Global

Democrats: Trump using misinformation, malice in wall debate

Photo (AP) Alex Brandon Top congressional Democrats said President Donald Trump “has chosen fear” in his drive to build a southern border wall and called on him to reopen the government shuttered because of the standoff over his demand for money for the barrier. Speaking moments after Trump made his case for the wall in

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US doesn’t talk about Syria withdrawal timeline: Pompeo

Secretary of State Mike Pompeo says US briefs allies about pullout The U.S. does not talk about the timelines of their withdrawal from Syria, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Monday.”We don’t talk about timelines. The President’s made a commitment. We’re going to withdraw our uniformed personnel, uniformed guys, 2,000 roughly folks on the

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Fears of bloodshed mount after Somali underworld figure killed in robbery

A Somali underworld figure and cigarette supplier has been gunned down outside an Epping wholesaler and robbed of R500 000 in cash. Picture: Daily Voice Cape Town – A Somali underworld figure and cigarette supplier has been gunned down outside an Epping wholesaler and robbed of R500 000 in cash. The 36-year-old businessman from Bellville

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Belgium Bans Religious Slaughtering Practices, Drawing Praise and Protest

A slaughterhouse in Brussels in 2017. Belgium will no longer grant religious exemptions to European Union laws that require animals to be rendered insensible before slaughtering.CreditCreditYves Herman/Reuters BRUSSELS — A Belgian ban on the Muslim and Jewish ways of ritually slaughtering animals went into effect on New Year’s Day, part of a clash across Europe

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Venezuela’s congress names new leader, vows to battle Maduro

Photo (AP) Venezuela’s opposition-controlled congress opened its first session of the year Saturday, installing a fresh-faced leader who struck a defiant tone and vowed to take up the battle against socialist President Nicolas Maduro. Juan Guaido, 35, assumes the presidency of a National Assembly stripped of power by Maduro, whose government is blamed for leading

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Pentagon plans to cut troops, airstrikes in Somalia: report

The Pentagon plans to curtail its military role in Somalia and lessen airstrikes against al-Shabaab militants in the region, NBC News reported Friday. Two senior U.S. officials told the outlet that the administration has assessed that al-Shabab does not pose a direct danger to the United States as American forces have killed many of the

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Djibouti bases at Red Sea strait show outsize value

Nation at strait linking Gulf of Aden to Red Sea connects global shipping routes, with most foreign bases in world In 1991 thousands of Ethiopians, military men and women included, made an arduous journey, crossing the border from the Horn of Africa nation of Eritrea into the tiny nation of Djibouti. They fled as Eritrean

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UN to send new envoy to Somalia after flap led to expulsion

The United Nations plans to replace an envoy who was expelled from Somalia after questioning the arrest of a political candidate with an extremist history, the world body said Friday. The announcement came after three days of diplomatic back-and-forth over Somalia’s expulsion of Nicholas Haysom, a longtime U.N. official who has also served as envoy

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UN: Saudi trial into Khashoggi killing ‘not sufficient’

UN renews call for independent investigation with ‘international involvement’ The United Nations Human Rights Office spokeswoman said on Friday that a trial taking place in Saudi Arabia into Oct. 2 killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi was “not sufficient.”Speaking to press members in Geneva, Ravina Shamdasani reiterated the office’s call for an independent investigation, “with international

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Ilhan Omar becomes the first person to wear the hijab in the US Congress

AP Photo/Susan Walsh History was on Ilhan Omar’s mind as she arrived in Washington DC this week. The 36-year-old Democrat from Minnesota’s 5th Congressional district became the first Somali-American, one of two Muslim women, among the unprecedented number of women lawmakers, and part of the largest congressional black caucus elected to the US House of

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