North America

Obama blasts isolationism, with Trump in sights

by Jerome CARTILLIER OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — US President Barack Obama warned Wednesday against isolationist tendencies in America and elsewhere, calling it “the wrong medicine” to fix legitimate concerns about globalization. While Obama did not mention Donald Trump by name, he took a clear swipe at the Republican presidential candidate’s heated anti-trade rhetoric during a “Three Amigos” summit with his Canadian and Mexican counterparts. “Even if we wanted to we can’t seal ourselves off from […]

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Sanders: Brexit’s message could draw Trump support in US

NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — The same popular frustration that saw a majority of Britons vote to abandon the EU could send droves of disgruntled Americans into the arms of Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders warned on Wednesday. In an opinion piece appearing in the New York Times, Sanders wrote that legions of American voters, alienated by the forces of globalization, are ripe for the message of political retrenchment and economic protectionism espoused by Trump. […]

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First US chain hotel in a half-century opens in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba (AFP) — Starwood Hotels on Tuesday took over management of a luxury hotel in central Havana, becoming the first big American hospitality chain with a presence on the island since the Cuban Revolution a half-century ago. The newly-rechristened Cuba Four Points by Sheraton on Havana’s Quinta Avenida — a hotel owned by the Cuban military — now will be managed by the American hospitality giant. Located in Havana’s Miramar district, the posh hotel […]

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Trudeau hosts Obama and Pena Nieto amid Brexit drama

by Jerome CARTILLIER OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — US President Barack Obama heads to Ottawa Wednesday for talks with the leaders of Canada and Mexico, as the shockwave from Britain’s vote to leave the European Union reverberates on both sides of the Atlantic. Obama and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who both made clear their desire to see Britain remain in the 28-member bloc, will join Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto for the so-called “Three Amigos” […]

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US, S. Korea, Japan hold first anti-N. Korea missile drill

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — South Korea, Japan and the United States held an unprecedented trilateral missile defense exercise on Tuesday, aimed at countering the growing threat from nuclear-armed North Korea which denounced it as a “military provocation.” The drill in waters off Hawaii came less than a week after North Korea flight-tested a powerful new medium-range ballistic missile that leader Kim Jong-Un hailed as a strike threat to US military bases across the Pacific. […]

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NASA tests deep space rocket booster ahead of 2018 mission

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — NASA on Tuesday performed its second and last test-fire of a rocket booster for the Space Launch System (SLS), a powerful engine that may one day launch astronauts to Mars, the US space agency said. Fire and gray smoke billowed from the booster, which lay on the ground during the two-minute test fire in the remote hills of Utah at 11:05 am (1605 GMT). NASA has described the SLS as […]

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No Clinton bombshell in Benghazi report by Republicans

by Dave Clark WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Republican lawmakers on Tuesday released a report on the deadly 2012 assault on the US mission in Benghazi, accusing then secretary of state Hillary Clinton of underestimating and then misrepresenting the extremist threat in Libya. As Washington insiders pored over the minutiae of an 800-page document that was two years and seven million taxpayer dollars in the making, there was no sign of the kind of bombshell […]

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UN chief condemns Istanbul airport attack

UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called for stepped-up cooperation in the fight against terrorism on Tuesday, following an attack on Istanbul’s Ataturk airport that left at least 36 dead and scores wounded. Ban “condemns today’s terrorist attack” and “expresses his deepest sympathy and condolences to the families of the victims and to the government and people of Turkey,” his spokesman said in a statement. The UN chief “stands firmly […]

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Top US diplomat Kerry says Brexit may not happen

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State John Kerry said on Tuesday that Britain’s vote to leave the European Union might never be implemented and that London is in no hurry to go. Speaking one day after talks with Prime Minister David Cameron, Kerry said the outgoing British leader feels “powerless” to negotiate a departure he does not want. “This is a very complicated divorce,” Kerry told the Aspen Ideas Festival, referring to […]

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World must focus on poorest children: UNICEF

UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — The world must focus more on helping the poorest children to build on progress achieved in health and education over the past 25 years, UNICEF said Tuesday. In its annual “State of the World’s Children” report, the UN children’s agency took stock of important gains such as a 53 percent drop in infant mortality since 1990 and a dramatic reduction in extreme poverty. But without a sharper focus on […]

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Clinton swipes at Trump over Brexit

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Democrat Hillary Clinton on Sunday took a swipe at Republican rival Donald Trump’s stance on Brexit, saying that “bombastic comments” do more harm than good during such times. Trump has hailed Britain’s vote to leave the European Union as “fantastic,” telling reporters during a visit to Scotland on Friday that he thinks the Brexit is “a great thing.” Clinton, who was speaking to the US Conference of Mayors, did not […]

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Trudeau to host Obama, Pena Nieto for North Americas summit

by Michel COMTE OTTAWA, Canada (AFP) — Canada, Mexico and the United States will look to dovetail their climate and other policies into a continental strategy when Prime Minister Justin Trudeau hosts Barack Obama and Enrique Pena Nieto on Wednesday. But Britain’s shocking vote to quit the European Union has also abruptly shoved itself onto the agenda of the summit, which the countries tend to hold once a year. Trudeau and Obama had both called […]

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