by Ben Dooley BEIJING, China (AFP) — The United States will bar Americans from traveling to North Korea in the coming weeks, two travel agencies said Friday, a month after a United States tourist, student Otto Warmbier, died following his imprisonment by Pyongyang. China-based Young Pioneer Tours, which had taken Warmbier to North Korea, and Koryo Tours said the ban will come into force on July 27 — the anniversary of the end of the Korean War […]
Tag: US
Volkswagen fined $154 mn more in US for dieselgate
NEW YORK, United States (AFP) — Volkswagen must pay an additional $154 million to California to settle state environmental charges in the latest penalty in the scandal over its use of emissions “defeat devices,” regulators announced Thursday. The sum is on top of $533 million VW already paid to California in the so-called dieselgate conspiracy, in which software allowed cars to pass emissions tests, while still spewing nitrogen oxide far above legal limits. “This payment […]
Boat refugees to leave PNG despite US uncertainty: Australia
SYDNEY, Australia (AFP) — Hundreds of refugees being held at a remote Papua New Guinea detention camp will be moved by October despite uncertainty over a resettlement deal with the United States, Australia’s immigration minister said Thursday. Canberra sends asylum-seekers who try to enter the country by boat to camps on Nauru and PNG’s Manus Island, with those found to be refugees barred from resettling in Australia. They are instead relocated to third countries, or resettled elsewhere in PNG. But the sudden withdrawal from PNG […]
Trump son to testify before US Senate panel next week
WASHINGTON DC, United States (AFP) – President Donald Trump’s eldest son and a former campaign manager will testify before Congress next week as part of US investigations into the Trump team’s alleged contacts with Russia, a Senate panel announced Wednesday. Donald Trump Jr and Paul Manafort are scheduled to testify in an open hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday at 10 am (1400 GMT). Both men attended a controversial meeting with a Russian […]
Supreme Court: grandparents, grandkids exempted from Trump travel ban
WASHINGTON DC, United States (AFP) – The Supreme Court dealt President Donald Trump’s government a fresh setback Wednesday, saying its controversial travel ban cannot be applied to grandparents and other close relatives of people living in the United States — for now. The court accepted a Hawaii federal judge’s ruling last week that the Trump administration had too narrowly defined what constitutes “close family relationships” to determine exceptions to the ban on travelers from six […]
Trump demands Republicans pass health care reform
by Andrew Beatty with Michael Mathes Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON DC, United States (AFP) – US President Donald Trump made a last-ditch bid to salvage a central campaign pledge Wednesday, deploying a mix of threats and charm as he told Republican senators to pass health care reform before their summer break. With his credibility on the line, Trump told nearly all of the Senate’s 52 Republicans assembled at the White House that they must try […]
US accuses Lebanon’s Hezbollah of weapons buildup
UNITED STATES (AFP) – US Ambassador Nikki Haley on Wednesday accused Lebanon’s Hezbollah of amassing weapons and said the world must turn its attention to the actions of the powerful paramilitary organization. Haley met with UN envoy for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag ahead of a Security Council meeting Thursday focussing on the UN peacekeeping force deployed in southern Lebanon. “Ambassador Haley expressed alarm over the build-up of weapons by Hezbollah, a situation that demands the […]
Trump taps Jon Huntsman as US ambassador to Russia: White House
WASHINGTON DC, United States (AFP) – President Donald Trump has tapped veteran diplomat and former Utah governor Jon Huntsman as ambassador to Russia, the White House said Tuesday. The announcement came amid swirling controversy and multiple investigations into allegations that the Trump campaign colluded with Moscow to win the 2016 election. Huntsman, 57, previously served as US ambassador to China and Singapore. If confirmed by the US Senate, Huntsman would venture to Moscow for a […]
World’s first child hand transplant a ‘success’
WASHINGTON DC, United States (AFP) – The first child in the world to undergo a double hand transplant is now able to write, feed and dress himself, doctors said Tuesday, declaring the ground-breaking operation a success after 18 months. The report in The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health provides the first official medical update on 10-year old Zion Harvey, who underwent surgery to replace both hands in July 2015. “Eighteen months after the surgery, the […]
US health care reform collapses as two more Republicans say no
by Michael Mathes Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Two more United States Republican senators announced their opposition Monday to their party’s efforts to revamp Obamacare, derailing the controversial legislation in its current form and potentially dealing a monumental setback to President Donald Trump. Republican leaders are desperate for a major legislative victory this year — and keen to fulfill Trump’s campaign pledge to dismantle the 2010 health care reforms of his predecessor […]
Dollar, stocks down as Trump health care blow fuels tax concerns
HONG KONG, China (AFP) — The dollar sank with most Asian equities Tuesday as two Republican senators rejected their party’s bill repealing Obamacare, effectively killing it and throwing Donald Trump’s economic agenda into doubt. Global markets soared for months after Trump’s November election on hopes his big-spending, tax-cutting policies would fire the world’s top economy. But an ongoing crisis surrounding the White House has hobbled the tycoon’s presidency, with opposition to his controversial health care […]
US sending mixed messages on Iran nuclear deal: Zarif
UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — Iran is receiving “contradictory signals” from the United States administration about the fate of the nuclear deal but Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif said Monday he has yet to discuss it with US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. In New York to attend a United Nations forum on development, Zarif said he was open to speak with Tillerson as Washington carries out a review of the 2015 agreement reached […]





