WASHINGTON (AFP) -- President Donald Trump said Monday he is "strongly" considering accepting a challenge from opposition Democrats to testify in his own impeachment investigation.After the speaker of the lower house, Nancy Pelosi, upped the ante by suggesting that Trump come forward to tell the "truth," the Republican president said he was keen.Pelosi suggested "that I testify about the phony Impeachment Witch Hunt. She also said I could do it in writing," Trump tw

LONDON (AFP) -- Airbnb became a leading partner of the Olympics in a nine-year deal announced Monday that drew strong criticism from Paris, host of the 2024 summer Games.In the deal unveiled in London, the home rental platform became a "Top" International Olympic Committee partner, joining titans including Coca Cola and Visa on the highest sponsorship level. But in a letter sent last week and seen by AFP on Monday, the mayor of Paris warned IOC head Thomas Bach about the "risks&qu

China will not simply sit back and watch if months of protests in Hong Kong develop into an "uncontrollable" situation, the country's ambassador to Britain said Monday."I think the Hong Kong government is trying very hard to put the situation under control," Liu Xiaoming told a London press conference, as fresh violence erupts after months of protests."But if the situation becomes uncontrollable, the central government would certainly not sit on our hands and watch. We h

TOKYO (AFP) -- Robot versions of Japan's Olympic and Paralympic mascots thrilled hundreds of school children in Tokyo on Monday, striking sporting poses and displaying hearts in their electronic eyes.The event at a local elementary school was billed as a chance to showcase some of the technology Japan hopes will wow visitors at the Tokyo 2020 Games.Some 600 pupils clapped and shouted "kawaii (cute)!" as the toddler-sized versions of the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic mascots were un

HONG KONG (AFP) -- A government ban on demonstrators wearing face masks, aimed at helping to quell months of pro-democracy unrest in Hong Kong, is unconstitutional, the territory's high court ruled Monday."The restrictions it imposes on fundamental rights... go further than is reasonably necessary... and therefore fail to meet the proportionality test," the court said, according to a press summary. The ban on face-covering came into force in October, when the city's unelected pro-Beiji

TOKYO (AFP) -- Japan's Z Holdings, formerly Yahoo Japan, will merge with mobile chat app operator Line, the firms said Monday, in a bid to boost the customer base for their digital services.Mobile operator SoftBank Corp, the parent of Z Holdings, and South Korea's Naver, Line's parent company, agreed the merger of ZHD and Line, SoftBank and Naver said in a joint statement.Line will be delisted after SoftBank and Naver make a tender offer, with the merger expected to happen in October 2020.The de

HONG KONG (AFP) -- China's President Xi Jinping warned Thursday that protests in Hong Kong threaten the "one country, two systems"  principle governing the semi-autonomous city that has tipped into worsening violence with two dead in a week.Hong Kong has been ruled by a unique system guaranteeing greater freedoms than on the mainland since its handover from British rule to China in 1997.But protests, which began against a now-shelved extradition bill to China, have spiralled into

SANTA CLARITA (AFP) -- A teenage boy gunned down fellow students at a California high school on his 16th birthday Thursday, killing two and wounding another three before turning the pistol on himself.The gunman was taken into custody in "grave" condition, police said, as officers stormed Saugus High School in Santa Clarita -- the latest in a relentless cycle of classroom shootings in the United States that have left around 300 youngsters dead over two decades. The chilling scene played

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Donald Trump on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to bar a prosecutor from obtaining his tax returns, arguing that as president he has blanket immunity.Trump, a former New York businessman, is the first American president since Richard Nixon not to make his tax returns public, arguing they're under audit by the Internal Revenue Service.Opposition Democrats have turned to the courts to force their release in a case that's considered a crucial test of the separation of powers. A

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Two top US diplomats delivered gripping testimony Wednesday about Donald Trump's efforts to get Ukraine to investigate his potential 2020 rival Joe Biden, as the impeachment inquiry into the president shifted into a new phase of high-stakes televised hearings.Trump dismissed the probe in the Democratic-led House of Representatives as a "witch hunt" and said he was "too busy" to watch the first public hearings, during which he received staunch backing from

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Hong Kong pro-democracy protesters fought intense battles with riot police on a university campus and paralysed the city's upmarket business district Tuesday, extending one of the most violent stretches of unrest seen in more than five months of political chaos.The confrontations followed a particularly brutal day on Monday, when police shot a protester and a man was set on fire, prompting calls from western powers for compromise but further fury in China against any challenge

SHANGHAI (AFP) -- Chinese consumers closed in on a new spending record Monday during the annual "Singles' Day" frenzy, the world's biggest 24-hour shopping event, which kicked off this year with a glitzy show by US megastar Taylor Swift.E-commerce leader Alibaba said that within the first 12 hours, nearly 192 billion yuan ($27.4 billion) had been spent -- apparently on pace to shatter last year's full 24-hour record of $30.7 billion.China's economy is in the midst of an extended slowdo

German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier urged the United States to be a “mutually respectful partner” and reject nationalism, in a clear salvo aimed at US leader Donald Trump as Germany on Saturday marked 30 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall.Recalling the United States’ key role in helping to bring down the hated Wall separating communist East Germany from the capitalist West, Steinmeier said he still hears the late US President Ronald Reagan’s cry of “tear d

HONG KONG (AFP) -- A Hong Kong police officer shot at masked protesters on Monday morning, hitting at least one in the torso, as anger sparked by the recent death of a student spilled into the rush hour commute.The shooting, which was broadcast live on Facebook, is the latest escalation in more than five months of seething pro-democracy protests that have engulfed the international financial hub and battered its reputation.Footage showed a police officer drawing his sidearm in the district of Sa

LA PAZ (AFP) -- Bolivian President Evo Morales resigned Sunday, caving in following three weeks of sometimes-violent protests over his disputed re-election after the army and police withdrew their backing."I resign my post as president," the leftist Morales said in a televised address, capping a day of fast-moving events in which many ministers and senior officials quit as support for Latin America's longest-serving president crumbled.The streets of La Paz immediately exploded in celeb