Politics

  MOGADISHU / AP The Somalia-based extremist group al-Shabab claimed responsibility on Thursday for a mortar attack outside the presidential palace during a handover ceremony for the country’s new leader, a sign of the enormous security challenges he faces in trying to develop this long-chaotic country. The blasts were heard during the ceremony for President Mohamed Abdullahi Farmajo. The SITE ...

  PARIS / AP France’s presidential race this year is upending every political assumption that has governed the country for decades. And now Emmanuel Macron, a 39-year-old former economy minister who is running an independent, centrist campaign, has a real chance to become France’s next president in the country’s two-round April-May vote. Among the startling events: an incumbent president is ...

  BRUSSELS / AP US Defense Secretary Jim Mattis on Wednesday made clear that the United States was committed to NATO while also reinforcing the Trump administration’s demand that allies pay their fair share. Speaking at his first NATO defense minister’s meeting, Mattis called the alliance “a fundamental bedrock for the United States and for all the trans-Atlantic community.” That ...

  PESHAWAR / AP A Taliban suicide bombing targeted the administrative headquarters of a tribal region in northwestern Pakistan on Wednesday, killing three policemen and two passers-by, according to officials. The explosion went off at the main gate of the tribal headquarters in Ghalanai in the Mohmand tribal region, just as the workday was about to start, said Hameedullah Khan, ...

  NEW DELHI / AP India’s space agency said it successfully launched more than 100 foreign nano satellites into orbit Wednesday aboard a single rocket. The Indian Space Research Organization said the nano satellites — those weighing less than 10 kilograms (22 pounds) — were sent into orbit from southern India. It said the launching of the 104 satellites was ...

  JOHANNESBURG / AP The World Health Organization has declared an end to the yellow fever outbreak that killed about 400 people in Congo and Angola, calling it “one of the largest and most challenging” in recent years. The WHO statement says 965 cases were confirmed but thousands of others had been suspected. Neither country had reported a new confirmed ...

  MOSCOW / AP Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has denied reports of intercepted phone calls between Russian intelligence officials and members of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. The New York Times said that the Russians made contact with Paul Manafort, who briefly served as Trump’s campaign chairman. Current and former US officials interviewed by the Times declined to identify other Trump ...

  WASHINGTON / AP As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visits the White House, the Trump administration has suggested that peace between the Israelis and Palestinians may not come in the form of a two-state solution — a position that could represent a dramatic shift from 20 years of US policy. Speaking to reporters ahead of President Donald Trump’s meeting ...

  WASHINGTON / AP President Donald Trump’s embattled national security adviser Michael Flynn resigned following reports he misled Vice President Mike Pence and other officials about his contacts with Russia. His departure upends Trump’s senior team after less than a month in office. In a resignation letter, Flynn said he gave Vice President Mike Pence and others “incomplete information” about ...

  Bloomberg US President Donald Trump promised to deal “very strongly” with North Korea after Kim Jong Un’s latest missile test demonstrated progress in his quest to develop longer-range nuclear weapons. Trump called the nation a “big, big problem” during a joint news conference at the White House on Monday with Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. “We will deal with ...