World

Deportation flights from Panama for undocumented US-bound migrants who have crossed the lawless Darien jungle from South America are expected to start imminently, a U.S. official said Tuesday.

Washington this month pledged $6 million in funding for migrant repatriations from the Central American nation in the hope of reducing irregular crossings at its own southern border.

John Mayall, the British blues pioneer whose 1960s music collective the Bluesbreakers helped usher in a fertile period of rock and brought guitarists like Eric Clapton to prominence, has died at 90, his family said Tuesday.

Mayall, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who was dubbed "the godfather of British blues," and whose open-door arrangement saw some of the greats in the genre hone their craft with him and his band, "passed away peacefully in his California home" on Monday, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page.

Before the Pride parade by LGBTQ activists in the east German town of Altenburg even started, a small group had been hurling insults and flashing middle fingers at those present.

Far from Germany's metropolises with their huge, exuberant Pride festivities, Altenburg's parade was a reminder of the struggles faced by the LGBTQ community in more remote parts of the country -- and their fears over the rise of the far-right.

Relentless rain drenched the northern Philippines on Wednesday, triggering floods in Manila and landslides in mountainous regions as Typhoon Gaemi intensified the seasonal monsoon.

In the densely populated capital, rescuers were deployed across the city to help evacuate people from low-lying homes after downpours turned streets into rivers, trapping vehicles.

Football and Rugby Sevens kick off the sport at the Paris Olympics Wednesday, two days before the opening ceremony, featuring a top French star and a huge police presence for Israel's first appearance.

Israel's footballers take on Mali in the men's competition, under the watchful eye of 1,000 police officers, with authorities erecting an "anti-terrorist perimeter" and bracing for possible disruption around the stadium.

Every day in a simple temple in an Indian village, Hindu priest Subhramanya Sharma prays to his god for JD Vance to become vice-president of the United States.

Bowing before a silver cloth-wrapped idol of Sai Baba, a 19th-century guru revered as a deity by his followers, the priest seeks blessings for the Republican politician and his wife, Usha.

The god of truth and righteousness is on the side of the Democratic Party in this year's US presidential election, according to Hindu priests in likely nominee Kamala Harris' ancestral Indian village.

A single narrow road lined with coconut trees leads to Thulasendrapuram, a village surrounded by paddy fields deep in the southern state of Tamil Nadu and once home to Harris' maternal grandfather.

Jerusalem (AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is visiting Washington to speak at the United States Congress this week in a context of tense relations between the two countries over the Gaza war

His visit comes just after President Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race.

Paris (AFP) – As Paris prepares for the opening ceremony of the Olympics on July 26 with what promises to be a spectacular parade of boats along the river Seine, AFP looks back at memorable Olympics curtainraisers of the past.

Issued on: 23/07/2024 - 04:15Modified: 23/07/2024 - 04:13

Tokyo (AFP) – French film star Brigitte Bardot has slammed Japan for its "manhunt" of anti-whaling activist Paul Watson, detained under an international warrant issued by Tokyo.

His ship had docked to refuel on its way to "intercept" Japan's new whaling factory vessel in the North Pacific, according to the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF).

Lebanese photojournalist Christina Assi, who lost a leg in an Israeli tank strike while working in southern Lebanon last year, carried the Olympic torch through Paris on Sunday amid renewed calls to ban Israel from the 2024 Games following a World Court ruling against the illegal occupation of Palestine and the ongoing obliteration of Gaza.

Assi, who works for Agence France-Presse (AFP), carried the Olympic flame through Parisian streets in a wheelchair pushed by Dylan Collins, an American deputy editor at Al Jazeera English who was also wounded in the October 13 attack.

Ljubljana (AFP) – Tour de France winner Tadej Pogacar on Monday pulled out of the Paris Olympics citing "tiredness", his Slovenia team announced.

"Unfortunately Tadej Pogacar has cancelled his participation because of a state of extreme fatigue," Slovenian Olympic cycling coach Uros Murn said in a statement.

Danish police on Sunday arrested prominent anti-whaling activist Paul Watson when his vessel came to port in Greenland, citing a warrant issued by Japan, a whaling nation that seeks his extradition.

Watson, a 73-year-old Canadian American who co-founded Greenpeace and founded Sea Shepherd, was traveling with 25 volunteers aboard the 236-foot M/Y John Paul DeJoria on a mission to the North Pacific for the Captain Paul Watson Foundation (CPWF), which he started after leaving Sea Shepherd in 2022.