LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Several US states are suing the Trump administration over its “zero tolerance” policy that led to thousands of migrant children being split from their families on the US border with Mexico. Although President Donald Trump reversed course, signing an executive order on Wednesday to end the practice following domestic and international outrage, Washington State on Thursday said it will lead a coalition of states legally challenging “the policy of forced […]
Tag: politics
Japan halts missile drills after Trump-Kim summit: reports
TOKYO, Japan (AFP) — Japan has halted evacuation drills simulating a North Korean missile attack in the wake of historic talks between Washington and Pyongyang, local media reported Thursday. Government officials did not immediately confirm the reports, but authorities in one town told AFP they were suspending a drill planned for next week on orders from Tokyo. The decision comes after US President Donald Trump and North Korea’s leader Kim Jong Un met last week […]
Trump orders halt to family separations
by Paul Handley © Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump ordered an end to the separation of migrant children from their parents on the US border Wednesday, reversing a tough policy under heavy pressure from his fellow Republicans, Democrats and the international community. The spectacular about-face comes after more than 2,300 children were stripped from their parents and adult relatives after illegally crossing the border since May 5 and placed in tent […]
Nicaraguan security forces move on opposition bastion
MASAYA, Nicaragua (AFP) — Nicaraguan police and pro-government paramilitaries moved to reassert control over the city of Masaya by force Tuesday after residents of the opposition bastion declared themselves in rebellion against President Daniel Ortega. Bursts of gunfire resounded in three neighborhoods, including the main entrance to the city, where government forces have gained control, the head of the Nicaraguan Human Rights Association Alvaro Leiva said. Three people were killed in this unrest in Masaya, […]
In impoverished Bolivia, president’s new palace an eyesore for some
LA PAZ, Bolivia (AFP) — Bolivia’s new presidential palace is certainly an attention-getter, from its heliport to its 29-story tower and its presidential jacuzzi in South America’s poorest nation. President Evo Morales, the Andean nation’s leftist leader, is shrugging off naysayers. This is “wasteful,” opposition leader Samuel Doria Medina claims. The $34-40 million price tag would be better spent on a cancer hospital, he said. Even a Bolivian cardinal, Toribio Ticona, took the time out […]
China accuses Trump of ‘blackmail’ after new tariffs threat
by Ryan Mcmorrow © Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Beijing on Tuesday accused Donald Trump of “blackmail” and warned it would retaliate in kind after the US president threatened to impose fresh tariffs on Chinese goods, pushing the world’s two biggest economies closer to a trade war. Trump said on Monday he had asked the US Trade Representative to target $200 billion worth of imports for a 10 percent levy, citing China’s “unacceptable” move to raise […]
Trump escalates China trade war with extra tariffs
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump escalated a growing trade war with China by unveiling plans Monday to impose 10 percent tariffs on an additional $200 billion worth of Chinese goods. With the world’s two largest economies already engaged in a confrontation long feared by markets and industry, Trump said he was pushing forward with fresh punitive measures over Beijing’s “unacceptable” move to raise its own tariffs. “Further action must be taken to […]
US, S. Korea confirm suspending military drills
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — The US and South Korean militaries confirmed Tuesday they have called off upcoming joint exercises, after President Donald pledged to halt the drills in the wake of his summit with North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. Seoul, which has tens of thousands of US troops on its soil to help protect it from its hostile northern neighbour, said the suspension would affect the large-scale Ulchi Freedom Guardian exercises slated for August. […]
S. Korea holds war games to defend against Japan
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea on Monday began two days of war games to practise defending the disputed Dokdo islands off its east coast — against an unlikely attack by Japan. The drills come just days after President Donald Trump announced the suspension of long-running US joint exercises with South Korea — aimed at deterring North Korea — calling them expensive and “provocative”. The two-day exercise — tiny compared with the suspended US-South […]
Trump, America’s oldest first-time president, turns 72
WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump turned 72 on Thursday, having returned to the fray of Washington politics after his grueling trip to Singapore for the summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. Trump in 2016 was the oldest person to assume the US presidency — he was 70 then — although Ronald Reagan was 73 when he was re-elected in 1984. Trump’s health, both physical and mental, have been the subject of […]
At school-turned-command post, Nicaraguan students defy Ortega’s ‘law of the jungle’
by Maggy Donaldson © Agence France-Presse MANAGUA, Nicaragua (AFP) — The day M.M. traded his books for mortars and joined the masses in protesting against Nicaragua’s president, he knew he would have to leave home. “If I go to my house I’m a dead man,” he says from the Managua campus of Nicaragua’s national university, now occupied by hundreds of students organizing against leftist leader Daniel Ortega. “My father is a Sandinista; he’s a fan of […]
South Korea ruling party sweeps local elections after summit
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — South Korea’s ruling Democratic Party (DP) won a landslide victory Wednesday in local elections held the day after a historic summit between the United States and North Korea. The triumph in the first elections since President Moon Jae-in took office around a year ago is widely seen as a boon to the country’s leader, who helped bring together the Cold War foes for an unprecedented meeting. Exit polls by […]





