Tag: US

Weinstein turns himself in to NY police station

  by Jennie Matthew Agence France Presse NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Fallen Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein turned himself in to New York police on Friday to face sex crime charges, nearly eight months after his career imploded in a blaze of assault accusations and triggered the global #MeToo movement. The former powerbroker — once the toast of Hollywood, whose films won scores of Oscars — is likely to be charged with raping one […]

N. Korea open to US talks ‘any time’ despite Trump axing summit

  by Park Chan-kyong with Jerome Cartillier in Washington Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea said Friday it is willing to talk to the United States “at any time” after President Donald Trump abruptly cancelled a summit, a decision that once more casts a pall of uncertainty over the the turbulent Korean peninsula. Trump blamed “open hostility” from the North Korean regime for his decision to call off the planned talks […]

EU’s new data protection rules come into effect

  by Lachlan Carmichael Agence France Presse BRUSSELS, Belgium (AFP) — The European Union’s new data protection laws came into effect on Friday, with Brussels saying the changes will protect consumers from being like “people naked in an aquarium”. The EU’s so-called General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) has been blamed for a flood of spam emails and messages in recent weeks as firms rush to request the explicit consent of users to contact them. Even […]

Asian stocks hit as Trump drops Kim summit but losses tempered

  Asian markets mostly fell on Friday as Donald Trump shocked the world by pulling out of next month’s historic summit with Kim Jong Un, though analysts said the losses were tempered by hopes the talks can be rekindled. Traders had already been nervous in recent days after the US president warned he could pull out of the June 12 meeting with the North Korean leader, while also voicing his displeasure at a deal to […]

Facebook, Twitter tighten rules for political ads

  by Rob Lever Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Twitter on Thursday announced new guidelines to clearly mark political ads on its platform as Facebook said it began implementing a policy requiring labeling and verification of identities of those paying for political messages. The moves by the two social media firms come in response to criticism over their role in allowing disinformation to spread during the 2016 US election, in many cases […]

Weinstein to ‘surrender’ to NY authorities Friday: US media

  NEW YORK, United States (AFP)  — Disgraced former Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein is expected to surrender to authorities in New York on Friday following a months-long investigation into allegations that he sexually assaulted women, US media reported. The New York Times said Weinstein was expected to surrender on Friday morning, citing unnamed law enforcement officials. Weinstein’s defense attorney, contacted by AFP, declined to comment Thursday. The reports surfaced with the Manhattan District Attorney’s office and […]

Read: Text of Trump’s letter to N. Korea’s Kim

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President Donald Trump sent a letter to North Korean leader Kim Jong Un on Thursday announcing their planned June 12 landmark summit in Singapore would not take place. Here is a copy of the text: Dear Mr Chairman: We greatly appreciate your time, patience and effort with respect to our recent negotiations and discussions relative to a summit long sought by both parties, which was scheduled to take place […]

White House blames ‘trail of broken promises’ for N.Korea summit collapse

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The White House said Thursday that a North Korean failure to keep its word had led US President Donald Trump to call off his summit with Kim Jong Un next month. “There has been a trail of broken promises that gave the United States pause,” said a senior White House official, speaking on condition of anonymity. “President Trump is willing to pursue diplomacy as far as it can be possibly […]

N. Korea still open to talks with US, describes US decision to cancel talks “extremely regrettable”

  SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korea on Friday said it was still willing to talk to the United States after President Donald Trump cancelled a summit between the two countries, a decision Pyongyang described as “extremely regrettable”. “The abrupt announcement of the cancellation of the meeting is unexpected for us and we cannot but find it extremely regrettable,” Kim Kye Gwan, North Korea’s First Vice Foreign Minister, said in a statement carried by […]

UN lifts travel ban for North Koreans to Kim-Trump summit

  UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — A UN Security Council committee has agreed to lift a travel ban on North Korean officials heading to Singapore for the planned summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un next month, diplomats said. Singapore last week asked the sanctions committee to grant an exemption to the North Korean delegation attending the June 12 summit and taking part in preparatory meetings, according to the request seen by AFP. […]

China hopes US-N. Korea summit will happen on schedule

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP)–China hopes the historic summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will take place June 12 as planned, its top diplomat said Wednesday. “If you want to solve the moment now is the time, if you want peace now is the time, if you want to make history now is the time,” Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said Wednesday in Washington, alongside his counterpart Mike Pompeo. […]

North Korea preps nuclear site demolition despite US summit doubts

  by Sunghee Hwang Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Invited foreign journalists gathered in North Korea Wednesday to witness the slated destruction of the reclusive regime’s nuclear test site, a high profile gesture on the road to a summit with the US that Donald Trump now says might not happen. In a surprise announcement Pyongyang said earlier this month that it planned to “completely” destroy the Punggye-ri facility in the country’s northeast, […]