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News in Brief -(21-11-2019)

November 21, 2019 00:00:00


Court removes Thai politician from parliament

BANGKOK, Nov 20: Thailand's Constitutional Court has ruled that the maverick leader of a new political party that finished third in a general election in March violated election laws and cannot keep his seat in Parliament. The court ruled on Wednesday that Thanathorn Juangroongruangkit, leader of the Future Forward Party, violated a regulation barring owners of media companies from running for Parliament. — AP

Australian family 'overjoyed' at hostage release

SYDNEY, Nov 20: The family of Australian academic Timothy Weeks said they were 'overjoyed' at his release by the Taliban in an Afghanistan prisoner swap that came three years after he was abducted. The Taliban handed over Weeks and American Kevin King to US forces in southern Afghanistan on Tuesday in exchange for three high-ranking insurgent prisoners. King and Weeks, both professors at the American University in Kabul, were kidnapped by gunmen wearing military uniforms in the heart of the Afghan capital in August 2016. —AFP

Climate impacts 'to cost world $7.9t' by 2050

PARIS, Nov 20: Climate change could directly cost the world economy $7.9 trillion by mid-century as increased drought, flooding and crop failures hamper growth and threaten infrastructure, new analysis showed Wednesday. The Economist Intelligence Unit's (EIU) Climate Change Resilience Index measured the preparedness of the world's 82 largest economies and found that based on current trends the fallout of warming temperatures would shave off three percent of global GDP by 2050. — AFP

Malta businessman arrested over journo murder

VALLETTA, Nov 20: Malta police on Wednesday arrested a businessman in connection with the 2017 murder of journalist Daphne Caruana Galizia, a police source told AFP. Maltese national Yorgen Fenech was detained on his yacht at dawn as he tried to leave Malta the day after an alleged middleman was offered a pardon if he identified the assassination's mastermind, the source said. — AFP

Philippines to ban toxic vaping: Duterte

MANILA, Nov 20: A ban on e-cigarettes has been ordered by Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, who is threatening to arrest anyone vaping publicly in a country that already has some of Asia's toughest anti-smoking rules. —AFP


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