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by Maher al-Mounes with Maya Gebeily in Beirut Agence France-Presse DAMASCUS, Syria – Syrian government forces clashed with rebels and hammered opposition-held areas of east Damascus on Monday, before calm returned to the capital after a surprise assault. In the north of the country, meanwhile, a Kurdish militia said the Russian military is to train Kurdish forces fighting the Islamic State group. Rebels and allied jihadists, led by former Al-Qaeda affiliate Fateh al-Sham Front, early […]
by Paul HANDLEY Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States – FBI Director James Comey confirmed for the first time Monday that the agency is investigating Russian interference in last year’s presidential election and notably Moscow’s possible collusion with President Donald Trump’s campaign. He also rejected Trump’s claim that predecessor Barack Obama wiretapped his Trump Tower in New York, saying both the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Justice Department had no evidence to support such allegations. […]
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) chief Jens Stoltenberg headed for Washington on Monday for the first time since United States President Donald Trump was elected, holding talks with senior officials about defeating the Islamic State group, his office said. Stoltenberg will meet US Defense Secretary James Mattis on Tuesday, then meet foreign ministers from the coalition working to defeat the group, according to his office.
DILI, East Timor (Reuters) — People began voting in East Timor on Monday (March 2) in an election that is seeing two former resistance fighters vie for the presidential ticket. Lines formed outside polling booths, as voters queued to choose from a field of eight candidates contesting the fourth presidential poll since East Timor won independence from Indonesia in 2002. Francisco “Lu Olo” Guterres, backed by the party that led the independence struggle, Fretilin, is […]
COLORADO, UNITED STATES (Reuters) — A wildfire near the University of Colorado in Boulder that may be man-made burned about 62 acres (25 hectares) of woodland on Sunday (March 19) and prompted the evacuation of 426 homes in the drought-hit region, authorities said. The fire in Sunshine Canyon, just outside the university town, started before dawn on Sunday, with no injuries or damage to structures reported, said Commander Mike Wagner, a spokesman for the Boulder […]
TOKYO, Japan (Reuters) — Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov met his Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida in Tokyo on Monday (March 20) for talks, during which they were expected to discuss various issues including territorial disputes and economic cooperation. Japan and Russia agreed in December to launch talks on joint economic activities on disputed islands at the center of the territorial row as a step toward concluding a peace treaty formally ending World War Two. The islands […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea’s latest rocket engine test showed “meaningful progress” in its missile capabilities, Seoul said Monday, as the nuclear-armed state steps up its controversial weapons development programs. The North’s leader Kim Jong-Un oversaw the “successful” test of the powerful new rocket engine, state media said Sunday, in a move apparently timed to coincide with a trip to Asia by new United States Secretary State Rex Tillerson. It was the latest […]
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — A 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit off the Solomon Islands in the early hours of Monday, the US Geological Survey said. The quake struck at 02:43 am local time (1543 GMT Sunday) at a depth of 4.0 kilometres (2.5 miles), some 170 kilometres north-northeast of the capital city Honiara, the USGS said. No tsunami warning was issued. The Solomon Islands are part of the Pacific “Ring of Fire”, a zone of tectonic […]
by Stephanie GRIFFITH Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — A congressional panel so far has found “no evidence” that Donald Trump’s campaign colluded with Russia during the 2016 election, its chairman said Sunday, ahead of testimony by the head of the FBI on the US president’s potential Russia ties. Based on “everything I have up to this morning — no evidence of collusion,” by Trump’s team and Moscow, Representative Devin Nunes, chairman of […]
PARIS, France (AFP) — The man shot dead at Paris’s Orly airport after attacking a soldier was under the influence of drugs and alcohol at the time, a judicial source said Sunday. “Toxicology tests carried out on Sunday showed an alcohol level of 0.93 grams per litre in his blood, and the presence of cannabis and cocaine,” the source said, a day after the incident at the French capital’s second-busiest airport. © Agence France-Presse
by Dan Martin Agence France Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping and US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson pledged in talks Sunday to work to strengthen a relationship strained by disputes over North Korea and trade. Xi met Tillerson in Beijing just hours after nuclear-armed North Korea tested the US-China relationship anew by announcing a provocative rocket engine trial, and with delicate negotiations under way for a Xi summit with President Donald […]
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea has tested a powerful new rocket engine, state media said Sunday, with leader Kim Jong-Un hailing the successful test as a “new birth” for the nation’s rocket industry. The test was apparently timed to coincide with the visit of US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson to Beijing Saturday, where he warned that regional tensions had reached a “dangerous level”. State news agency said Kim had overseen the operation, […]
