President Donald Trump ratcheted up an increasingly hostile feud with the media Saturday, announcing he would skip a century-old annual correspondents’ dinner a day after a fierce row erupted over press access to the White House.　The Trump White House triggered widespread outrage on Friday by denying access to an off-camera briefing to several major US media, including CNN, the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times and Politico.　Smaller outlets that have provided favorable coverage of the Trump

Billed as Germany's “anti-Trump,” former foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier was elected Sunday as the new head of state, vowing to stand up to simplistic populist rhetoric.　The 61-year-old, who regularly polls as Germany’s most popular politician, will represent the EU's top economy abroad in the largely ceremonial post and act as a kind of moral arbiter for the nation.　His Social Democrats (SPD) hope the appointment will boost their fortunes just as their candidate Martin Schulz, the form

Far-right leader Marine Le Pen vowed Sunday she would be a president who puts France first as she formally launched a campaign echoing many of the themes that propelled Donald Trump to the White House.　With polls showing her now leading the first round of the election race, the head of the National Front (FN) attacked “mass immigration.” globalization and “Islamic fundamentalism” and said she wanted a country “which owes nothing to anyone.”　In a speech in the central city of Lyon less than three

Neil Gorsuch, named Tuesday as President Donald Trump's nominee to the US Supreme Court, has a solidly conservative pedigree that has earned him comparison to the combative justice he would replace, Antonin Scalia. 　Gorsuch clerked for two Supreme Court justices and worked in President George W. Bush’s Justice Department before being appointed to the federal bench and authoring a series of sharply written, conservative opinions. His mother, Anne, ran President Ronald Reagan's Environmental Prote

On his first full day in office, President Donald Trump on Saturday berated the media over its coverage of his inauguration, and turned a bridge-building first visit to CIA headquarters into an airing of grievances about ``dishonest‘’ journalists. But it was Trump who spread inaccuracies about the size of the crowds at his swearing in.　Standing in front of a memorial for fallen CIA agents, Trump assured intelligence officials, ``I am so behind you.‘’ He made no mention of his repeated criticism

Last year, the Earth sweltered under the hottest temperatures in modern times for the third year in a row, US scientists said Wednesday, raising new concerns about the quickening pace of climate change.　Temperatures spiked to new national highs in parts of India, Kuwait and Iran, while sea ice melted faster than ever in the fragile Arctic, said the report by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.　Taking a global average of the land and sea surface temperatures for the entire year,

China‘s President Xi Jinping speaks in the Congress Hall on day one of the 47th Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Tuesday. EPA-YonhapDAVOS, Switzerland (AFP) -- With Donald Trump about to get the keys to the White House and the political winds blowing a populist gale through Europe, Enter stage left Chinese President Xi Jinping, who in an hourlong speech Tuesday won over a crowd of ardent capitalists gathered at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. 　“I’

BRUSSELS (AFP) -- EU heavyweights Germany and France led a sharp European response to US President-elect Donald Trump Monday after he branded NATO “obsolete” and said more countries would leave the EU after Britain.　In a hard-hitting interview with two European newspapers, Trump unleashed a volley of verbal attacks on Europe and criticized German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s “catastrophic” decision to open Germany’s borders to Syrian refugees.　With fears growing in Europe over Trump’s commitment t

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket with 10 Iridium NEXT communications satellites lifts off from launch complex 40 at the Space Launch Complex 4E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, Saturday. AP-YonhapMIAMI (AFP) -- SpaceX on Saturday successfully launched and landed its first unmanned Falcon 9 rocket since a costly and complicated launchpad explosion in September.　“Liftoff of the Falcon 9,” a SpaceX commentator said as the tall white rocket launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Californi