North America

Trump blacklists critical ex-CIA chief Brennan

  by Andrew Beatty Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump on Wednesday revoked the security clearance of former Central Intelligence Agency director John Brennan, and warned several other prominent critics they too risk being blacklisted. In a highly unusually directive, Trump claimed that Brennan — a former station chief in Riyadh who rose to lead the formidable spy agency — had become “erratic.” Brennan is a frequent Trump critic. Just hours […]

China to send negotiator to US for trade talks this month

  BEIJING, China (AFP) — China will send a top negotiator to the United States in late August to resume trade talks, the commerce ministry said Thursday, the first public meeting on the subject in weeks as the trade conflict intensifies. Vice Commerce Minister Wang Shouwen, the deputy representative on international trade negotiations, will meet with a senior US treasury official, David Malpass, at the invitation of the United States, the ministry said in a statement. […]

Thousands march in Nicaragua demanding jailed protesters be freed

  by Blanca Morel / Julia Rios Agence France-Presse MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AFP) — Thousands of Nicaraguans marched through their capital on Wednesday demanding that anti-government protesters jailed over the past four months be released. “Liberty for our political prisoners,” yelled many in the rally. They also called for President Daniel Ortega, a 72-year-old former guerrilla who has been in power the last 11 years, to step down. The demonstration was a show of defiance over a […]

Prosecutors focus on Manafort ‘lies’ as trial draws to a close

    by Elodie Cuzin Agence France-Presse ALEXANDRIA, United States (AFP) — Closing arguments wrapped up in the trial of Paul Manafort on Wednesday with prosecutors accusing Donald Trump’s former campaign chairman of weaving a web of lies to avoid paying taxes on tens of millions of dollars he earned advising Russian-backed politicians in Ukraine. Defense attorneys sought, meanwhile, to cast doubt on the credibility of the government’s star witness in the case, which stems from […]

U.S. central girls, boys teams shine at inaugural Junior NBA World Championships

By Melissa Potes EBC Florida Bureau ORLANDO, FL (Eagle News Service) — The National Basketball Association (NBA) took a great leap of faith in the basketball skills of the youth of our generation by launching the first-ever Junior NBA World Championships…and they succeeded. Gathered at ESPN Wide World of Sports in Orlando from August 7-12  the eight top boys and eight top girls international teams, as well as U.S. teams, clashed to become the world’s […]

US: N. Korea talks moving ‘in right direction’

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – US talks with North Korea on denuclearization are making progress “in the right direction,” State Department spokeswoman Heather Nauert said Tuesday. Nauert said behind-the-scenes discussions with Pyongyang have normalized in the wake of President Donald Trump’s June summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and subsequent meetings between US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and other top Pyongyang officials. “We consider meetings, negotiations, conversations as we move forward behind […]

Nebraska conducts first US execution with fentanyl

  by Nova Safo Agence France Presse CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — Nebraska on Tuesday carried out America’s first execution using fentanyl — the opioid at the center of the country’s deadly overdose crisis — as part of a previously-untested, four-drug combination. Carey Dean Moore, sentenced to death for two 1979 murders, was the first prisoner executed in the Midwestern state in 21 years, in what was its first ever lethal injection. The 60-year-old was […]

US state poised for first execution with fentanyl

by Nova Safo Agence France Presse CHICAGO, United States (AFP) — Nebraska was scheduled Tuesday to carry out America’s first execution employing the opioid fentanyl as part of a four-drug combination that has never before been used. The powerful synthetic painkiller — a key cause of death in America’s opioid and heroin abuse epidemic — was to be the second injection administered to Carey Dean Moore, sentenced to death for two 1979 murders. Moore is […]

School boy, 14, runs for Vermont governor

  NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Most 14-year-old American schoolboys might be fixated on baseball, chasing girls and dodging their homework. Not Ethan Sonneborn. He’s running for governor in Vermont. The teenager is taking advantage of a quirk in the constitution of the bucolic northeastern state that imposes no age limit on running for governor. Candidates only have to have lived in Vermont for at least four years. Ethan, happily for his campaign, has […]

Senior Trump officials survey California fire devastation

  by Frankie Taggart Agence France-Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Senior members of the Trump administration were due in California Monday as blazes that have killed at least eight people continued to cut a catastrophic swathe through the country’s most populous state. Tens of thousands have been forced to flee their homes over the last month, with 14 blazes still threatening land and property from south of Los Angeles to the state’s border with […]

Seattle plane stolen by airport worker found destroyed

  SEATTLE, United States (AFP) — US investigators found Sunday the Horizon Air passenger plane stolen by a troubled Seattle airport worker smashed to pieces on a sparsely populated island as his family reacted with “complete shock,” CNN reported. After falling through several 100-foot (30-meter) lines of trees, the Bombardier Q400 plane broke up into pieces small enough to pick up by hand, National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Western Pacific Region chief Debra Eckrote said. “You […]