International

Nearly 5,000 US soldiers posted near Mexico border

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Around 4,800 US soldiers were deployed Monday to the border with Mexico, the Pentagon announced, saying it could not give a price tag for the operation Democrats decry as political maneuvering from President Donald Trump. Some 1,100 of the troops are in California, another 1,100 in Arizona and 2,600 in Texas on the eve of crucial midterm elections that will determine whether Trump’s Republicans keep their hold on power in […]

INC Waldorf congregation holds Adopt-A-Road cleanup

WALDORF, Maryland — Members of Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church of Christ) conducted an Adopt-A-Road activity in Waldorf, Maryland on November 3, 2018. Armed with litter pickers and enormous colored trash bags, members of the Church’s Waldorf congregation walked about three miles of the parkway stretch, clearing the roadsides of thrash and litters. The clean up was held on the chilly Saturday morning and set against a backdrop of fall colored trees that line the sides […]

Iglesia Ni Cristo holds Aid to Humanity outreach event in Pohnpei, Micronesia

    By Alfred Acenas with reports from Margarita Tecson (EBC Micronesia) Eagle News Service HONOLULU, Hawaii (Eagle News Service) – Members of the Iglesia Ni Cristo (Church Of Christ) recently conducted an Aid to Humanity outreach event in Pohnpei, Micronesia as part of the Church’s global efforts to help those in need. The event took place at the Kolonia-China Friendship Center in Pohnpei where INC volunteer members distributed goodwill bags to the guests. These […]

Watch: How Filipinos affected by typhoon Yutu in Saipan cope with its destructive aftermath

  (Eagle News) — This was the effect of typhoon Yutu in Saipan, the largest island of the Northern Mariana Islands. Eagle Broadcasting Corporation’s Eagle News Service correspondent in Saipan, Liezel Cristobal, interviews some of the Saipan residents coping in the aftermath of the supertyphoon. Yutu had destroyed houses in the island with its powerful winds. When it hit the Northern Marianas, it had winds of up to 178 miles per hour, making it the […]

Indonesia to probe Lion Air after deadly plane crash

  JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia is to launch a “special audit” of Lion Air’s operations in the wake of last week’s deadly crash that killed 189 people, the government said Monday. The budget carrier has been a regular target of complaints about poor service, unreliable scheduling and safety issues, including a fatal 2004 crash. That safety record has been under the microscope since a new Boeing 737-Max 8 plunged into the Java Sea just […]

Saudi sent ‘cover-up team’ to dispose of Khashoggi body: report

  ISTANBUL, Turkey (AFP) — Saudi Arabia deployed a chemist and toxicology expert to Istanbul after the murder of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in an attempt to cover up evidence of the killing, a Turkish newspaper reported on Monday. The murder of the Saudi royal-insider-turned critic inside Saudi Arabia’s consulate in Istanbul has provoked widespread international outrage. Turkish authorities have released gruesome details of a killing that President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has said was a targeted […]

N. Korean leader meets Cuban president in Pyongyang

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un met with visiting Cuban president in Pyongyang and discussed “crucial issues of common concern” on the current international situation, the North’s state media reported Monday. The visit by Miguel Diaz-Canel comes amid stalled talks between North Korea and the United States and only days after Washington imposed fresh economic restrictions on Cuba. Washington’s ties with Havana were fully restored in 2015 after more than […]

In death penalty case, executioners urge US Supreme Court to hear their side

by Charlotte PLANTIVE Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The Supreme Court is set to consider on Tuesday the fate of a death row prisoner who says the government’s plan to execute him by lethal injection could cause him to choke on his own blood due a rare medical condition. Missouri death-row inmate Russell Bucklew, 50, was sentenced to death for rape and murder — but says execution via lethal injection would violate […]

China to ‘step up’ market opening, raise imports: Xi

BEIJING, China (AFP) — President Xi Jinping said on Monday that China would accelerate efforts to remove barriers to foreign businesses and to increase imports, amid growing pressure to follow through on earlier pledges to open the country’s huge markets. Xi said China would seek to “step up” moves to stimulate domestic consumption of imports, lower tariffs, ease customs clearance procedures, and implement harsh punishments for intellectual property infringements, among other measures. “We will foster […]

US sanctions on Iran, ‘toughest ever,’ take force Monday

by Brian KNOWLTON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States is reimposing punitive measures targeting the Iranian oil and financial sectors in what US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo called “the toughest sanctions ever placed” against Iran. Taking effect Monday, the measures are the most concrete result yet of US President Donald Trump’s controversial decision in May to abandon the multi-nation nuclear deal with Tehran. They will directly affect companies from […]

Xi to trumpet China’s ‘open’ markets at trade forum

SHANGHAI, China (AFP) — President Xi Jinping on Monday will open a Shanghai import fair intended as a signal by China that its markets are open despite mounting criticism to the contrary and the worsening trade war with Washington. Organisers say more than 3,000 foreign companies from 130 countries including the United States, Europe and across Asia, will put their products on display for potential Chinese buyers at the China International Import Expo. Companies in […]

Trump’s trade war edgy for Republicans in US midterms

by Douglas Gillison Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An Iowa Republican jokes that US President Donald Trump’s trade war with China has him thinking of jumping out a window. But a five hour drive to the south, an Illinois Democrat cheers the local steel mills that Trump’s punishing import tariffs have brought roaring back to life. Though by no means the top issue on voters’ minds nationwide, Trump’s multi-front trade battles have […]