North America

Clinton, Trump deploy big guns as race focuses on must-win states

by Jewel Samad, with Michael Mathes in Washington RALEIGH, United States (AFP) — Hillary Clinton unleashed top surrogates including campaigner-in-chief President Barack Obama to bolster her case Thursday in the election’s homestretch, as rival Donald Trump deployed wife Melania to soften his image in crucial battleground states. As a slew of polls showed the race tightening with just five days to go, the campaigns brought all hands on deck in a handful of states that […]

Melania Trump makes solo pitch for ‘fantastic’ husband

by Thomas URBAIN BERWYN, United States (AFP) — Melania Trump, the Slovenian-born former model who could become America’s first foreign-born first lady in two centuries, appealed to her husband’s soft side in the battleground state of Pennsylvania Thursday. Dressed in a filmy pink blouse and white skirt, it was the 46-year-old’s first solo campaign appearance — the third wife of Donald Trump she is a full-time mother to the mogul’s youngest child, Barron. “He will […]

Clinton plots final push as race tightens

by Andrew BEATTY WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Hillary Clinton saturated the airwaves and deployed star surrogates to battleground states Thursday, looking to snuff-out an eleventh-hour insurgency that has put Donald Trump at the gates of the White House. As a slew of polls showed the race tightening, President Barack Obama shuttled into Florida for multiple rallies aimed at firing up the Democratic base and turning out the vote for Clinton in a must-win state. […]

Guam’s Catholic Church sued over child sex claims

  HAGATNA, United States | AFP | — A group of former altar boys have filed lawsuits against the Catholic Church in Guam seeking damages for historic child sex abuse allegedly committed by clerics in the Pacific territory. Four men lodged separate claims in the Guam Superior Court on Tuesday, three of which accuse Archbishop Anthony Apuron of molesting them when they were children. Apuron, who denies any wrongdoing, has stepped aside from his duties […]

Clinton and Obama brandish grim warning of Trump win

by Dave Clark WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Hillary Clinton painted a grim picture of life under a Donald Trump presidency Wednesday, warning undecided voters as the ever tighter White House race entered its final five-day stretch. Clinton made an optimistic choice in staging a huge rally in Arizona, a swing state she hopes to poach from the Republicans, but the Democrat’s tone was grim as she invited voters to envisage her defeat. “Imagine it […]

FBI email probe should not ‘operate on innuendo’: Obama

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Barack Obama implicitly criticized FBI director James Comey Wednesday, insisting US investigations should not operate based on “innuendo” or “incomplete information.” Obama’s remarks in an interview with website NowThisNews were his first public comments since Comey’s announcement Friday that the FBI had discovered a new trove of emails that might or might not be pertinent to an earlier probe of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton’s handling of classified information. […]

Trump targets Democratic states after shock poll boost

by Michael Mathes with Dave Clark in Washington EAU CLAIRE, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump stormed into traditionally Democratic territory on Tuesday in a last-ditch bid to open up a path to an unlikely White House win, buoyed by a shock new poll showing him edging ahead of Hillary Clinton. If Clinton was rattled by the dramatic tightening in the numbers a week before Election Day, she did not show it, barnstorming through key […]

FBI plumbs email trove, shaking White House race

by Sébastien BLANC WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — FBI agents are plumbing hundreds of thousands of emails in search of potentially incriminating evidence against Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, in a high-pressure probe seven days before the US presidential election. What will come out of it and when is not known, but the impact of the FBI’s bombshell discovery of a new trove of Clinton emails is already reverberating in the neck-and-neck race for the White […]

Defiant Clinton camp doubles down on Trump, FBI

CINCINNATI, United States (AFP) – by Jennie MATTHEW Initially caught off guard, Hillary Clinton’s campaign has swung between defiance, counter-attack and painting Donald Trump as a mortal danger since the FBI director revived her email scandal. The decision, announced by James Comey in a letter to lawmakers last Friday, initially dumbfounded Clinton and her allies, throwing what was already America’s ugliest presidential election into spasms of shock. Clinton was at the time on a plane with […]

US, Russia plane near miss closest call yet over Syria: Pentagon

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A near miss between Russian and US warplanes over Syria this month was the closest the two air forces have come to a midair mishap in the war-torn country, the Pentagon said Monday. The incident occurred in eastern Syria on October 17, when a Russian jet that was escorting a larger spy plane maneuvered near an American warplane, coming to within half a mile (0.8 kilometer) of the US jet, […]

Clinton still frontrunner despite FBI emails letter: poll

WASHINGTON , United States (AFP) — Democrat Hillary Clinton maintained her lead over Republican Donald Trump in their race for the White House, even in the wake of renewed scrutiny of her use of a private email server, a poll showed Monday. Barely a week from the election, the NBC News/SurveyMonkey weekly poll showed Clinton’s six-point national lead remained essentially unchanged since last week. FBI Director James Comey’s announcement on Friday of the recent discovery […]

FBI renews probe on Clinton emails, US polls narrow

  by Jennie Matthew FORT LAUDERDALE, United States | AFP | — The race for the White House narrowed noticeably on Sunday as Hillary Clinton sought to shake off a renewed FBI probe of her emails and Donald Trump blitzed western states nine days ahead of the vote. An ABC News/Washington Post poll put the Democratic presidential candidate just one point ahead of her Republican challenger Donald Trump at 46-45 percent in a four-way race. […]