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Elderly man, nine-year-old girl killed as strong quake hits Japan

TOKYO − An elderly man and a young girl were killed, with several other people also in “cardiopulmonary arrest”, after walls collapsed in a magnitude-6.1 earthquake that hit Osaka in western Japan on Monday, public broadcaster NHK said. Japan does not confirm deaths until a formal examination has been made and generally uses the term cardiopulmonary arrest in such cases. NHK said an 80-year-old man and a 9-year-old girl had been killed by collapsing walls.
US judge sends ex-Trump campaign head Manafort to jail until trial

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump’s former election campaign manager, Paul Manafort, was sent to jail pending trial on Friday after being charged with witness tampering, the latest episode in his long fall from grace. Manafort, a long-time Republican operative and businessman, is a target of Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation into Russia’s role in the 2016 election, and has been indicted on mostly financial-related charges, including conspiring to launder money and defraud the United States.
New York sues to dissolve Donald J. Trump Foundation

NEW YORK − New York’s attorney general on Thursday sued the Donald J. Trump Foundation, US President Donald Trump, and others, and is seeking to dissolve the foundation after what she called its “persistent illegal conduct” over more than a decade.
After compromise, May set to avoid defeat in parliament on customs

LONDON – Prime Minister Theresa May looked set to avoid an embarrassing defeat in parliament on Wednesday over her post-Brexit trade plans, a day after she defused a rebellion in her party over control of Britain’s exit from the European Union. On the second day of debate on changes to May’s EU withdrawal bill, lawmakers will vote on amendments handed down from the upper house of parliament over Britain’s relationship to the bloc’s customs union and single market.
Trump says North Korea no longer a nuclear threat; North highlights concessions

SEOUL – North Korea no longer poses a nuclear threat, nor is it the “biggest and most dangerous problem” for the United States, President Donald Trump said on Wednesday on his return from a summit in Singapore with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un. The summit was the first between a sitting US president and a North Korean leader and followed a flurry of North Korean nuclear and missile tests and angry exchanges between Trump and Kim last year that fuelled fears of war. “Everybody can now feel much safer than the day I took office,” Trump said on Twitter.
New Jersey governor's signature paves way for sports betting

New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy on Monday signed a bill to legalise sports betting, opening the door for the state to begin regulating and taxing the activity at casinos and racetracks. “Our casinos in Atlantic City and our racetracks throughout our state can attract new business and new fans, boosting their own long-term financial prospects,” Murphy said in a statement. “This is the right move for New Jersey and it will strengthen our economy.”
Trump and North Korea's Kim in Singapore for historic summit

SINGAPORE – United States President Donald Trump arrived in Singapore on Sunday for a historic summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un that could lay the groundwork for ending a nuclear stand-off between the old foes and the transformation of the isolated Asian nation. Trump flew into Singapore’s Paya Lebar Air Base aboard Air Force One, looking to strike a deal that will lead to the denucleariation of one of America’s bitterest foes. He came from a divisive G7 meeting in Canada with some of Washington’s closest allies that further strained global trade ties. After stepping down from Air Force One on a steamy tropical night, Trump was greeted by Singapore Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan.

Trump casts doubt on planned summit with North Korean leader

22 May 2018

WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday there was a “substantial chance” his summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un will not take place as planned on June 12 amid concerns that Kim is resistant to giving up his nuclear weapons. Trump raised doubts... Read More

Re-elected, Venezuela’s Maduro faces wide criticism, US sanctions

21 May 2018

CARACAS/WASHINGTON - Critics at home and abroad on Monday denounced the vote that re-elected Venezuela’s socialist President Nicolas Maduro as a farce cementing autocracy and the US government imposed new sanctions on the crisis-stricken oil-producing country. Read More

Deadpool 2 propels to $125 million opening

21 May 2018

LOS ANGELES − Deadpool might not consider himself a superhero, but its latest instalment is off to a powerful start. The Marvel Comics film from 20th Century Fox debuted in North American with $125 million in 4,349 locations. That wasn’t enough to match the debut... Read More

Poor Venezuelans crowd pro-Maduro stations in hope of vote 'prize'

20 May 2018

CARACAS/BARINAS − Poor Venezuelans scanned state-issued “fatherland cards” at red tents after voting on Sunday in hope of receiving a prize promised by President Nicolas Maduro, a practice opponents said was akin to vote-buying. The leftist Maduro was expected to... Read More

Cuba confirms 110 killed in country's deadliest plane crash since 1989

20 May 2018

HAVANA − Cuban authorities said the fiery crash of an aging Boeing passenger jet on Friday shortly after take-off from Havana had killed 110 people, 99 of whom were Cuban, making it the Caribbean island’s deadliest air disaster in nearly 30 years. Flags flew at half-mast... Read More

Prince Charles to walk Meghan Markle down the aisle at royal wedding

18 May 2018

WINDSOR – Prince Charles, the heir to the British throne, will walk Meghan Markle down the aisle at her glittering wedding to his son Prince Harry on Saturday after her own father had to pull out because of ill health. Her father, Thomas, gave a host of contradictory... Read More

Britain will leave customs union, May says, to offer Ireland backstop

17 May 2018

SOFIA – Prime Minister Theresa May said on Thursday Britain would leave the EU customs union after Brexit but a source said London was considering a backstop plan that would apply the bloc’s external tariffs beyond December 2020. Asked about reports that London would... Read More

North Korea casts doubt on Trump summit, suspends talks with South

15 May 2018

SEOUL - North Korea on Wednesday threw into question an unprecedented summit between its leader Kim Jong Un and US President Donald Trump scheduled for next month, denouncing military exercises between South Korea and the United States as a provocation and calling off... Read More

Dollar inches higher, supported by US bond yields

15 May 2018

SINGAPORE − The dollar inched higher against a basket of currencies on Tuesday, having pulled up from its lowest level in more than a week as hopes for easing global trade tensions pushed US bond yields higher. The dollar’s index versus a basket of six major peers... Read More

Israeli forces kill dozens in Gaza as US Embassy opens in Jerusalem

14 May 2018

GAZA/JERUSALEM – Israeli troops shot dead dozens of Palestinian protesters on the Gaza border on Monday as the United States opened its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, a move that has fuelled Palestinian anger and drawn foreign criticism that it undermines peace efforts.... Read More

Facebook suspends 200 apps over data misuse investigation

14 May 2018

Facebook Inc. has so far suspended around 200 apps in the first stage of its review into apps that had access to large quantities of user data, in a response to a scandal around political consultancy Cambridge Analytica. The apps were suspended pending a thorough... Read More

Congo, UN deploy specialists to tackle Ebola epidemic

14 May 2018

KINSHASA − The Democratic Republic of Congo and UN agencies said on Sunday they began deploying emergency teams of specialists over the weekend to try to prevent the spread of an Ebola epidemic suspected to have infected more than 30 people. Read More

Paris knife attacker was French citizen born in Chechnya

13 May 2018

PARIS − Police on Sunday scoured the background of a Chechnya-born Frenchman who killed a man in a knife attack in Paris, questioning the parents and a friend of the 21-year old, who had been flagged previously as a potential security risk. Late on Saturday, the... Read More

Iraqi journalist who threw shoes at Bush stands for parliament

11 May 2018

BAGHDAD – An Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at US President George W. Bush during a news conference a decade ago is standing for parliament, campaigning against corruption and the sectarianism that has plagued his country. TV correspondent Muntazer al-Zaidi... Read More

Congo confirms first death in latest Ebola outbreak

10 May 2018

KINSHASA – The Democratic Republic of Congo announced on Thursday the first confirmed death in a new outbreak of Ebola virus and said 11 other people were now confirmed to be infected, including three medical staff. At least 17 people have died since inhabitants... Read More

Israel says it attacked targets in Syria after Iranian rocket fire

10 May 2018

JERUSALEM/BEIRUT – Israel said it attacked nearly all of Iran’s military infrastructure in Syria on Thursday after Iranian forces fired rockets at Israeli-held territory for the first time. It was the heaviest Israeli barrage in Syria since the start in 2011 of its... Read More

Upbeat Trump welcomes US prisoners released by North Korea

10 May 2018

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Md./WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump welcomed three Americans who had been held prisoner in North Korea back home on Thursday, thanking its leader Kim Jong Un for their release and sounding upbeat about a planned US-North Korea summit. The... Read More

North Korea releases detained Americans ahead of anticipated Trump-Kim summit

09 May 2018

WASHINGTON − US President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that three Americans detained by North Korea have been released and are on their way home with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo. Trump said he will greet Pompeo and the Americans when they land at Andrews Air... Read More

New York state attorney general resigns after report he abused women

08 May 2018

New York state Attorney General Eric Schneiderman resigned on Monday after allegations of physical abuse by four women were reported in an article in the New Yorker magazine. Governor Andrew Cuomo had called for Schneiderman’s resignation within hours of the article’s... Read More

Venezuela slams 'supremacist policies' of Pompeo, Trump 'regime'

07 May 2018

CARACAS − Venezuela on Sunday slammed comments by US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo about the government of President Nicolas Maduro, denouncing “supremacist policies” and aggression by the “regime of Donald Trump.” In a speech on Friday, Pompeo said that “a dictator... Read More

Russian opposition leader and activists held before Putin inauguration

06 May 2018

MOSCOW − Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny and around 1 600 anti-Kremlin activists were detained by police on Saturday during street protests against Vladimir Putin ahead of his inauguration for a fourth term as president. Navalny had called for demonstrations... Read More