October, 2016

• 25 October

  France Calais ‘Jungle’ empties as demolition crews move in

  

  Calais / AFP Workers were set to begin demolishing the notorious Calais “Jungle” camp on Tuesday as a second batch of migrants boarded buses under a massive operation to clear the squalid settlement. More than 1,900 left the slum on Monday, ahead of work to tear down the makeshift shelters and eateries in the camp that has become a symbol of ...

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• 25 October

  ‘Terror-financing’ raids in Germany target ‘Chechens’

    Erfurt / AFP German police on Tuesday raided apartments across five states in a probe against 14 Chechen asylum seekers over suspected financing of terrorist groups and links to the IS organisation. The raids were part of a running investigation which began last year into a 28-year-old Russian of Chechen origin who is suspected of “preparing an act of ...

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• 25 October

  Trump backers arrested outside US embassy in Uganda

    Kampala / AFP Two Ugandans were arrested outside the US Embassy in Kampala on Tuesday morning while taking part in a demonstration of support for US presidential candidate Donald Trump. Carrying placards, one emblazoned with the slogan “A vote for Trump is a vote against African dictatorship!”, the two men attempted to enter the US embassy grounds in the ...

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• 25 October

  Duterte tells worried foreign businesses to go

  

    Tokyo / AFP President Rodrigo Duterte on Tuesday urged foreign businesses in the Philippines worried about his deadly drug war to “pack up and leave”, as he launched another anti-American tirade before flying to Japan to attract investments. Duterte voiced outrage at comments made the previous day by the top US envoy to Asia that his fiery rhetoric and crime ...

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• 25 October

  NATO defence commitment ‘unconditional’: Stoltenberg

    Brussels / AFP NATO’s commitment to defend all allies against any threat is “unconditional” and irrespective of whether they pay their dues, alliance head Jens Stoltenberg said on Tuesday. Asked his view of remarks by US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump that, should he win, US commitment would depend on members keeping up with their contributions, Stoltenberg stressed first ...

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• 25 October

  4 dead after Australia theme park disaster

  

    Gold Coast / AFP Two women and two men were killed at a theme park on Australia’s popular Gold Coast on Tuesday, police said, with witnesses describing how “everyone was screaming” after a raft apparently flipped on a water ride. Queensland police said the four victims died on the Thunder River Rapids ride at the Dreamworld park, as Prime Minister ...

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• 25 October

  Strike across Sri Lanka’s north over police killings

    Colombo/ AFP Sri Lankans went on strike across the island’s north on Tuesday as anger mounted over the police killing of two Tamil university students at a checkpoint. Shops, banks and other offices were closed across the war-ravaged Jaffna peninsula and public transport was halted in protest against the shootings last week. “The entire province is paralysed by the ...

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• 25 October

  On Nov 9, let’s forget Donald Trump happened

  

    With Donald Trump’s chances of winning the White House narrowing, it’s not too soon to ask: If Hillary Clinton wins the presidency in November, what attitude should Democrats and Republicans alike take toward Trump voters? It will be tempting to excoriate or patronize them, or to woo them to your cause. But all of these approaches would be mistaken. ...

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• 25 October

  Obama won’t listen to reason on Obamacare

  

    One of President Obama’s cherished conceits is that disagreement with him can have no rational basis, and it was the theme of his most recent speech in defense of his health-care law. Only “ideology” and “politics” are keeping Republicans from working with him to expand Obamacare’s reach. He himself is, as always in his self-portraits, the picture of reasonableness, ...

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• 25 October

  How Clinton and Ryan could find common ground

    Can she get anything done? That’s the question now that nearly every poll shows Hillary Clinton winning the presidency and the Republicans holding on to the House, albeit with a weaker hand. Even if the Democrats take control of the Senate — a strong possibility though not a certainty — House Republicans could block Clinton’s agenda of taxing the ...

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