Politics

  BAGHDAD / AP US -backed Iraqi government troops on Sunday fully liberated the sprawling complex of Mosul University, an Iraqi military spokesman said, a major step in the massive operation to retake the IS group-held city of Mosul. The spokesman for the Joint Military Command, Brig. Gen. Yahya Rasool, declared the campus was under the full control of Iraqi special ...

  NEW YORK / AP Donald Trump’s feud with civil rights icon John Lewis is highlighting the president-elect’s willingness to attack any and all political rivals even with his inauguration less than a week away. The Republican billionaire slammed the Democratic congressman — and his Atlanta-area district — on Saturday, a day after Lewis described Trump as an illegitimate president. Lewis, ...

  BEIJING / AP China’s foreign ministry on Sunday again rejected President-elect Donald Trump’s suggestion that he might use American policy on Taiwan as a bargaining chip between the two sides. Spokesman Lu Kang said Sunday that the “one China” policy is “non-negotiable.” Since recognizing Beijing in 1979, Washington has maintained only unofficial ties with Taiwan, the self-governing island that Beijing ...

  MANILA / AP Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte said he has ordered his troops to bomb extremists who flee with their captives in a bid to stop a wave of kidnappings at sea, calling the loss of civilian lives in such an attack “collateral damage.” Duterte has previously stated that he had told his Indonesian and Malaysian counterparts their forces can ...

  Bloomberg The UK government is deeply concerned that Donald Trump’s closeness to Russia will give sway to Vladimir Putin in eastern Europe and weaken US ties with its traditional Western allies. The US President-elect caused alarm in London after saying he wants a warmer relationship with Russian President than the Obama administration had, according to two senior officials, who ...

  BELGRADE / AP Serbia has launched a railway service to Serb-dominated northern Kosovo despite protests from the government in Pristina which called it a provocation and an aggressive violation of its sovereignty. Serbian officials in Belgrade on Saturday saw off a Russian-made train decorated with the Serb flags, churches, monasteries and medieval towns, and inscribed with “Kosovo is Serbian” ...

  WASHINGTON / AFP Thousands are expected in Washington for a march organizers say is designed to “protect the dream of Dr Martin Luther King Jr ” and to “preserve the legacy of President Barack Obama.” The National Action Network, the group founded by the Rev. Al Sharpton, is sponsoring Saturday’s “We Shall Not Be Moved” march and rally ahead ...

  JOHANNESBURG / AP Gunmen in Syria have abducted a South African freelance photographer who was traveling with aid workers to the border with Turkey, an aid group said on Saturday. Shiraaz Mohamed was kidnapped on Tuesday afternoon on a “relatively safe route” near a medical facility operated by Gift of the Givers, said Imtiaz Sooliman, founder of the South ...

  Bloomberg Japan and Australia agreed to enhance coordination on Asian security issues, including the South China Sea and North Korea, at a meeting of the two countries’ leaders on Saturday, while reaffirming that the US remains the cornerstone of their strategic arrangements. “We confirmed our intention to maintain solid cooperation with the incoming Trump administration,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo ...

  BERLIN / AP German Chancellor Angela Merkel is stressing as she awaits Donald Trump’s inauguration that the world’s problems need solving in cooperation, rather than by each country individually. Asked at a news conference Saturday about protectionist tendencies in the U.S., Merkel said she will seek a dialogue with the new president. “I don’t want to get ahead of that, ...