The UN accused Australia Monday of backtracking on a deal to relax its strong stance on asylum-seekers and resettle some refugees now held in overseas detention on home soil. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) said it had agreed last November to help relocate the boatpeople to the United States on the basis that … Read more
Donald Trump’s new communications director Anthony Scaramucci vowed Sunday to usher in a fresh start in the White House, beginning with a clampdown on unauthorized leaks that have led to months of largely unfavorable headlines. “One of the first things I want to do is to get the leaks stopped,” Scaramucci told the Fox News … Read more
The US Congress is poised to approve tough new sanctions on Russia, Iran and North Korea this week after reaching a compromise deal, which the White House indicated Sunday it could support. In mid-June, the Senate overwhelmingly passed tough sanctions on Moscow and Tehran, but the text stalled in the House of Representatives, until agreement … Read more
Eight suspected migrants were found dead early Sunday inside an overheated truck in a Walmart parking lot in Texas, and nearly 30 others were hospitalized, in what police said appeared to be a “horrific” human trafficking crime. Twenty of those taken to area hospitals after the discovery in San Antonio — about a two hour … Read more
White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer abruptly resigned on Friday after a tumultuous six months in the spotlight. Here are five memorable moments from Spicer’s tenure — one of the shortest ever for a White House spokesman: Spicer’s stint as White House spokesman got off to a rocky start. Just a day into Trump’s presidency, … Read more
Anthony Scaramucci, named Donald Trump’s new White House communications director, is a millionaire former hedge fund investor who shores up the stable of bankers in the president’s inner circle. It is the first administration role for the 53-year-old Republican fundraiser with telegenic looks who has long been an articulate surrogate for the president and who … Read more
WWE and SuperSport, Africa’s premier sport channels provider, today announced a new multi-year agreement to broadcast WWE programming live for the first time in more than 50 countries in sub-Saharan Africa including Ghana. Starting August 28, GOtv customers will have access to the world’s biggest WWE entertainment when SuperSport airs flagship shows Raw® and SmackDown® as well as WWE … Read more
The police chief in Minneapolis, speaking out for the first time Thursday, strongly criticized the actions of one of the city’s officers who fatally shot an unarmed Australian woman. Chief Janee Harteau had been on vacation when Justine Damond was killed by an officer responding to her emergency call Saturday night of a possible assault … Read more
An attorney for the family of the unarmed Australian woman fatally shot by police in Minnesota on Thursday strongly rejected suggestions the officers may have acted out of fear of an ambush. Bob Bennett dismissed the claims as “ludicrous” in an interview with the local CBS TV station in Minneapolis. He noted that Justine Damond, … Read more
Disgraced American football star O. J. Simpson — who was acquitted of murdering his ex-wife and her friend, but jailed for armed robbery years later — is expected to be granted his release Thursday after nearly nine years in prison. Simpson, 70, could walk free as early as October 1 if a parole board in … Read more
Hundreds of refugees being held at a remote Papua New Guinea detention camp will be moved by October despite uncertainty over a resettlement deal with the United States, Australia’s immigration minister said Thursday. Canberra sends asylum-seekers who try to enter the country by boat to camps on Nauru and PNG’s Manus Island, with those found … Read more
MGM Television and Zynga are partnering to develop a new television game show based on “Words With Friends,” the companies announced Wednesday. Since launching in 2009, “Words With Friends” has been installed more than 200 million times and is one of the App Store’s Top 10 free games of all time. An estimated 55 million Words With Friends … Read more
Nine years after being sent to prison for armed robbery, fallen American idol O. J. Simpson is to find out whether he will regain his freedom. The 70-year-old former football star and actor is to appear before a parole board in the western state of Nevada on Thursday which will decide his fate. Simpson, who … Read more
The program “Stay Tuned,” produced by a 30-person team, resembles a regular news broadcast in that it is presented by a journalist seen on-screen. But it lasts just three minutes and consists of a rapid-fire series of video clips, none lasting even 10 seconds. Like other news organizations that broadcast content on social media, mainly … Read more
Radio 2 host, Chris Evans, has topped the list of the BBC’s best-paid stars. He topped the table, in a salary bracket of £2,200,000 – £2,249,999. Claudia Winkleman who was the highest-paid female celebrity, earned between £450,000 and £500,000. About two-thirds of stars earning more than £150,000 are male, compared to one-third female, according to … Read more
When John Lasseter was at high school he borrowed a weighty hardback called “The Art of Animation” and was astonished to discover that people could actually make money from drawing. The revelation inspired him to become one of history’s most successful and important animators, rivaled perhaps only by his friend, the legendary Japanese filmmaker Hayao … Read more
An eighth person who attended a controversial meeting with President Donald Trump’s eldest son has been identified as a top official of a company founded by a Russian billionaire with links to the Trumps, CNN said Tuesday. The confirmation is the latest development in the burgeoning scandal over the Trump campaign’s contacts with Russia, after … Read more
Stan Lee, whose Marvel superheroes have dominated popular culture for half a century, was honored Tuesday when he plunged his hands and feet into cement at Hollywood’s TCL Chinese Theater. In a typically colorful comment, the 94-year-old comic book legend — whose characters include Spider-Man, the Hulk, Iron Man, Captain America and Thor — joked … Read more
A weekend of bloodshed in Chicago left 11 people dead, including a nine-year-old boy, as police struggled to contain the gun violence plaguing the city in the US heartland. The boy was killed while riding in an SUV with a 31-year-old man. A grey sedan pulled alongside and someone inside began shooting, according to police … Read more
Children ‘exercise less as they get older’ The number of children doing an hour of exercise a day falls by nearly 40% between the ages of five and 12. Figures suggest that by the final year of primary school, just 17% of pupils are doing the recommended 60 minutes of physical activity every day. A … Read more