WASHINGTON -- The US will slash troop levels in Afghanistan and Iraq to their lowest levels in nearly 20 years of war after President Donald Trump pledged to end conflicts abroad, the Pentagon announced Tuesday. Rejecting concerns that precipitous drawdowns could give up all the US has fought for, Acting Defense Secretary Chris Miller said around 2,000 troops would be pulled from Afghanistan by ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Global hopes of vanquishing the coronavirus pandemic were boosted Monday after a vaccine was found to be nearly 95 percent effective in a trial, bringing much-needed optimism amid surging infections and grueling new restrictions. The news from the US biotech firm Moderna comes after similar results were announced last week for a vaccine candidate developed by pharma giant Pfi...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Thousands of die-hard Donald Trump supporters rallied for a last stand Saturday in Washington, chanting "four more years" and blaming fraud for an election defeat that will force the president to vacate the White House after just one term. Trump himself made a drive-past in his armored motorcade, on his way to play golf, smiling through his limousine window to wild cheers and ...

WASHINGTON (AFP) - US President Donald Trump and President-elect Joe Biden attended on Wednesday separate, simultaneous ceremonies marking Veterans Day, as what should have been a moment of national unity was marred by the Republican's refusal to acknowledge election defeat. On a rainy, gray day in Washington, the president visited Arlington National Cemetery for a somber wreath-laying ceremony,...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- The leaders of close US allies on Tuesday telephoned President-elect Joe Biden and pledged to work together but in an extraordinary break, America's top diplomat Mike Pompeo insisted that Donald Trump would remain in power. British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel all offered congratulations in calls to Biden, ...

HONG KONG (AFP) -- Pro-democracy lawmakers in Hong Kong's legislature will resign "en masse" if Beijing's top law-making committee moves to disqualify four of their colleagues for violating the semi-autonomous city's Basic Law, the convener of the bloc said Monday. The threat came ahead of a meeting of one of China's top law-making bodies, with Hong Kong media reporting that it was considering d...

BUDAPEST (AFP) -- Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban announced Monday a partial lockdown aimed at curbing a surge in coronavirus deaths that has sparked predictions of overwhelmed hospitals. The measures, due to start Wednesday, include an extension of an existing night-time curfew, a ban on gatherings, and closures of bars, restaurants and cultural venues, Orban said in a Facebook video. Sp...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Jill Biden is no stranger to the glare of the political spotlight. Her husband has been a Washington insider since they wed in 1977, and she was America's second lady for eight years. But now that Joe Biden has won the White House, his 69-year-old wife will have the opportunity to push the role of first lady into the 21st century -- by keeping her full-time job as a professor...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- US President-elect Joe Biden took the first steps Sunday towards moving into the White House in 73 days, as Donald Trump again refused to admit defeat and tried to sow doubt about the election results. With congratulations pouring in from world leaders and supporters nursing hangovers after a night of celebrations, Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris announced they w...

This was Biden's first public appearance since US television networks declared earlier Saturday that he'd taken an insurmountable lead in the nearly complete count from Tuesday's election, giving him victory against Trump, who will now become a rare one-term president. The celebratory event, which featured a confetti canon, fireworks and a soundtrack including Springsteen and Tina Turner, also g...

Joe Biden said Friday as he closed in on winning the US presidency he would he waste no time in addressing the Covid pandemic upon taking office. "I want everyone, everyone to know on day one we're going to put our plan to control this virus into action," Biden said in a late night address from his hometown Wilmington, in Delaware. Biden expressed confidence that he would defeat President Donal...

SHANGHAI (AFP) -- Chinese e-commerce leader Alibaba on Thursday reported solid 30 percent year-on-year revenue growth for the July-September quarter, providing some much-needed good news amid turmoil over its Ant Group affiliate's abandoned IPO. Hangzhou-based Alibaba said revenue -- a key measure of the internet giant's business health as well as overall Chinese consumer spending -- rose to 155...

WASHINGTON (AFP) -- Democrat Joe Biden took a huge step Wednesday to capturing the White House, with wins in Michigan and Wisconsin bringing him close to a majority, but President Donald Trump responded with fury as his campaign sued to suspend vote counting. In a brief address on national television, flanked by American flags and his vice presidential pick Kamala Harris, Biden said he wasn't ye...

READING (AFP) -- Donald Trump visits five swing states Sunday in a punishing finale to a frantic weekend sprint against challenger Joe Biden just days ahead of the US presidential election. The candidates and their top surrogates barreled through crucial states in the industrial Midwest and coastal southeast on Saturday, pressing closing arguments. Trump will rally voters Sunday with an exhaust...

SHANGHAI (AFP) -- Millions of census-takers began knocking on doors across China on Sunday for a once-a-decade head count of the world's largest population that for the first time will use mobile apps to help crunch the massive numbers. Around seven million community workers and volunteers will drive the two-month data-collection effort, visiting homes ranging from residential skyscrapers in dow...