politics

EU leaders discuss security cooperation with NATO chief

The 27 leaders of the European Union shifted their focus to defence and security issues on Friday when regrouping for a second day of online talks. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also joined the videoconference for a discussion on cooperation between the bloc and the defence alliance. "The EU efforts are going hand in hand with the military efforts across the continent," he said before heading into the talks. "For NATO, the main task during this pandemic has been to make sure that a health crisis doesn't turn into a security crisis," he said, "because the threats we are [sic] faced wi...

Will Bunch: Why Biden needs a prime-time, Oval Office speech to declare war on voter suppression

The Democratic president had won a strong victory in the November election, and now the nation's best-known civil-rights leaders were urging him to take strong federal action to override a number of states where conservative lawmakers and sheriffs were impeding Black and brown Americans from voting. The president agreed with them in private — but he also insisted that he had to go slow, because a voting rights showdown might cost him centrist votes he needed for his bold economic agenda to fight poverty, expand health care and overhaul immigration. But within weeks, something dramatic happened...

G-20 finance chiefs to discuss support for pandemic-hit global economy

Finance chiefs from the Group of 20 advanced and e...

Toyota to start sale of fuel cell system to outside companies in spring

Toyota Motor Corp. said Friday it will start selli...

Main events scheduled for March 1-7

Main events scheduled in Japan for March 1-7: Marc...

Gov't OKs bill to enable simpler court steps to spot cyberbullies

The Japanese government approved Friday a bill to ...

Main events scheduled for Saturday, Feb. 27

Stacey Abrams backs federal protection as Georgia election bills draw more criticism

WASHINGTON — Stacey Abrams says new federal protections for voting rights are needed because too many states, including Georgia, are trying to hinder access. Legislation proposed this year by Republicans in the Georgia's General Assembly would eliminate or limit automatic voter registration, early in-person voting and mail-in voting, Abrams said. These changes are unnecessary and amount to voter suppression, she told the U.S. House Administration Committee on Thursday, urging members to move forward with a bill that could prevent those changes from becoming law. "Federal legislation and federa...

New York mayor demands inquiry into Cuomo sexual harassment claims

New York (AFP) - New York City's mayor on Thursday joined a growing chorus of politicians calling for an investigation into sexual harassment allegations made against Governor Andrew Cuomo. Lindsey Boylan, a former aide to Cuomo, accused the governor of sexually harassing her when she worked for his administration from 2015 to 2018 in a blog post published Wednesday. She says Cuomo kissed her on the mouth without consent, suggested they played strip poker during a flight and went "out of his way to touch me on my lower back, arms and legs." Cuomo's office said in a statement that Boylan's "cla...

Biden, Saudi king speak ahead of Khashoggi murder report

Washington (AFP) - President Joe Biden held a long-delayed first phone call Thursday with Saudi King Salman ahead of an imminent US intelligence report expected to link the Arab kingdom's powerful crown prince to the killing of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi. Biden kept the king waiting in his long list of calls to US allies after being sworn in five weeks ago. And when he did finally reach out to the Saudis, it was pointedly to the king and not the expected successor Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, commonly known as MBS. The telephone diplomacy was all part of what the White House is ...