French tourist found dead after snowmobile breaks through ice in Canada
AFP, Montreal
Canadian searchers on Friday found the body of one of five French snowmobilers whose machines fell through the ice of a frozen lake, police said.
A spokesman acknowledged that the chances of finding the group alive had dimmed, but police were “keeping up hope” of recovering their bodies.
Trump praises China ‘efforts and
transparency’ on virus
AFP, Washington
US President Donald Trump thanked China on Friday for its “efforts and transparency” in tackling a deadly virus that has triggered a vast quarantine in the country.
“China has been working very hard to contain the Coronavirus,” Trump tweeted, hours after the United States confirmed its second case of the SARS-like virus that has reached half a dozen countries.
Taliban say frustrated by additional demands of US
AP, Islamabad
The Taliban, in a rambling commentary published on their website, expressed frustration with what they describe as additional U.S. demands in peace talks – even after they had offered a “reduction of violence.” They have not publicly outlined what that would entail and did not explain the new Washington demands.
The insurgents’ gesture of reduced violence, though never quantified, was meant to open a window for the signing of a peace agreement that could see the withdrawal of U.S. troops and the end to the 18-year war in Afghanistan, America’s longest conflict.
Moscow admits building highway via radioactive site
AFP, Moscow
Moscow’s powerful mayor on Friday acknowledged that a planned highway project would pass a radioactive waste site, but pledged to clean it up after months of protests by residents.
In his first comments on the environmental dispute, Sergei Sobyanin said officials will continue to build a highway and bridge over the Moscow river, but would “ship out the radioactive soil”.
