Politics

Bloomberg President Donald Trump blasted a refugee resettlement deal with Australia in a late-night tweet, throwing the fate of more than 1,000 displaced people and the U.S.’s relationship with a key ally into doubt. “Do you believe it? The Obama administration agreed to take thousands of illegal immigrants from Australia. Why? I will study this dumb deal!,” Trump tweeted. The ...

  BUCHAREST / AP Israel’s prime minister on Thursday vowed to establish a new West Bank settlement “as soon as possible,” promising to make up for the court-ordered demolition of an illegal settler outpost. Benjamin Netanyahu’s announcement was his latest step to expand Israeli settlement construction in the wake of President Donald Trump’s inauguration. Trump has signaled a far softer ...

  BUCHAREST / AP Romania’s president said on Thursday he would ask judges to declare unconstitutional a government decree that dilutes what qualifies as corruption, after hundreds of thousands protested against the measure. President Klaus Iohannis said on Thursday that he would take the emergency decree to the Constitutional Court, which is the last legal resort to stop the law. ...

  WASHINGTON / AP The White House has issued a cryptic warning that the US will act against Iran unless it stops testing ballistic missiles and supporting Houthi rebels in Yemen, but declined to say what retaliatory actions the US would pursue. Michael Flynn, President Donald Trump’s national security adviser, forcefully denounced Iran’s behavior in his first public remarks since ...

  SEOUL / AP In his first public remarks abroad as US defense secretary, Jim Mattis on Thursday criticized North Korea for provocative acts and said he would consult with South Korean and Japanese officials about whether the current strategy for getting the North to curtail or eliminate its nuclear and missile programs is adequate. Mattis spoke to reporters aboard ...

  PARIS / AP Francois Fillon’s embattled right-wing candidacy for the French presidency faced more revelations on Thursday casting doubt on the legitimacy of his wife’s taxpayer-funded work and fueling questions about whether the former front-runner’s campaign is now damaged beyond repair. Allegations that Penelope Fillon was handsomely paid as a parliamentary aide, first reported by French weekly Canard Enchaine ...

  MOSUL / AP First the tiny drones buzz overhead to observe Iraqi soldiers. Then, the IS group’s flying machines return to drop a small explosive device to sow panic among security forces — or deadlier still, to help guide a suicide car bomber to a target. And the innovations are expected to keep coming since IS has been spending freely ...

  TEHRAN / AP Iran’s defense minister said on Wednesday that his country recently carried out a missile test, days after the White House said it was looking into reports of an Iranian ballistic missile launch that may have contravened a UN resolution. Gen. Hossein Dehghan was quoted by the semi-official Tasnim news agency as saying “the recent missile test ...

  CAIRO / AP An American lawyer says hundreds of Yemenis with US visas are stranded in the tiny African state of Djibouti because of President Donald Trump’s ban on entry for citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries. Lawyer Julie Goldberg told The Associated Press on Wednesday that “these are all the children, parents and the spouses of US citizens.” She ...

  LONDON / AP Britain’s House of Commons is to vote on a bill authorizing Prime Minister Theresa May to start European Union exit talks — the first major test of whether lawmakers will try to impede the government’s Brexit plans. Wednesday’s vote comes after two days of debate, in which many government and opposition lawmakers said they would respect ...