North America

US says it killed veteran Qaeda leader in Syria

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US military said Wednesday that it had killed eleven Al-Qaeda operatives, including a veteran leader and suicide bombing pioneer, in a bombing raid in Syria. The Pentagon said Abu Hani al-Masri, the Qaeda veteran, was one of those killed in the precision airstrikes near Idlib carried out on February 3-4. Al-Masri was an early official in al-Qaeda, overseeing the group’s training camps in Afghanistan in the 1980s and 1990s […]

Trump administration defends travel ban in court

by Jocelyne ZABLIT Agence France Presse LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — The US Justice Department faced tough questioning Tuesday as it urged a court of appeals to reinstate President Donald Trump’s travel ban targeting citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries — put on hold by the courts last week. The latest twist in the legal showdown comes four days after a federal judge suspended Trump’s decree, opening US borders back up to the thousands of […]

US authorities clear pathway for Dakota pipeline

WASHINGTON, United states (AFP) — US authorities said Tuesday they will approve a permit to complete the controversial Dakota Access pipeline to reduce transportation costs and give US producers a boost as they compete against oil from Canada. The decision comes after months of protests by Native Americans and their supporters led the Obama administration to nix plans to build the pipeline close to native grounds. But President Donald Trump supported the 1,172-mile (1,886-kilometer) oil pipeline, which would snake […]

Jovenel Moise sworn in as Haiti’s new president

by Amelie BARON Agence France Presse PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — Jovenel Moise was sworn in Tuesday as Haiti’s 58th president, ending a protracted electoral crisis that created a power vacuum in the impoverished Caribbean nation. Moise, a 48-year-old banana exporter who has never held political office and is not well known to the general public but ran as the candidate of the center-right Tet Kale Party (PHTK), took the oath at a ceremony at the […]

US could ask visa applicants for social media passwords

WASHINGTON, Unite States (AFP) — US embassies could ask visa applicants for passwords to their own social media accounts in future background checks, Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly said Tuesday. Kelly said the move could come as part of the effort to toughen vetting of visitors to screen out people who could pose a security threat. He said it was one of the things under consideration especially for visitors from seven Muslim majority countries with […]

Haiti set to inaugurate new president

by Amelie BARON Agence France Presse PORT AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AFP) — President-elect Jovenel Moise will be inaugurated Tuesday after having survived Haiti’s year-and-a-half electoral crisis, assuming power as political tensions continue to simmer. The 48-year-old Haitian banana exporter who has never held political office was the hand-picked candidate of former president Michel Martelly to represent the center-right Tet Kale Party (PHTK). More than 2,000 people have been invited to watch Moise become the 58th head […]

Trump accuses media of ignoring terrorist attacks

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump accused the media Monday of disregarding attacks perpetrated by radical jihadists, in a provocative statement for which he provided no evidence. “ISIS is on a campaign of genocide, committing atrocities across the world. Radical Islamic terrorists are determined to strike our homeland,” the president said, using an acronym for the Islamic State group. Trump, who was speaking during a visit to US Central Command in Tampa, […]

US travel ban a ‘lawful exercise’ of Trump’s authority: Justice Dept

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The US government on Monday defended President Donald Trump’s travel ban as a “lawful exercise” of his authority, and claimed that a federal court made a mistake in barring enforcement of the measure. “The executive order is a lawful exercise of the president’s authority over the entry of aliens into the United States and the admission of refugees,” read a brief filed by Justice Department lawyers to the Ninth Circuit […]

With Trump travel ban still blocked, travelers head to US

  by Andrew Beatty Agence France Presse PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) — After a US appeals court refused to restore President Donald Trump’s controversial immigration order, travelers who had been banned from entering the country trickled in Sunday as the White House vowed to prevail in the high-stakes legal battle. The early-morning ruling from a federal appeals court was the latest chapter in a saga which began on January 27, when Trump issued a […]

Trump blasts courts for blocking travel ban, warns of ‘peril’

PALM BEACH, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump blasted the federal courts for a second day in a row on Sunday after his efforts to implement a travel ban were suspended and warned that the judiciary could be placing Americans in “peril.” “Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and court system. People pouring in. Bad!” the president tweeted, after uncharacteristically taking a nearly […]

W.House vows to fight court ruling blocking travel ban

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The White House on Friday pledged to fight back after a federal judge in Seattle ordered a temporary nationwide halt to President Donald Trump’s controversial ban on travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations. Press secretary Sean Spicer called Trump’s executive action “lawful and appropriate” and said the Department of Justice would request an emergency stay of the federal court order “at the earliest possible time.” “The president’s order is intended to […]

US revoked 60,000 visas after Trump order

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States revoked 60,000 travel visas after President Donald Trump ordered a ban on visitors from seven mainly-Muslim countries, the State Department said Friday. “Fewer than 60,000 individuals’ visas were provisionally revoked to comply with the Executive Order,” said Will Cocks, spokesman for the department’s bureau of consular affairs. “We recognize that those individuals are temporarily inconvenienced while we conduct our review under the Executive Order,” he said. “To […]