NEW YORK – New York City and other areas in the north-east US have shut down, with forecasters warning residents to expect “crippling” amounts of snow. Forecasters say Winter Storm Juno could dump up to 76cm (30ins) in some parts of New Jersey, Maine and New Hampshire. All non-emergency vehicles were banned in New York…
RIYADH – Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has died, royal officials have announced, weeks after he was admitted to hospital. King Abdullah, who was said to be aged about 90, had been suffering from a lung infection. A statement early on Friday said his 79-year-old half brother, Salman, had become king. Abdullah came to the…
SANAA – The president of Yemen has resigned along with his prime minister in protest at the takeover of the capital Sanaa by Shia Houthi rebels, creating a dangerous political vacuum. President Abdrabbuh Mansour Hadi said he could not continue after the Houthis failed to honour a peace deal. Parliament has reportedly refused to accept…
SINGAPORE – Oil prices jumped on Friday as news of the death of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah added to uncertainty in energy markets already facing some of the biggest shifts in decades. Abdullah died early on Friday and his brother Salman became king, the royal court in the world’s top oil exporter and birthplace of…
CHICAGO – A US man was sentenced to 15 months in prison on Tuesday for illegal lobbying on behalf of Zimbabwe President Robert Mugabe and others to try to lift economic sanctions against the African nation. Gregory Turner met many times in Africa with Zimbabwean government officials, including Mugabe and Gideon Gono, governor of the…
PORT-AU-PRINCE – Haiti’s President Michel Martelly has announced the formation of a new government amid renewed protests calling for his resignation. On his Facebook page, the president listed 18 ministers and 16 secretaries of state to be sworn in on Monday. He kept several current cabinet members in their posts and appointed some of his…
NEW YORK – Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim has become the largest shareholder of New York Times Company after exercising warrants to double his stake in the publisher to 16.8%. Entities affiliated with Mr Slim exercised the warrants he bought in 2009 when he loaned the company $250m during the height of the financial crisis. New…
JARKATA – Indonesian divers have retrieved the flight data recorder of crashed AirAsia Flight QZ8501, say officials. They believe they have also located the cockpit voice recorder, the second part of the so-called black box, but divers have not yet managed to reach it. AirAsia flight QZ8501 disappeared in bad weather on 28 December with…
LONDON – The price of Brent crude oil has fallen, further taking it to a new six-year low. The price of a barrel of the North Sea benchmark dropped by 2.6% to $48.74, its lowest level since April 2009. US crude oil was also at its lowest level since that time, down by 2.3% to…
PARIS – Police in France have made seven arrests as they hunt for two named suspects over the deadly attack in Paris on staff at a satirical magazine. The seven, connected to the two main suspects, were detained in the towns of Reims and Charleville-Mezieres, as well as in the Paris area, police said. Photos…
