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by Sébastien Blanc and Paul Handley Agence France Presse Donald Trump’s former top adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty Friday to lying to the FBI over his contacts with Russia, in a dramatic escalation of the probe into possible collusion between the president’s campaign team and Moscow. The 58-year-old Flynn — a retired three-star Army general — is the most senior figure indicted in special prosecutor Robert Mueller’s sprawling investigation into Russian interference in last year’s […]
by Richard Carter Agence France Presse TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan’s Emperor Akihito will step down on April 30, 2019, the prime minister announced Friday, the first retirement in more than two centuries in the world’s oldest imperial family. Shinzo Abe said he was “deeply moved” at the “smooth decision” taken at a special meeting of the Imperial Council to decide on the date for the popular 83-year-old to step down for health […]
by Dario Thuburn and Alice Ritchie Agence France-Presse LONDON, United Kingdom (AFP) — Prime Minister Theresa May repeated Thursday that US President Donald Trump was wrong to retweet anti-Muslim videos posted by a British far-right group, but stressed that the US-UK’s “special relationship” would endure. May’s initial condemnation prompted an extraordinary rebuke from the US leader, who told her on Twitter: “Don’t focus on me, focus on the destructive Radical Islamic Terrorism that is taking place within […]
by Anuj Chopra with Natacha Yazbeck in Dubai Agence France-Presse RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) – Saudi Arabia on Thursday intercepted and destroyed a ballistic missile fired from war-torn Yemen, state media reported, the second such attack this month claimed by Iran-backed Huthi rebels. The missile targeted the southern Saudi city of Khamis Mushait, with authorities reporting no casualties, just hours after the rebels threatened to retaliate over a crippling blockade on Yemen. A Saudi-led coalition fighting the […]
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump will deliver his first traditional State of the Union address to a joint session of Congress on January 30, officials said Thursday. “The New Year will bring an opportunity to take account of the progress we have made but also lay out the work that still remains to be done on behalf of the American people,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said in his letter of invitation to Trump. […]
by Alexander Martinez Agence France-Presse CARACAS, Venezuela (AFP) — Venezuela’s military on Thursday arrested the country’s former oil minister and the ex-chief of state oil company PDVSA after both men were sacked as part of an anti-corruption crackdown. Attorney General Tarek William Saab told journalists that the former minister Eulogio del Pino and ex-PDVSA boss Nelson Martinez were picked up in a dawn operation by the country’s Military Counterintelligence Unit. Both former officials were arrested at their […]
by Jo Biddle and Charlotte van Ouwerkerk THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) — Dutch prosecutors were investigating Thursday how a Bosnian Croat war criminal managed to commit suicide in front of shocked UN judges, in scenes set to cast a shadow over the court’s two-decade legacy. Staff at the imposing buildings of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague had been expecting to spend the next few weeks quietly winding down […]
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AFP) — Sri Lanka’s government on Thursday deployed troops to help regions stricken by a major storm which killed seven people with five others missing, authorities said. Powerful winds and torrential rain battered much of the island late Wednesday, toppling trees and damaging buildings. More than 20,000 people have been affected by the storm, according to disaster management center spokesman Pradeep Kodippily, who gave the death toll. Two of the missing were […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — Europe, like the United States, is now in reach of North Korea’s ballistic missiles, French Defense Minister Florence Parly warned Thursday. The regime’s test of its third intercontinental ballistic missile on Wednesday is “a demonstration of (Pyongyang’s) rising power” Parly told BFM television. “Europe like the United States is certainly within reach of these launches,” she said, adding that “few Western cities” would be out of range. An initial assessment by […]
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AFP) — Kuwait on Thursday invited Qatar to a summit of Gulf countries next week, state media said, in the first such invitation in a months-long Saudi-led diplomatic boycott of Doha. Kuwait, which is not among Arab states boycotting Qatar, invited Qatari emir Sheikh Tamim bin Haman Al-Thani to the summit of the Gulf Cooperation Council on December 5 and 6, the state-run KUNA news agency said. In June, Saudi Arabia, […]
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AFP) — British Prime Minister Theresa May has implored Saudi leaders to ease a blockade on Yemen to “avert a humanitarian catastrophe,” her office said on Thursday, echoing urgent appeals from the United Nations. May met both King Salman and powerful Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on a brief visit to Riyadh late on Wednesday, with a worsening crisis in Yemen topping her agenda. May had promised to raise concerns over Yemen where […]
MOSCOW, Russia (AFP) — Russia on Thursday rejected a US call to cut ties with North Korea in response to Pyongyang’s launch of an intercontinental ballistic missile. “We see this negatively,” Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov told journalists in the Belarusian capital Minsk, Russian news agencies reported. “We have repeatedly stated that the pressure of sanctions has been exhausted.” He accused the United States of seeking to provoke Kim Jong-Un’s regime and demanded to know whether Washington […]
