Washington, United States | AFP | For many, the New Year presents an opportunity for introspection and vows of self-improvement. Not so for US President Donald Trump, who kicked off 2019 in characteristically belligerent fashion, tweeting an all-caps message to his critics, telling them to “CALM DOWN AND ENJOY THE …
Read More »Around 100 Central Americans try to enter US on New Year’s Eve
Tijuana, Mexico | AFP | Around 100 Central American migrants made a failed attempt on New Year’s Eve to cross over from Mexico into the United States. They were among 1,500 migrants who have remained in Tijuana after a once-5,000-strong caravan of travelers largely gave up and dispersed. An AFP …
Read More »US military apologizes for tweet about dropping bombs
Washington, United States | AFP | US Strategic Command apologized Monday for a joke in “bad taste” after tweeting it was ready to drop something “much bigger” than the traditional Times Square crystal ball at New Year. In a message posted, and later deleted, on Twitter, the military force that …
Read More »Western powers urge DR Congo to restore Internet
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | Leading western powers on Tuesday called on the Democratic Republic of Congo to restore internet access, which operators say was cut on government orders a day earlier following presidential elections. They also backed a request by the main Congolese election monitoring organisations to have …
Read More »‘Hold fast’: Mattis bids farewell to Pentagon
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 …
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