MEXICO CITY (AFP) -- Mexican security forces on Thursday arrested one son of jailed drug kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in an operation that triggered fighting in the western city of Culiacan, Security Minister Alfonso Durazo said. Ovidio Guzman is one of the sons who have assumed control of part of the notorious cartel run by their father until he was extradited to the United States in 2017. (AFP)

World News Oct. 18, 2019

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- European Union leaders endorsed a hard-fought Brexit deal with Britain on Thursday, but Prime Minister Boris Johnson faces an uphill battle getting it through the British parliament."It looks like we are very close to the final stretch," EU Council President Donald Tusk told reporters after the other 27 leaders approved the accord.But despite optimism from Johnson, British opposition parties and some of the prime minister's own allies in the House of Commons were quic

World News Oct. 18, 2019

ANKARA (AFP) -- Turkey has agreed to suspend its Syria offensive for five days and will end the assault if Kurdish-led forces withdraw from a safe zone along the border, US Vice President Mike Pence and Turkish officials announced Thursday after high-stakes talks.The agreement for the 120-hour pause eased what had escalated into an unprecedented crisis between the United States and Turkey, but critics quickly accused President Donald Trump of again abandoning Kurdish allies.Under the deal reache

World News Oct. 18, 2019

The EU's chief negotiator Michel Barnier on Thursday hailed the last-minute Brexit deal struck with Britain ahead of a crunch summit as a reasonable compromise that protects European interests. "We have reached an agreement that is fair and reasonable and corresponds to our principles," Barnier told reporters, but urged caution as the deal must still be passed by the British parliament -- which has rejected a Brexit deal three times before.Prime Minister Boris Johnson will take the acc

World News Oct. 17, 2019

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US Vice President Mike Pence and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo departed for Turkey on Wednesday, seeking to secure a ceasefire in the Turkish invasion of northern Syria."Our mission set is to see if we can get a ceasefire, see if we can get this brokered," Pompeo told reporters on his plane.Pence and Pompeo, who travelled on different planes, were scheduled to hold talks on Thursday with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, but Erdogan has said he will not meet

World News Oct. 17, 2019

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The partial trade bargain struck last week with China is now being formally put down in writing, US President Donald Trump said Wednesday."It hasn't been papered yet but it is being papered," Trump told reporters at the White House.He insisted that China had already bought $40 to $50 million worth of American agriculture products last week.He reiterated that China committed to greater purchases of US farm exports, and made concessions because of economic pressure by

World News Oct. 17, 2019

TOKYO (AFP) -- A Japanese minister on Thursday visited the Yasukuni war shrine at the centre of long-running tensions with regional neighbours -- the first cabinet-level official visit in over two years.Seiichi Eto, the minister in charge of Okinawa and what Japan calls "the Northern Territories" disputed with Russia, visited the shrine at the start of its annual autumn festival, an official at Eto's office told AFP.Prime Minister Shinzo Abe meanwhile continued his recent practice of s

World News Oct. 17, 2019

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Japan's SoftBank Group has prepared a financing plan that would give it control of WeWork as the office sharing startup seeks badly- needed financing, sources told AFP Monday.The plan would give SoftBank, which is controled by billionaire Masayoshi Son, more than 50 percent of WeWork and further limit the influence of former chief executive and co-founder Adam Neumann, said sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity.Neumann stepped down as chief executive in September amid

World Business Oct. 17, 2019

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The US House of Representatives on Tuesday passed a bill sought by pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong that aims to defend civil rights in the semi-autonomous territory.The Hong Kong Human Rights and Democracy Act, which will now move to a similar vote in the Senate before it can become law, has drawn rare bipartisan support in a polarized Congress.Its passage is likely to further aggravate China which has accused "external forces" of fuelling weeks of unrest in t

World News Oct. 16, 2019

ISTANBUL (AFP) -- Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan dismissed a US proposal to broker a ceasefire in northern Syria and said he was not worried over US sanctions, in comments published in Turkish media Wednesday.He also said the Syrian army's entry into the flashpoint northern Syrian city of Manbij was not a "very negative" development for his country as long as the region is cleared of Syrian Kurdish fighters."They tell us 'to declare a ceasefire'. We can never declare a cea

World News Oct. 16, 2019

LOS ANGELES (AFP) -- US actress Zoe Kravitz will play Catwoman in the new "Batman" film starring Robert Pattinson, a Warner Bros. source told AFP on Monday.Kravitz, who recently starred in HBO's hit TV drama "Big Little Lies" and is the daughter of rock musician Lenny Kravitz, will portray the whip-wielding cat burglar who is both Batman's foe and love interest in the comics. She follows A-listers such as Halle Berry, Anne Hathaway and Michelle Pfeiffer in portraying Catwoman

Film Oct. 15, 2019

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- A white policeman who shot dead a black Texas woman as she played video games at home with her young nephew has been charged with murder, police said Monday.Aaron Dean gunned down 28-year-old Atatiana Jefferson from outside her Fort Worth property in the early hours of Saturday as she approached a window to investigate noises outside.The incident, less than two weeks after a white policewoman was jailed for killing a black man in his apartment in nearby Dallas, has spark

World News Oct. 15, 2019

STOCKHOLM (AFP) -- A trio of Americans on Monday won the Nobel Economics Prize for their work in the fight against poverty, including Esther Duflo, the youngest-ever economics laureate and only the second woman to win the prize.Duflo -- a 46-year-old French-American professor who has served as an advisor to ex-US president Barack Obama -- shared the Nobel with her husband, Indian-born Abhijit Banerjee and fellow American Michael Kremer "for their experimental approach to alleviating global

World News Oct. 15, 2019

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States slapped sanctions on Turkey Tuesday as it demanded an end to its deadly incursion against Syrian Kurdish fighters, accusing its NATO partner of putting civilians at risk and allowing the release of Islamic State extremists.The actions came hours after regime troops returned for the first time in years to parts of northeastern Syria, invited by Kurdish fighters desperate for protection as the United States pulls out.President Donald Trump took extraordinary m

World News Oct. 15, 2019

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The Pentagon said Sunday President Donald Trump had ordered the withdrawal of up to 1,000 troops from northern Syria -- almost the entire ground force in the war-torn country -- amid an intensifying Turkish assault on Kurdish forces.Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the move came after the US learned that Turkey was pressing further into Syria than had been expected.The Kurds -- with whom the US partnered to combat the Islamic State group -- later announced they had reached a

World News Oct. 14, 2019