Tag: US

Google HR chief stepping aside as worker activism rises

SAN FRANCISCO, United States (AFP) — Google on Monday confirmed that head of human resources Eileen Naughton was stepping away from her job as “vice president of people operations” at the internet company. “We’re grateful to Eileen for all she’s done and look forward to her next chapter at Google,” Sundar Pichai, the head of Google and its parent company Alphabet, said in a statement. Google added more than 70,000 employees during Naughton’s time as […]

Bumble bee numbers tumble with climate change: study

by Marlowe HOOD PARIS, France (AFP) — Climate change has contributed to a sharp drop in bumblebee populations across North America and Europe in recent decades, scientists said Friday. Compared to the period 1900-1974, bumblebee numbers across dozens of distinct species dropped, on average, 46 percent during the first 15 years of the 21st century in Canada and the United States. In Europe, the corresponding decline of the pollinators was 17 percent, they reported in […]

Over 100 US troops suffered brain injury in Iran attack: Pentagon

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — More than 100 US troops sustained “mild” traumatic brain injury, far more than originally announced when Iran launched missiles at their base in Iraq last month, the Department of Defense said Monday. “As of today, 109 US service members have been diagnosed with mild traumatic brain injury, or mTBI, an increase of 45 since the previous report,” the Pentagon said in a statement. Of them, 76 have returned to duty […]

Trump: Time to negotiate ‘very seriously’ with EU on trade

by Sebastian Smith WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump said Monday the time has come to pursue trade negotiations with the European Union which he said imposes “incredible” barriers to US goods. “Europe has been treating us very badly,” Trump said at a White House event with US state governors. After reaching a series of trade deals with Canada, Mexico and Japan, and a phase-one agreement with China, Trump said, “The next thing […]

Solar Orbiter set to launch in mission to reveal Sun’s secrets

MIAMI, United States (AFP) — The US-European Solar Orbiter probe launches Sunday night from Florida on a voyage to deepen our understanding of the Sun and how it shapes the space weather that impacts technology back on Earth. The mission, a collaboration between ESA (the European Space Agency) and NASA, is set to blast off from the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral at 11:03 pm (0403 GMT Monday) and could last up to nine […]

Pres. Duterte has given instructions for DFA to transmit formal notice of VFA termination, says Panelo

  (Eagle News) — President Rodrigo Duterte has given instructions for the Department of Foreign Affairs to transmit the notice of termination to the United States government, giving formal notice to end the 22-year old Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA), according to his spokesperson Salvador Panelo. The VFA, which was signed in February 1998, has the primary effect of allowing the US government to retain jurisdiction over U.S. military personnel acuused of committing crimes in the […]

China’s Xi discusses coronavirus with Trump: state media

BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese President Xi Jinping spoke on Friday with US President Donald Trump on the novel coronavirus outbreak, emphasizing that Beijing has “spared no effort in fighting the epidemic”, state media reported. Xi told Trump on the phone that China was “fully confident and capable of defeating the epidemic”, and that “the long-term trend of China’s economic development for the better will not change”, according to state broadcaster CCTV. The viral outbreak, […]

US astronaut returns to Earth after longest mission by woman

by Christopher RICKLETON ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AFP) –NASA’s Christina Koch returned to Earth safely on Thursday after shattering the spaceflight record for female astronauts with a stay of almost 11 months aboard the International Space Station. Koch touched down at 0912 GMT on the Kazakh steppe after 328 days in space, along with Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency. Koch was shown seated and smiling broadly after […]

Trump confirms killing of AQAP chief in Yemen

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Donald Trump confirmed Thursday that the US had killed the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula — days after the jihadist group claimed responsibility for a mass shooting at a US naval base. The US “conducted a counterterrorism operation in Yemen that successfully eliminated Qassim al-Rimi, a founder and the leader of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP),” Trump said in a White House statement. AQAP claimed responsibility […]

Sanders claims victory as review ordered of Iowa results

by Michael Mathes / with Chris Lefkow in Washington MANCHESTER, United States (AFP) — Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders joined Pete Buttigieg on Thursday in claiming victory in the chaotic Iowa caucuses as an exasperated party chairman ordered a review of the results of the first nominating contest. Sanders, the leftist senator from Vermont, and Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, have been separated by a razor-thin margin in the results released so […]

Record-breaking US astronaut set to return to Earth

by Christopher RICKLETON ALMATY, Kazakhstan (AFP) — US astronaut Christina Koch is set to return to Earth Thursday having shattered the spaceflight record for female astronauts by spending almost a year aboard the International Space Station. Koch of NASA is expected to touch down in the Kazakh steppes with colleagues Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency and Alexander Skvortsov of the Russian space agency at 0912 GMT after 328 days in space. The 41-year-old […]

In political triumph, Trump acquitted of all impeachment charges

  by Paul HANDLEY Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump drew on staunch Republican support to defeat the gravest threat yet to his three-year-old presidency on Wednesday, winning acquittal in the Senate on impeachment charges of abuse of power and obstruction of Congress. Only the third US leader ever placed on trial, Trump readily defeated the Democratic-led effort to expel him from office for having illicitly sought help from […]