New York /AFP President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to move aggressively on a conservative agenda in filling Supreme Court vacancies, cracking down on immigration and cutting taxes, but also sought to reassure worried Americans they have nothing to fear from his presidency. Setting aside the strident tone of his campaign, the 70-year-old assumed a gentler manner in his first ...

  Sofia/ AFP EU member Bulgaria headed on Monday into fresh political turbulence after a former airforce commander seen as more sympathetic to Russia triumphed in presidential elections, prompting Prime Minister Boyko Borisov to quit. In his victory speech, Rumen Radev reiterated his opposition to EU sanctions on Russia and praised new US President-elect Donald Trump for “seeking more dialogue” with ...

  Beijing/ AFP Chinese President Xi Jinping and US president-elect Donald Trump agreed on Monday to meet “at an early date” to discuss the relationship between their two powers, Chinese state broadcaster CCTV said on Monday. In a telephone call, Xi told Trump—who frequently savaged Beijing on the campaign trail and threatened to impose a 45-percent tariff on Chinese-made goods—that the ...

  Johannesburg / AFP Jailed Paralympic athlete Oscar Pistorius has been transferred to a prison adapted for disabled inmates to serve the rest of his sentence for murdering his girlfriend, a South African official said on Monday. The Department of Correctional Services said the double amputee was moved from Kgosi Mampuru II prison in the capital Pretoria to Atteridgeville Correctional ...

  Berlin /AFP Germany’s ruling coalition has backed Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier as the country’s next president, party sources said on Monday, paving the way for a sharp critic of Donald Trump to become head of state. Party leaders have been wrangling for months over whom to nominate as a potential successor to President Joachim Gauck, a 76-year-old former pastor ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korean prosecutors on Monday questioned two former key presidential aides over allegations they helped a shadowy confidant of President Park Geun-Hye meddle in state affairs and secretly visit her office. Park has been engulfed by a scandal that centres on Choi Soon-Sil, who is accused of using her personal ties with the president to coerce ...

  The politician who ought to be most immune to the populist rage sweeping the world’s democracies should be Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi. A former mayor who won election in Florence at the age of 29 as the radical alternative to an establishment candidate, Renzi has solid populist credentials. Moreover, Italians have already had their Donald Trump. Billionaire businessman ...

For more than two years, markets have priced in a lot less monetary tightening than was signalled by the Federal Reserve’s “blue dots,” which represent the expectations of individual members of the Open Market Committee for the future path of interest rates. The surprise election of Donald Trump is likely to affect this divergence for two distinct reasons, and the ...

  In the wake of the U.S. presidential election result, EU leaders are placing an even greater premium on solidarity. So in this topsy-turvy year, here’s another sobering thought to consider: Robust growth of the U.K. economy since the Brexit vote could be bad news for both the country and the continent. Let me explain. The economic picture in Britain ...

  First, the good news. Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions have stayed nearly the same for three years till 2015 at 36.3 billion tonnes. It will rise only by 0.2 percent by this year-end. Now, the bad news. Despite the levelling off of CO2 emission, it is not enough to check global warming and tackle climate change. The annual Global Carbon ...