Washington, United States | AFP | Defense Secretary Jim Mattis bade farewell to the Pentagon on Monday, telling the US military to “hold fast” after he quit over a series of fundamental differences with President Donald Trump. Mattis resigned December 20, after Trump stunned the US establishment by ordering a …
Read More »Jimmy Carter says US, China should partner in Africa
Washington, United States | AFP | Former US president Jimmy Carter warned Monday of the risks of sliding into a Cold War with China and called on the powers to find common cause on African development. Marking the 40th anniversary of his January 1979 normalization of relations with Chinese leader …
Read More »NASA rings in New Year with historic flyby of faraway world
Tampa, United States | AFP | NASA rang in the New Year on Tuesday with a historic flyby of the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever explored by humankind — a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule — in the hopes of learning more about how planets …
Read More »US judge says Obamacare can stand while appeal is heard
Washington, United States | AFP | A US judge who ruled earlier this month that Obamacare is unconstitutional has said the health care law can stand while his decision is appealed. In a stay order issued Sunday, Texas-based Judge Reed O’Connor said that while he was confident his ruling would …
Read More »S.Africa arrests Mozambique’s ex-finance minister for extradition to US
Johannesburg, South Africa | AFP | A former finance minister of Mozambique, who approved secret loans that plunged the country into a crisis, has been arrested in South Africa awaiting extradition to the United States, police said Monday. Manuel Chang, 63, was “arrested on Saturday for… USA extradition”, national police …
Read More »NASA spaceship zooms toward farthest world ever photographed
Tampa, United States | AFP | A NASA spaceship is zooming toward the farthest, and quite possibly the oldest, cosmic body ever photographed by humankind, a tiny, distant world called Ultima Thule some four billion miles (6.4 billion kilometers) away. The US space agency will ring in the New Year …
Read More »Top Republican says Trump vows to ‘destroy’ IS before leaving Syria
Washington, United States | AFP | A senior Republican senator said Sunday that President Donald Trump had promised to stay in Syria to finish the job of destroying the Islamic State group — just days after announcing he would be withdrawing troops immediately. “The president understands the need to finish …
Read More »Putin says still ‘open to dialogue’ with US
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russian President Vladimir Putin has reassured his US counterpart Donald Trump that Moscow remains “open to dialogue” despite the year ending without the hoped-for warming of relations, the Kremlin said on Sunday. “Russian-US relations remain an important factor in order to guarantee strategic stability and …
Read More »White House chief: Trump not building a ‘wall’
Washington, United States | AFP | Outgoing White House chief John Kelly said in an interview published Sunday that he had “nothing but compassion” for undocumented migrants crossing into the US, and undercut President Donald Trump’s claims to be building a “wall” at the Mexico border. As a partial government …
Read More »US, China talk ‘progress’ after phone call on trade
Washington, United States | AFP | Both the US and China spoke of progress Saturday after telephone talks between their leaders over a trade war that has rattled global markets. “Just had a long and very good call with President Xi of China,” US President Donald Trump said on Twitter …
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