International

Trump lashes out at ‘crooked media’

by Brian KNOWLTON WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump, clearly angered by news reports that he has grown depressed and sullen over his fading presidential prospects, has issued some of his sharpest attacks on the media. “I am not running against Crooked Hillary Clinton,” the Republican presidential candidate said in a speech late Saturday in Fairfield, Connecticut. “I’m running against the crooked media.” Trump seemed particularly upset with a New York Times article that […]

S. Korea’s Park tells North to abandon nuclear weapons

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korean President Park Geun-Hye on Monday urged North Korea to abandon its nuclear weapon programme and defended the deployment of a US anti-missile system in the face of repeated “provocations” by Pyongyang. Tensions have been running high on the divided Korean peninsula ever since the North carried out its fourth nuclear test in January, and are expected to spike again when the South launches an annual joint military exercise […]

Ryan Lochte says gun held to head in taxi hold-up

  (Reuters) Armed robbers posing as police officers held a gun to the forehead of U.S. gold medalist swimmer Ryan Lochte in a taxi hold-up in Rio de Janeiro on Sunday, feeding concern over safety at the first Olympic Games in South America. Lochte was returning to the Athletes’ Village from a party hosted by the French Games delegation, with swimming team mates Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen, when armed men carrying police […]

Boko Haram video claims to show missing Nigerian school girls

  (Reuters)   Nigerian militant group Boko Haram has published a video apparently showing recent footage of dozens of school girls kidnapped two years ago, and saying some of them have been killed in air strikes. Boko Haram seized more than 270 girls from their school in Chibok, northeast Nigeria, in April 2014, part of a seven-year-old insurgency to set up an Islamic state in the north that has killed some 15,000 people and displaced more […]

Violence shakes Milwaukee after police kill suspect

  (Reuters)  Protesters in a poor, predominantly black neighborhood of the U.S. midwestern city of Milwaukee fired gunshots, hurled bricks and set a gas station on fire on Saturday night after a patrol officer shot dead an armed suspect there, authorities said. Police did not disclose the race of the suspect or the officer involved in the shooting, which occurred on Saturday afternoon in Sherman Park. The violence comes as anger over police killings of […]

Hillary Clinton and Tim Kaine release tax returns, putting pressure on Trump

  by Sarah Nacman Eagle News Service Washington Bureau  Washington, DC (Eagle News) – Hillary Clinton released her 2015 tax return showing hers and husband Bill Clinton’s joint gross income of $10.6 million. According to the Democratic presidential candidate’s website,  the Clintons’ Effective Federal/State/Local Combined Tax Rate is 43.2%. Clinton’s running mate, vice-presidential bet Tim Kaine, and his wife also released 10 years’ worth of tax return hoping to put a pressure on the Republican […]

U.S. declares state of emergency in Puerto Rico over Zika

  CHICAGO (Reuters) – The U.S. Secretary for Health and Human Services on Friday declared a state of emergency in Puerto Rico because of the widespread transmission of the Zika virus, which poses a “significant threat” to public health. The statement came at the request of Alejandro García Padilla, governor of the U.S. commonwealth, where the Zika virus is spreading rapidly, threatening hundreds of pregnant women and their unborn babies and women of childbearing age. […]

Philippines taking seriously ‘Islamic State threat’ against Miss Universe show

  (REUTERS)  The Philippines military said on Friday it was taking seriously what it believed was a call by Islamic State (IS) militants for an attack on the Miss Universe contest being held in the country next year. The military said a recent bomb-making video posted on social media, apparently by Islamic State militants in the Middle East, carried a message in Arabic script reading: “create bomb for Miss Universe”. The pageant is due to […]

Japan in talks to deliver two coast guard ships to Philippines

  (REUTERS) Japan and the Philippines have begun talks for the transfer of two large coast guard ships to Manila, to help patrol the disputed South China Sea, a Japanese foreign ministry official said on Friday, as part of a deal on defense equipment. The two brand-new 90-metre (295-ft) multi-role response vessels will be in addition to ten 44-metre (144-ft) mid-sized coast guard ships, worth 8.8 billion pesos ($188.52 million), that Japan is set to […]

Kennedys join Reagan, King relatives in scolding Trump for gun remark

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Members of the Kennedy family sternly rebuked Donald Trump on Thursday for joking about “the possibility of political assassination,” joining the relatives of other slain or wounded US leaders in condemning recent rhetoric by the Republican presidential nominee. Trump alarmed many in the political world and beyond on Tuesday when he suggested that “Second Amendment people” — those who support gun rights — could act against his Democratic rival Hillary […]

Former President Ramos meets senior China official to mend ties

HONG KONG, United States (AFP) — Former Philippine leader Fidel Ramos said Friday he had met with a senior Chinese official during a trip to Hong Kong aimed at improving ties between Manila and Beijing, with both sides working towards formal discussions. Relations have cooled since a UN-backed tribunal ruled last month that China’s claims over most of the South China Sea were invalid, in a sweeping victory for the Philippines which brought the case. […]

Man killed in Canada raid made ‘martyrdom video,’ planned attack: police

  (Reuters) The man killed during a Canadian police raid at his home in Ontario on Wednesday was a supporter of Islamic State who was in the final stages of preparing an attack on a Canadian city with a homemade bomb, police said on Thursday. Police went to the home of Aaron Driver in the small town of Strathroy after receiving credible information, including a “martyrdom video,” from U.S. authorities that he planned what could […]