PANAMA CITY (AFP) -- Three days after Hurricane Michael's devastating strike, search teams in Florida pressed their hunt for victims into hard-to-reach areas Saturday (October 13), as the death toll rose to 17 and officials scrambled to deliver aid to those who lost everything.The mammoth storm, which made landfall as a Category 4 storm on Wednesday, claimed lives in four states, but Florida suffered the worst damage by far. (AFP)Large parts of the state's panhandle were pulverised by the strong

KATHMANDU (AFP) -- At least eight climbers from a South Korean expedition have died on Nepal's Mount Gurja after their camp was devastated by a violent snowstorm, officials said Saturday.The bodies of eight climbers -- four South Koreans and four Nepali guides -- were spotted among the wreckage of their camp by a rescue team early Saturday morning, but unstable and icy conditions were hampering the search effort."We assume the incident happened because of a snowstorm as trees are broken. Even th

HANOI (AFP) -- Vietnam on Friday jailed a blogger who posted critical material on Facebook for five years, his second sentence in less than a month as a hardline administration tightens its grip on dissent.　More than 50 activists, rights campaigners and bloggers have been put behind bars in 2018, in one of the harshest crackdowns in years. 　Observers say a conservative administration in charge since 2016 is behind the sweeping campaign, which shows few signs of easing. Vietnam`s Prime Minister N

LONDON (AFP) -- Queen Elizabeth II‘s granddaughter Princess Eugenie married a wine merchant on Friday in a Windsor wedding clouded by complaints over costs and struggling to recapture the magic of past royal nuptials.　The big day for the ninth in line to the throne and Jack Brooksbank -- a “commoner” with blue-blood friends -- comes on the heels of Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s fairytale service in May.　That event was watched by adoring masses and followed by months of fawning UK headlines ab

NEW YORK (AFP) -- Wall Street stocks plummeted Wednesday amid worries about surging US interest rates and the impact of trade disputes, as President Donald Trump blamed the Federal Reserve, saying it had "gone crazy."US shares suffered a broad-based selloff that slashed more than three percent from major indices."I think the Fed is making a mistake. It's so tight. I think the Fed has gone crazy," Trump told reporters shortly after markets closed, as he arrived in Erie, Pennsylvania for a rally.(

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The United States will refuse any additional reconstruction assistance to war-torn Syria so long as Iranian troops are present in the country, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said Wednesday.Speaking to a pro-Israel group, Pompeo vowed to press forward with President Donald Trump's push to isolate Iran, boasting of imposing "some of the harshest sanctions in history.""The onus for expelling Iran from the country falls on the Syrian government, which bears responsibility for its

If you are listening to music, chances are you're on YouTube.A music consumer report by the industry's global body IFPI published on Tuesday found that 86 percent of us listen to music through on-demand streaming.And nearly half that time, 47 percent is spent on YouTube.Video as a whole accounted for 52 percent of the time we spent streaming music, posing challenges to such subscription services as Spotify and SoundCloud.But while Spotify's estimated annual revenue per user was $20, YouTube's wa

SYDNEY, (AFP) -- Australia is drawing up plans to require migrants to temporarily settle in regional and rural areas to ease congestion in major cities, the government announced Tuesday.While much of the vast continent is sparsely populated, Australia is growing at an annual rate of 1.6 percent -- one of the highest among OECD countries.  (AP)Sydney, Melbourne and southeast Queensland are among the fastest-growing urban areas in the world thanks in part to overseas migration, said population min

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong's leader Tuesday refused to say why the city had denied a visa to a leading Financial Times journalist, despite escalating demands for an explanation of the unprecedented challenge to freedom of the press.Victor Mallet, the FT's Asia news editor and a British national, angered authorities in Beijing and Hong Kong by hosting a speech at the city's press club by Andy Chan, the leader of a tiny pro-independence political party, in August. (AP)Chan's party was later bann

NEW YORK (AFP) - Twenty people have been killed after a limousine careened out of control in what investigators described Sunday as the most deadly transportation accident in the United States for nearly a decade.All 18 occupants of the SUV-style stretch limo died along with two pedestrians on Saturday afternoon in upstate New York, police deputy superintendent Christopher Fiore told a news conference.He said the 2001 Ford Excursion had failed to stop at an intersection and continued into a park

BEIJING (AFP) - Beijing announced Monday the Chinese head of Interpol, who vanished after returning to his homeland, was under investigation for possible criminal activity, and the world police organisation said he had resigned.The revelations came as Meng Hongwei's wife voiced concern for his life after receiving a final text message from his phone with a knife emoji.Beijing had remained tight-lipped about the fate of Meng, who is also China's vice minister for public security, since his disapp

Former England captain John Terry announced his retirement from football on Sunday with the 37-year-old central defender now set to pursue a career in management.Terry, who spent the bulk of his career with Chelsea, captained second-tier Aston Villa last season.Now the Birmingham club reportedly want him to join their coaching staff as part of a new-look set-up, with Thierry Henry in the running to take over as manager at Villa Park after Steve Bruce was sacked earlier this week. (AFP)"After 23

TUNIS (AFP) -- A boat carrying migrants trying to reach Italy from Tunisia capsized overnight, with one person killed, a security source in the North African country said on Sunday.The makeshift vessel transporting the young Tunisians from Zarzis, in the south of the country, had been at sea for about 21 hours, said a source in the local security services. (AFP)It overturned near the Tunisian island of Djerba at around 3:00 a.m., and soon after fishermen raised the alarm and the National Guard i

More than a thousand people could still be missing after Indonesia's devastating quake-tsunami, officials said Friday, drastically upping the number of people unaccounted for a week after the disaster.Palu city on Sulawesi island has been left in ruins after it was hit by a powerful quake and a wall of water which razed whole neighbourhoods to the ground, with the official death toll now 1,571.The number of confirmed missing stands at over 100, but fears are growing that vast numbers of people h

A German court Friday jailed a couple who tortured and killed women they had lured to their village home in what has been dubbed the "House of Horrors" case.Angelika Wagener, 49, received a 13-year prison sentence and her former husband Wilfried, 48, an 11-year term in a psychiatric ward for the abuse that led to the deaths of two women.The couple had entrapped at least eight women over the years, mostly luring them through personal newspaper ads to then physically and mentally torment them.They

Hong Kong has refused to renew the visa of a senior Financial Times journalist who hosted a talk by an activist advocating the city's independence from China, the newspaper said Friday.Rights groups and media organisations said the decision was unprecedented and highlighted growing threats to Hong Kong's cherished freedoms from Beijing. Victor Mallet, the FT's Asia news editor, earned the ire of authorities after hosting a speech by Andy Chan, the leader of a tiny pro-independence political part

Nadia Murad survived the worst cruelties ever inflicted on her people, the Yazidis of Iraq, before becoming a global champion of their cause and  winning the Nobel Peace Prize.On Friday, Murad and Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege were jointly awarded the prize for their "efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war," Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said in unveiling the winners in Oslo.The 25-year-old Murad, her thin, pale face framed by her long brown hair, once li

In Democratic Republic of Congo, they call him "Doctor Miracle" for his surgical skill and dedication in helping women overcome the injuries and trauma of sexual abuse and rape.Denis Mukwege is a crusading gynaecologist who has spent more than two decades treating appalling injuries inflicted on women in DRC, whose work was the subject of an acclaimed 2015 film titled: "The Man Who Mends Women."A father to five children, the tireless 63-year-old is an outspoken critic of the abuse of women in wa

Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for their work in fighting sexual violence in conflicts around the world.The pair won the award for their "efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war," Nobel committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said in unveiling the winners in Oslo.Both have come to represent the struggle against a global scourge which goes well beyond any single conflict, as the ever-expanding #MeToo

Italian champions Juventus on Thursday said rape allegations against Cristiano Ronaldo do not change their opinion of their superstar player, but US sportswear giant Nike said it was "deeply concerned".The Portuguese striker "has shown in recent months his great professionalism and dedication, which is appreciated by everyone at Juventus", the team said on Twitter, breaking their silence over the claims made by an American model."The events allegedly dating back to almost 10 years ago do not cha