North America

Trump: reining in Iran

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — From the time of his electoral campaign, Donald Trump was one of the biggest opponents of Iran and the hard-won nuclear agreement, which he tore up in May. His stated aim is to stop Iran’s ballistic program and its influence in the Middle East. ‘Nuclear holocaust’  On August 16, 2015, the American billionnaire and Republican presidential frontrunner says that the nuclear accord with world powers will not prevent Iran from […]

Twin blazes form California’s largest wildfire in history: official

  by Javier Tovar Agence France-Presse CLEARLAKE OAKS, United States (AFP) — Two blazes mercilessly charring northern California have grown so rapidly that they became the US state’s largest in recorded history Monday, authorities said. Collectively dubbed the Mendocino Complex, the wildfires have burned through 283,800 acres (114,850 hectares) — an area nearly the size of the sprawling city of Los Angeles — and are just 30 percent contained, according to state fire authority CalFire. Two […]

Former Trump campaign chief’s deputy takes stand in his fraud trial

by Chris Lefkow Agence France-Presse ALEXANDRIA, United States (AFP) — Rick Gates, the prosecution’s star witness in the trial of President Donald Trump’s former campaign chief Paul Manafort, testified Monday that he conspired with his ex-boss to hide millions of dollars in foreign bank accounts from US tax authorities. In riveting testimony before a packed courtroom, the 46-year-old also admitted to stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from Manafort during the decade the pair worked together […]

Internet giants delete content of US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones

  NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Internet giants launched an offensive Monday against far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who is now banned from Apple, Facebook, Spotify and YouTube. The move, described by Jones as a “coordinated communist-style crackdown,” came after months of criticism against Facebook, Twitter and YouTube calling for them to do more to combat disinformation and hate discourse. Jones, whose site InfoWars has accused victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting of […]

Mexico’s new leader: ‘Nobody will threaten us’ with wall

  MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AFP) — Mexico’s President-elect Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador vowed Monday his country would not be threatened by a wall, in a thinly veiled rebuke to US President Donald Trump’s jabs across the border. “Mexico is going to become a power — and will change the balance of power. Nobody will threaten us that our borders will be closed or militarized,” warned Lopez Obrador, who takes office December 1. “This will be possible […]

Saudi Arabia, Canada row over jailed activists ramps up

  by Anuj Chopra with Eric Thomas in Montreal Agence France-Presse RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — Saudi Arabia and Canada on Monday showed no signs of backing down in an escalating row over human rights, after Riyadh abruptly cut ties over Ottawa’s vigorous calls for the release of activists jailed in the kingdom. The Saudi government expelled Canada’s ambassador, giving him 24 hours to leave the country, and recalled its own envoy to Ottawa, while freezing […]

Trump admits son met with Russian to get information on opponent

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)–US President Donald Trump admitted Sunday that his son met with a Russian lawyer in Trump Tower in 2016 “to get information on an opponent” but defended it as “totally legal.” It was Trump’s most direct acknowledgement that the motive for the June 2016 meeting was to get dirt on Hillary Clinton, his Democratic rival for the presidency. As he has in the past, Trump insisted in a tweet that he did […]

US police say 11 children rescued from ‘extremist’ men at ‘filthy’ hideout

  LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Police say 11 children ages one to 15 were rescued in the US state of New Mexico after officers raided a dilapidated compound occupied by armed men of “extremist” belief. Two men were arrested after police found them and the children in what one officer called “the saddest living conditions and poverty I have seen,” as part of the operation connected to a months-long search for an abducted three-year-old, […]

Trump hits back at LeBron James over racial division comments

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump sniped back at NBA great LeBron James late Friday, days after the basketball player and philanthropist accused him of fueling racial divides in the United States. “Lebron James was just interviewed by the dumbest man on television, (CNN presenter) Don Lemon. He made Lebron look smart, which isn’t easy to do,” the president tweeted of the Los Angeles Lakers player. In an interview on Tuesday […]

US says Russia still carrying out ‘pervasive’ election meddling

  WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US government on Thursday accused Russia of carrying out a “pervasive” campaign to influence public opinion and elections, in a warning just months before crucial legislative polls. “We continue to see a pervasive messaging campaign from Russia to try to weaken and divide the United States,” said Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence. A slew of top US officials including Coats, FBI Director Christopher Wray and Homeland Security […]

Ivanka Trump: Family separations a ‘low point,’ media not the enemy

  by Elodie Cuzin Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Ivanka Trump distanced herself Thursday from some of her father’s most controversial policies and strident rhetoric, saying she is “vehemently against” family separations and that journalists are not the enemy. Speaking publicly for the first time since she shuttered her eponymous fashion brand last week, the first daughter and senior advisor to President Donald Trump took a decidedly different approach than her combative father to […]

Trump threatens to ramp up tariffs on Chinese goods

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The United States may jack up the tariff rate on the next $200 billion in Chinese imports it plans to target as it pressures Beijing to reform its trade practices, US officials said Wednesday. President Donald Trump asked the US Trade Representative to consider increasing the proposed tariffs to 25 percent from the planned 10 percent, USTR Robert Lighthizer said. “We have been very clear about the specific changes China […]