USA News

Michael Cohen, Trump's loyal fixer turned tell-all accuser

By AFP

New York - He was the personal lawyer to Donald Trump and the epitome of loyalty -- a man who said he would "take a bullet" for his boss.

US, Saudi, Russia 'insulted' key global warming report: Al Gore

By AFP

Oslo - Former US vice president and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Al Gore on Tuesday slammed the world's top oil producers -- his own country, Saudi Arabia and Russia -- for "insulting" a key and alarming report on climate change.

Embattled Trump struggles to fill key White House post

By AFP

Washington - A beleaguered President Donald Trump insisted Monday that hush payments made to women before the 2016 election were legal, as he struggled to fill the key position of chief of staff -- made toxic by two years of White House turmoil.

Embattled Trump struggles to fill key White House post

By AFP

Washington - A beleaguered President Donald Trump on Monday insisted hush payments made to women before the 2016 election were legal, as he struggled to fill the key position of chief of staff -- made toxic by two years of White House turmoil.

French govt bristles as foreign leaders seize on 'yellow vest' crisis

By AFP

Paris - The "yellow vest" protests that have made headlines around the world are garnering France some unwanted attention, particularly from foreign leaders not exactly known for their defence of liberal democracy.

They survived the Holocaust. Must they go back into hiding?

By AFP

New York - They survived the Europe of the Holocaust. But a recent rise in anti-Semitic acts in the United States has rekindled old fears: Should they again go into hiding, or should they instead reach out to share their experiences?

Trump rejects Paris accord, but his diplomats are still negotiating

By AFP

Washington - Next week in Poland, a discreet delegation of American diplomats will settle in for two weeks of international climate negotiations along with their European, Chinese and other counterparts they've mixed with for years.

Lowest number of undocumented migrants in US since 2004: study

By AFP

Washington - The number of undocumented migrants living in the United States has fallen to 10.7 million, the lowest since 2004, according to a Pew Research Center study, which attributed the decline to a big drop in undocumented Mexicans.

Putin says Russia ditching dollar in sanctions response

By AFP

Moscow - President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Russia had no choice but to cut its dependency on dollars to conduct trade, after becoming the target of increasingly severe US sanctions.

Two-state solution to avoid apartheid state: Palestinian FM

By AFP

Rome - The world must help resolve the Israel-Palestinian issue by backing a two-state solution to avoid the creation of an apartheid state, Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki said on Friday.

US sanctions Iran for shipping oil to Syria

By AFP

Washington - The US slapped fresh sanctions on Iran Tuesday, accusing it of creating a complex web of Russian cut-out companies and Syrian intermediaries to ship oil to Damascus, which in turn bankrolled Hezbollah and Hamas.

Trump dilemma: Preserve Saudi alliance or declare prince a murderer

By AFP

Washington - The Saudi assassination of a US-based journalist has put President Donald Trump in an intractable bind.Does he preserve a close US ally and accept whatever Riyadh says about the murder?

US studying Turkey's demands to extradite preacher

By AFP

Washington - The United States is studying Turkey's demands for the extradition of preacher Fethullah Gulen, who is accused by Ankara of orchestrating a failed 2016 coup attempt, the State Department said Thursday.

First supply trip to space since Soyuz failure poised to launch

By AFP

Washington - A US spaceship loaded with supplies for the International Space Station is poised to launch Thursday, marking the first such trip since a Soyuz rocket carrying three people failed last month.

Returning Cubans boost island's real estate market

By AFP

Havana - In shorts and wearing shoes but no socks, Mauricio Garcia could pass for a tourist as he strolls around Old Havana.

Great-grandmother, 106, gets US citizenship on Election Day

By AFP

Washington - A 106-year-old great-grandmother born in El Salvador became an American citizen Tuesday, as the US held bitterly contested midterm elections in which Central American immigration was a hot button issue.

Restrictive rules keep millions of Americans from voting

By AFP

Washington - Millions of Americans will be barred from casting ballots in Tuesday's crucial midterm elections due to electoral rules at the state level, which effectively exclude many minority voters to the detriment of Democrats.

Russia turns up uninvited to major NATO wargames

By AFP

Norway - The whirring of a low-flying Soviet Union-era war plane signalled Russia's uninvited arrival to NATO's biggest military exercise since the end of the Cold War.

Obama brands Trump's border deployment plan a 'political stunt'

By AFP

Miami - Former president Barack Obama on Friday decried as a "political stunt" Donald Trump's plan to send thousands of US soldiers to the Mexican border to block migrants from entering the country.

NASA will keep trying to contact stalled Mars rover Opportunity

By AFP

Washington - NASA has changed its mind about how long it will continue to seek contact with an aging robotic vehicle that was blanketed in a dust storm on Mars back in June and has been stalled ever since.

Tygart attacks WADA over 'backroom' deal to reinstate Russia

By AFP

Paris - US Anti-Doping Agency chief executive Travis Tygart told AFP on Friday that athletes had lost confidence in WADA following the decision to lift the ban on Russia's anti-doping agency.

Moscow wants UN resolution to preserve nuclear arms treaty

By AFP

New York - The US pushed back Thursday against a Russian draft resolution to the UN General Assembly that proposed to preserve the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty (INF) that the US plans to pull out of, according to diplomatic sources.

NATO does not want new nuclear arms race: alliance chief

By AFP

Apo - NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday he did not see the alliance's member states deploying more nuclear weapons in Europe in response to a new Russian missile programme.

Guantanamo prison takes on geriatric airs

By AFP

Fpo - The controversial Guantanamo Bay prison still houses 40 aging inmates -- and with no plans to close it, many of them will probably remain there until they die.

Trump takes US inconsistency on human rights to new heights

By AFP

Washington - The United States has never been especially consistent in raising human rights, but President Donald Trump's administration, with its kid-glove treatment of Saudi Arabia, has sent a message clearer than ever before -- allies need not worry about critic...