 90 movies over a six-decade career. "It is with trem

People Feb. 6, 2020

BEIJING (AFP) -- The number of confirmed infections in China's coronavirus outbreak has reached 24,324 nationwide with 3,887 new cases reported, the National Health Commission said Wednesday. In its daily update, the commission said there had been 65 new deaths from the virus -- all in hardest-hit Hubei province, bringing the national toll to 490. (AFP)

World News Feb. 5, 2020

MANCHESTER (AFP) -- Democratic White House candidate Pete Buttigieg seized a shock lead in the chaotic Iowa caucuses, closely trailed by leftist senator Bernie Sanders, according to partial returns released on Tuesday after an embarrassing delay in reporting the results. Progressive standard-bearer Elizabeth Warren was in third place followed by Joe Biden, a disappointing showing for the former vice president who has claimed he is best positioned to defeat Donald Trump in November. Buttigieg,

World News Feb. 5, 2020