- Oil prices hit by easing Middle East fears, most Asian markets rise
- Mbappe-PSG salary row faces hearing as France captain cited in 'rape' report
- K-pop star tells South Korea lawmakers of workplace bullying
- Ex-Wallabies captain Elsom denies wrongdoing after arrest warrant
- Pakistan 79-2 at lunch in second England Test after Leach strikes
- Hopes pinned on peace across Taiwan Strait after drills
- Valencia fans leave Singapore with 'stern warning' after protest
- Falling sales cause sour grapes for iconic Portugal wine
- Belgian pathologist and literary star gives 'voice to the dead'
- Ethiopia's 'korale' recyclers turn waste into money
- Italy row, AI in focus at world's biggest book fair
- US, Philippines launch war games a day after China's Taiwan drills
- Scotland lock Gray signs for Japan's Toyota
- Allen and Bills foil Rodgers, outlast Jets 23-20
- North Korea blows up roads connecting it to the South
- East Timor fights new battles 25 years after independence vote
- Japan election campaigns kick off for Oct 27 vote
- Home runs propel Mets, Yankees to MLB playoff victories
- Taiwan detects record 153 Chinese military aircraft after drills
- Oil prices drop on easing fears over Middle East, most markets rise
- Reoxygenating oceans: startups lead the way in Baltic Sea
- North Korea's Kim holds security meeting over drone flights
- Cars, chlamydia threaten Australian koalas
- Small town India's DIY film industry comes to London
- Harris slams Trump over military threat to 'enemy from within'
- Can biodiversity credits unlock billions for nature?
- Texas poised to execute autistic man for 'shaken baby' death
- King Charles III heads to Australia and Commonwealth meeting
- In the Colombian Pacific, fighting to save sharks
- Argentina's Matera banned for Italy Test after red card
- Vientos grand slam propels Mets in series-tying win over Dodgers
- Supporters of ex-Bolivia leader Morales block roads over possible arrest
- Germany into Nations League quarters, France and Italy win
- Nagelsmann lauds 'supercharged' Germany's 'best half of the year'
- 'Pandas are coming': Two new bears depart China for US capital
- Dodgers pitcher Kershaw plans to return for 2025
- Mbappe 'investigated for rape' in Sweden: report
- Revived Italy sweep past Israel in Nations League amid high security
- Trudeau slams India as tensions soar over Sikh separatist's murder
- Harris courts Black voters as Trump makes inroads
- Wall Street stocks hit fresh records as oil prices slide
- Nigerian team return home after boycotting AFCON qualifier in Libya
- Nigeria refuse to play in Libya as Algeria, Cameroon qualify
- Strike-hit Boeing leaves experts puzzled by strategy
- Leweling rockets Germany past Dutch and into Nations League quarterfinals
- Kolo Muani double fires France to win in Belgium
- Italy sweep past Israel in Nations League amid high security
- UN peacekeepers to 'stay in all positions' in Lebanon
- NASA launches probe to study if life possible on icy Jupiter moon
- 'Unique' Ronaldo an example to everyone, says Martinez
Panama tribunal rejects holding mine deal referendum
Panama's electoral tribunal on Monday dismissed the idea of organizing a referendum in December on a mining contract that has ignited countrywide protests.
President Laurentino Cortizo suggested holding a referendum on December 17 in a bid to defuse 10-day-old demonstrations that have blocked roads and starved shops of supplies.
"At this time, the conditions are not in place to organize a... popular consultation," the court's president Alfredo Junca told reporters Monday, in reference to the very unrest the referendum was meant to quell.
Protests broke out on October 20 after Congress approved a law that allows First Quantum Minerals, a Vancouver-based company, to operate an open pit copper mine for 20 years, with an option to extend for another two decades.
The president promulgated the law the same day.
Teachers, doctors and union workers all swelled into the small country's streets to oppose the contract, setting up blockades in the capital and other cities.
Some blocked the Pan-American highway that connects Panama with the rest of Central America.
Protesters are concerned over the potential environmental impacts of Central America's largest open pit copper mine, as well as other terms of the deal.
In response to the unrest, Cortizo on Friday announced a ban on new metal mining concessions.
He also said his government would request a law that prohibits "metallic mining at the national level," but did not cancel the First Quantum Minerals deal.
Junca said Monday the matter was also before the Supreme Court, making a referendum moot.
F.Dubois--AMWN