Trump calls for 'travel ban' amid London terror attacks

Members of the emergency services attend to persons injured in an apparent terror attack on London Bridge in central London on June 3, 2017.
Armed police fired shots after reports of stabbings and a van hitting pedestrians on London Bridge on

As authorities in Britain scrambled to respond to the knife and truck attacks in the heart of London Saturday night, President Trump’s immediate response was to publicly demand the courts reinstate his executive order restricting travel from six largely Muslim nations. “We need to be smart, vigilant and tough,” tweeted Trump at about 7 p.m. Eastern Time — before news outlets had been able to confirm any significant details about the incident. “We need the courts to give us back our rights. We need the Travel Ban as an extra level of safety!”

The Justice Department last week asked the Supreme Court to reinstate the president’s executive order, appealing a lower court’s ruling that upheld a nationwide block of it.

Throughout the legal setbacks the Trump administration has faced on the issue is a consistent theme: judges have pointed to the words of both the president and his advisors in order to rule that the policy has more to do with religious animus toward Muslims than protecting national security.

Central to the administration’s case has been the claim that the order is not a ban but rather a temporary change of vetting rules designed to protect national security. Press secretary Sean Spicer neatly summed up their case in January, shortly after the chaotic rollout of the original policy. “It’s not a Muslim ban. It’s not a

Residents shield Christians in bold exodus from Philippines city

Soldiers onboard military trucks ride along the main street as government troops continue their assault on insurgents from the Maute group, who have taken over large parts of Marawi City, Philippines. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

MARAWI CITY, Philippines (Reuters) - More than 160 civilians walked out of the besieged Philippines city of Marawi just after dawn on Saturday, deceiving Islamist fighters they encountered by hiding the identity of the many Christians among them.

The audacious exodus came after text message warnings that a major assault by Philippines aircraft and ground troops was imminent in the center of the southern city, where some 250 militants and more than 2,000 civilians remain trapped.

"We saved ourselves," said Norodin Alonto Lucman, a well-known former politician and traditional clan leader who sheltered 71 people, including more than 50 Christians, in his home during the battle that erupted on May 23 in the town of more than 200,000 on the southern island of Mindanao.

"There's this plan to bomb the whole city if ISIS don't agree to the demands of the government," he said,

Deadly Texas Shootout: Suspect Dead, Three Officers Injured

SEATTLE (Reuters) - Police in Portland, Oregon, arrested a homeless man on Friday morning for stealing the wedding ring and backpack of Ricky Best, one of two men fatally stabbed to death last week on a commuter train while defending two women.

George Tschaggeny, 51, was arrested at a homeless encampment under an overpass after a tip from an employee of a Domino's Pizza restaurant in the area, Portland Police Bureau officials said at a Friday press conference.

Police had released surveillance footage on Thursday of a man carrying Best's backpack leaving the Portland MAX commuter train shortly after the stabbings.

Tschaggeny was found wearing Best's ring, which he apparently had removed from Best's finger after the stabbing, said police spokesman Pete Simpson.

Police also recovered the backpack but Best's wallet was missing, Simpson said, adding that his family had

New Law Compels Zimbabwe Banks To Accept Cattles, Goat And Sheep As Collateral.

Commercial banks in Zimbabwe will soon be compelled to accept livestock such as cattle, goats and sheep as collateral for cash loans to informal businesses under a new law presented to parliament Tuesday.

Under the Movable Property Security Interests Bill tabled for debate by Finance and Economic Development Minister Patrick Chinamasa in the House of Assembly, the Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe will compile and administer a collateral-security register in which small-business operators and individuals can

Syrians protest U.S. airstrikes and more: April 11 in photos

Hundreds of Syrian students gathered outside the United Nations headquarters in Damascus to protest last week’s American missile strike on a government air base; Mount Etna, Europe’s most active volcano, spews

Britain urges Putin to end support for 'toxic' Assad

Children receive treatment in the town of Maaret al-Noman, following a suspected chemical weapons attack in Khan Sheikhun, a nearby rebel-held town in Syria's north-western Idlib province, on April 4, 2017

London (AFP) - Russia should end its support for "toxic" Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, British Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson said on Monday ahead of a meeting of G7 foreign ministers in Italy.

"It's time for (Russian President) Vladimir Putin to face the truth about the tyrant he is propping up," Johnson said, according to a foreign ministry spokeswoman.

"We need to make it clear to Putin that the time to back Assad has gone," he said, warning that Putin was "damaging Russia" by supporting Assad.

"He must understand that Assad is now toxic in every sense. He is poisoning the innocent people of Syria with weapons that were banned 100 years ago -- and he is poisoning the reputation of Russia," he said.

Johnson on Saturday cancelled a scheduled visit to Moscow over its support for the Syrian regime.

The move came after a suspected chemical weapons attack on the rebel-held town of Khan Seikhun last week in which at least 87 people were killed.

Trump declares that North Korea is ‘looking for trouble’ as tensions rise

President Trump suggested on Tuesday that he could sweeten the terms of a trade agreement with China if Beijing assists in solving the North Korea “problem” — but that the United States is prepared to move forward in the western Pacific without Chinese help.

“I explained to the President of China that a trade deal with the U.S. will be far better for them if they solve the North Korean problem!” Trump tweeted early Tuesday, three days after hosting Chinese President Xi Jinping at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida.

“North Korea is looking for trouble,” Trump wrote. “If China decides to help, that would be great. If not, we will solve the problem without them! U.S.A.”

Over the weekend, Trump deployed a U.S. Navy strike group to the Korean Peninsula as “a show of

Tillerson: Syria strike a message to others, including North Korea

Tillerson

By David Morgan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. military strikes against Syria over its alleged use of chemical weapons are a warning to other nations, including North Korea, that "a response is likely" if they pose a danger, U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson said on Sunday.

As a U.S. Navy strike group headed toward the Korean Peninsula, Tillerson said China agrees that action is necessary to address North Korea's nuclear arsenal, following last week's meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping.

Asked if Friday's strikes against Syria were a message to North Korea, Tillerson told ABC's This Week: "The message that any nation can take is, 'If you violate international norms, if you violate international agreements, if you fail to live up to commitments, if you become a threat to others, at some point a response

Fidel Castro’s ashes reunited with ‘Che’ Guevara

Fidel Castro’s ashes were taken Thursday to a symbolic reunion with his fallen comrade-in-arms Ernesto “Che” Guevara in Santa Clara, the first stop in the late Cold War titan’s last trip across Cuba.
After two days of tributes in Havana, hundreds of thousands of flag-waving Cubans lined the streets to bid farewell as a military jeep began a four-day journey on Wednesday morning with the cedar urn in tow.
Crowds chanted “I am Fidel!” as the convoy started retracing the victory tour that Castro’s guerrilla took in 1959 to celebrate their defeat of US-backed dictator Fulgencio Batista.
The flag-covered urn, which rested under a glass case on a small olive-green trailer, arrived in Santa Clara after midnight and entered a complex with a mausoleum and museum dedicated to Guevara.
“It’s a historic meeting, two comandantes who change the history of Cuba and humanity,” said Agnier Sanchez, a 33-year-old medical imaging technician.
A somber guitar, song and dance show played across a giant statue of Guevara as the “caravan of freedom” paused a third of the way into its 950-kilometer (590-mile) trek across the island.

Cancer infection to double in Africa in 20 years if not checked – Expert

A radiologist at the University of Nigeria Teaching Hospital, Enugu, Prof. Ifeoma Okoye, has said Africa’s cancer mortality will double in the next 20 years if not tackled.
Speaking in Enugu on Wednesday during the Physicians’ Week organised by the Nigeria Medical Association, Enugu branch, Okoye noted that if cancer infections continued to rise without adequate modalities to control it, the country’s gross domestic product would be affected.
Okoye said: “This is because if those in productive age bracket are infected with cancer, their level of growth and productivity will be affected and this will in turn affect their individuality, community and the government.”
She regretted that many chronic diseases were not adequately addressed in the country, especially in the rural areas as many people living with cancer did not have access to primary health care.
Okoye said that the UN Cancer Control Programme was not implemented in the country and urged the governments to invest in health care to develop its own cancer plan.
The professor of radiation medicine said that tobacco intake, excessive alcohol, environmental factors and

Trump could ‘inspire a ‘disaster movie’ – Spain’s Almodovar

(L-R) Actress Rossy de Palma, director Pedro Almodovar, and actress Marina Ambramovic attend the Pedro Almodovar Retrospective Opening Night at the Museum of Modern Art on November 29, 2016 in New York City. Jason Carter Rinaldi/Getty Images/AFP

Donald Trump would be the perfect protagonist for a disaster film, said Spanish director Pedro Almodovar, as a retrospective of his movies got underway in New York.
“I think that Trump is going to provide a lot of creative inspiration, especially for comedians,” said Almodovar at an event late Tuesday marking the launch of the film series at Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art.
The MoMA exhibition, encompassing every movie made by Almodovar, coincides with the release of “Julieta,” his 20th feature-length film, which was also previewed at MoMA Tuesday. The movie opens in US theaters on December 21.
Almodovar, Spain’s most celebrated living movie director, made it clear that he is no fan of the US president-elect but said Trump’s larger-than-life persona is the stuff of filmmaking lore.
“He seriously would inspire a disaster movie,” Almodovar said.
“This kind of personality type have no parallel in real life. He’s like a great fictional character,” the director said.

Gun that nearly killed poet Rimbaud sells for almost half million euros

The revolver with which French poet Paul Verlaine tried to kill his lover Arthur Rimbaud is displayed at Christie's auction house before the most famous gun in French literature goes under the hammer in Paris on November 30, 2016.Thomas Samson/AFP

The most famous gun in French literary history, the revolver with which Paul Verlaine tried to kill his lover and fellow poet Arthur Rimbaud, sold for 434,500 euros ($460,000) at an auction in Paris on Wednesday.
The staggering price for the seven mm six-shooter — which almost changed the course of world literature — was more than seven times the estimate, auctioneers Christie’s said.
Verlaine bought the weapon in Brussels on the morning of July 10, 1873, determined to put an end to his torrid two-year affair with his teenage lover.
The 29-year-old poet had abandoned his young wife and child to be with Rimbaud, who would later become the symbol of rebellious youth, idolised by 1960s singers like Jim Morrison.
But after an opium- and absinthe-soaked stay in London, which would inspire Rimbaud’s “A Season in Hell”, Verlaine wanted to go back to his wife.
He fled to the Belgian capital to get away from Rimbaud only for the younger man to follow him.
It was in a hotel room there at two in the afternoon where, after the lovers had rowed, cried and got drunk

UK experts give green light to ‘three-parent babies’

British scientists on Wednesday approved the use of so-called "three-parent baby" fertility treatments, paving the way for the country to become the first in the world to officially introduce the procedures.AFP

British scientists on Wednesday approved the use of so-called “three-parent baby” fertility treatments, paving the way for the country to become the first in the world to officially introduce the procedures.
An independent panel of experts tasked with reviewing the safety of mitochondrial gene therapy said the practice should be “cautiously adopted” to prevent certain genetic diseases from being passed on to future generations.
British MPs voted in February to allow the creation of in-vitro fertilisation (IVF) babies with DNA from three people.
However, the country’s fertility regulator, the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority (HFEA), said it would wait for Wednesday’s report before green-lighting use of the treatments in clinics.
The technique would allow women who carry disease-causing mutations in their mitochondrial genes to give birth to genetically-related children free of mitochondrial disease.
– ‘Designer babies’ –
But opponents have questioned its ethics and say it opens the way to “designer babies”.
The treatment involves the embryo receiving the usual “nuclear” DNA from the mother and father, as well as a small amount of healthy mitochondrial DNA (mDNA) from a female donor.
The review panel recommended its clinical use “in specific circumstances… where inheritance of the disease

Colombia’s congress approves revised deal with FARC

Colombia’s Congress has approved a revised peace deal with the FARC rebel group, paving the way to end a conflict that has lasted more than 50 years.
The lower house voted 130-0 on Wednesday to approve the text adopted a day earlier by the Senate.
President Juan Manuel Santos said the vote provided “landmark backing” for a deal he personally pushed for. Santos, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize winner, shepherded the revised deal through Congress after voters shocked the world by rejecting an earlier version in a referendum last month.
The government’s chief peace negotiator with the FARC, Humberto de la Calle, had urged lawmakers to ratify this deal, warning the army’s ceasefire with the leftist guerrillas was “fragile”.
The first agreement was rejected in a referendum in October, with majority of voters saying they felt it was too lenient toward the rebels, who have battled the government for 52 years.
Al Jazeera’s Alessandro Rampietti, reporting from Medellin, said the approval was a significant step towards peace in the country, but added that the deal still faced hurdles.
“A few more obstacles remain,” he said, adding the constitutional court still needed to rule on a mechanism allowing Congress to pass implementing regulations, including an amnesty law.
Resistance remains

Refugee protests disrupt Australian parliament

Protesters, angered by Australia’s refugee policy, have disrupted parliament for a second day by abseiling down the building and erecting a banner that read “close the bloody camps now”.
In the early hours of Thursday the group also poured red dye – representing blood – into a fountain in front of the building, the national broadcaster ABC reported.
The incident came after a protest on Wednesday during which the group stopped parliamentary proceedings for half an hour, shouting slogans and gluing their hands to railings in the public gallery.
The group was protesting specifically against Australia’s offshore prisons which hold 1,300 asylum seekers who were picked up trying to reach Australia by boat.
Canberra sends asylum-seekers trying to reach Australia by sea to isolated outposts on Nauru and Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island, with the prison conditions widely criticised by refugee advocates and medical professionals.
Speaker Tony Smith suspended question time in what cabinet minister Christopher Pyne said was the most serious intrusion into parliament in 20 years.
The group of around 30 protestors began chanting loudly soon after the session began, shouting “close the

Two dead, 4 injured in US Thanksgiving Day shooting

Two persons were killed and four were injured in a shooting at a Thanksgiving Day football tournament in Kentucky on Thursday.
The shooting occurred at Shawnee Park, where a youth football tournament called the Juice Bowl is held every year on Thanksgiving Day.
Louisville Metro Police said officers responded to a call of multiple shootings at Shawnee Park on Thursday afternoon.
Police said there were no suspects in custody and they had not established a motive for the shooting, which occurred during an annual football tournament that dates back to the 1950s.
Dwight Mitchell, spokesman for the Louisville Metro Police Department, said that as yet, no one is aware of the motive for the shooting.
Mr. Mitchell told reporters that the four survivors suffered non-life-threatening injuries and had been taken to the hospital.

Hooded attacker kills woman in French missionaries’ home

Gendarmes stand guard on a road near a retirement home for monks in Montferrier-sur-Lez, southern France, early on November 25, 2016, after an armed man burst in the home killing a woman with a knife. Armed police were hunting the man inside the home, which is home to around 70 men and women who have served as missionaries in Africa. Authorities said it was a "criminal act".AFP/Pascal Guyot

A hooded man wielding a knife murdered a woman at a retirement home for missionaries in southern France on Thursday triggering a manhunt, with the country still on edge following a string of jihadist attacks.
The man, brandishing a sawn-off shotgun and a knife, tied up and killed the woman who worked at the home in the village of Montferrier-sur-Lez near the city of Montpellier, a prosecutor said.
More than 70 men and women, most of whom served as missionaries in Africa, live at the home.
Armed police searched the building but believe the man fled, sources close to the police operation said, and a large-scale police operation was under way to find the unidentified attacker.
A helicopter was seen flying over the area, scanning the ground with a giant spotlight.
Investigators so far had no evidence to suggest the attack was terror-related at a time when France remains under a state of emergency after a number of Islamist atrocities, including the murder of an elderly Catholic priest in July.
“For the time being, there is only one victim,” Montpellier prosecutor Christophe Barret told AFP. “For the

South Africa braces for credit review as growth falls

South Africa braced for a potentially damaging credit rating review Friday as Moody’s releases its latest assessment amid political tension, reform blockages and weak economic data.
President Jacob Zuma has been engulfed by graft scandals and a power struggle with Finance Minister Pravin Gordhan, while growth has fallen to 0.5 percent and unemployment hit a 13-year high.
Moody’s will issue its updated grading later Friday, before Standard & Poor’s makes its key announcement a week later on December 2.
S&P currently has South Africa — the continent’s most developed economy — rated at the lowest investment grade, and a downgrade would put the country’s bonds into so-called “junk” status.
Moody’s currently rates South Africa two levels above junk.
Any downward review would further drain investor confidence in the country’s prospects under Zuma and the ANC party, which has ruled since the end of apartheid.
“We are politicising downgrading. That is our problem,” the president told parliament this week. “We have

South Africa’s scandal-plagued Zuma to face ANC integrity panel

South African President Jacob Zuma will be questioned next week by the African National Congress’ (ANC) integrity commission following persistent allegations of corruption and poor election results, the party said on Friday.
Zuma’s appearance before the panel could deepen divides within the ANC as it gears up for a national conference next year when Zuma, 74, is expected to stand down as party leader.
“He will be having a meeting with the IC,” ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe confirmed to Reuters, referring to the integrity commission.
Zuma’s meeting with the commission is expected to be held on Dec. 3 behind closed doors. Members of the ANC have been removed from their posts as a result of the commission’s recommendation.
The ANC formed the commission in 2013 to help protect its image and take “urgent action” to deal with members of the party who face allegations of improper conduct.

Thanksgiving sales surge online as shoppers stay home for holiday

Workers prepare orders for customers at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Tracy, California, November 29, 2015.Reuters/Fred Greaves

Online spending by U.S. bargain hunters climbed to above $1 billion by Thanksgiving evening, according to Adobe Digital Index, surging almost 14 percent from a year ago and reflecting a broader trend away from brick-and-mortar shopping.
At the start of the first holiday shopping season since the election of Donald Trump as president on November 8, U.S. consumers loosened their purse strings and spent $1.15 billion online between midnight and 5 pm ET on Thursday, according to Adobe.
Traditionally the day after Thanksgiving, or Black Friday, has started the holiday shopping season in the United States with retailers offering steep discounts and turning a profit. But its popularity has been on the wane given the emergence of online shopping and cheap deals through the year from retailers including e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O).
U.S. stores are now opening on Thanksgiving to try and boost in-store sales, while retailers have been offering online deals weeks in advance to cope with lower demand and stiff pricing competition.