President Donald Trump said Friday he had offered to help Brazil as it grapples with thousands of wildfires burning in the Amazon.
Trump said he had spoken with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro and stated that the countries' prospects for trade are "perhaps stronger than ever."
"I told him if the United States can help with the Amazon Rainforest fires, we stand ready to assist!" Trump tweeted.

Trump offers to help Brazil with Amazon fires

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President Jair Bolsonaro on Friday authorized the deployment of Brazil's armed forces to help combat fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, as a growing global outcry over the blazes sparks protests and threatens a huge trade deal.
Plumes of thick smoke rose into the sky above dense forest in the northwestern state of Rondonia, where bright orange flames from various fires were visible for kilometers , an AFP photographer reported.
"It's not normal and it's like this because of the smoke from the fires," said a hotel employee in the state capital Porto Velho, which was covered by a layer of smoke as fires burned near the city.
The fires in the world's largest rainforest have sparked street protests around the planet and ignited a war of words between Bolsonaro and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, who has described the wildfires as an "international crisis" and vowed to block a trade agreement between the European Union and South American countries.
The latest official figures ..

Brazil's Bolsonaro authorizes army to help fight Amazon fires

President Donald Trump hit back at China on Friday in their mounting trade war, raising existing and planned tariffs in retaliation for Beijing's announcement earlier in the day of new duties on American goods.
Trump slammed the "unfair Trading Relationship," and said "China should not have put new Tariffs on 75 BILLION DOLLARS of United States product (politically motivated!)."
The promised response -- which came in a signature Trump tweetstorm -- said existing 25 per cent tariffs on USD 250 billion in Chinese goods will increase to 30 per cent starting October 1.
And tariffs on USD 300 billion in products, due to take effect September 1 at 10 per cent, will now be set at 15 per cent, he said.

Trump hits back at China in tariffs war

Tunisian authorities arrested a controversial presidential candidate and founder of a major television channel for alleged money laundering, his party said Friday, hours after his channel was banned from covering campaigning.
"About 15 police cars blocked the road and rushed to Nabil Karoui's car before armed civilian police asked him to come with them, saying they had instructions to arrest him," said Oussama Khlifi of the mogul's Qalb Tounes party.
Private radio station Mosaique FM quoted a judicial official Friday confirming that an arrest warrant had been issued against Karoui and his brother Ghazi for money laundering.
Authorities did not immediately confirm his arrest.
Tunisia has been seen as a rare success story among nations that underwent the Arab Spring uprisings, emerging as a nascent democracy.
Karoui was among 26 presidential candidates given preliminary approval this month to run in the election, set for September 15.
The tycoon was charged with money laundering in ...

Tunisia arrests media mogul presidential candidate: party

The United Nations special envoy for the Central African Republic on Friday threatened sanctions for violations of a peace agreement signed by the government and rebel groups to end a war that has ravaged the country since 2013.
The CAR is experiencing relative calm since the accord was signed in February between the government and 14 military groups -- the eighth deal since the conflict erupted -- but clashes are still regular in the landlocked country.
"Sanctions will be strictly applied to all those who violate the provisions of the agreement," UN envoy Mankeur N'Diaye told several leaders and representatives of armed groups in Bangui in a follow-up meeting on the peace agreement.
"All that has been tolerated will not be tolerated from today," he said.
Despite the agreement, between 10 and 70 violations of the pact, including murders, rapes and kidnappings, are recorded each week by the UN Mission in Central Africa, MINSUCA, which has so far favoured a strategy of dialogue with ...

UN threatens sanctions over C.Africa peace pact violations

French President Emmanuel Macron's decision to oppose an EU trade pact with South American bloc Mercosur is "not the right response" to tackling the Amazon fires in Brazil, the German government said Friday.
"Failing to conclude the Mercosur agreement would not contribute to reducing the clearing of the rainforest in Brazil," a German government spokesman told AFP.
"The magnitude of the fires is alarming and we are ready to support Brazil in its efforts to quickly overcome this serious crisis," he added.
Macron is leading international pressure on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro over the fires raging in the Amazon rainforest, telling him Paris would block the major trade deal.
The free trade agreement between the EU and Mercosur (Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay), signed in late June after 20 years of negotiations, has been widely criticised, particularly by the agricultural sector and environmentalists.
France conditioned its validation of the agreement on Brazil's ...

Germany opposes blocking EU-Mercosur pact over Amazon fires

Josh Hazlewood took five wickets as England were bowled out for just 67 on the second day of the third Test at Headingley on Friday to leave Australia on the verge of retaining the Ashes.
This was England's lowest Ashes total since 1948 and the fourth time in 18 months they had been dismissed for under a hundred in a Test  -- a record unmatched by any other side in the same period.
Fast bowler Hazlewood took 5-30 in an England innings that was wrapped up inside 28 overs.
Ashes-holders Australia -- who will go 2-0 up with just two to play in this five-match series by winning at Headingley -- then strengthened their grip to be 171-6 in their second innings at stumps, a commanding lead of 283 runs.
Marnus Labuschagne, whose first-innings 74 was seven more than England managed between them, was 53 not out.
It was his third straight fifty of the series after he made 59 in the second innings of the drawn second Test at Lord's after coming into the side as a concussion substitute for star ...

Australia on brink of retaining Ashes after England's woeful 67 all out

US President Donald Trump has dropped plans to take back up to USD 4 billion allocated for foreign aid, the State Department said Friday, in the face of opposition from both sides of the aisle in Congress.
The president opted "not to pursue a rescission proposal for funds appropriated for the State Department and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)," a State Department official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The Office of Management and Budget wrote to State and USAID announcing a freeze for the remaining fiscal year ending September 30 on funds for programs ranging from peacekeeping and health to anti-drug operations.
This prompted a chorus of dissent from senior Democratic and Republican lawmakers, who said in a joint letter to the president the cash was "essential to promoting US global leadership" and protecting Americans.
Speaking in Ottawa on Thursday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo didn't push back against proposals to cut his budget.
"What I ...

Trump drops plan to take back foreign aid

Taylor Swift, currently promoting the release of her latest album, has accused Donald Trump of treating his White House reign as an "autocracy," in a new political turn for the singer.
"We're a democracy -- at least, we're supposed to be -- where you're allowed to disagree, dissent, debate," the pop star said in snippets of an interview teased Friday by The Guardian.
Speaking about the US president, the 29-year-old said, "I really think that he thinks this is an autocracy."
In American politics, Swift said, "all the dirtiest tricks in the book were used and it worked."
She described the current state of affairs as "gaslighting the American public into being like, 'If you hate the president, you hate America.'"
Swift has faced criticism in the past for shying from politics, especially in 2016 when she did not use her enormous platform to endorse a candidate in the pivotal presidential vote.
Now she says she is "remorseful" for not speaking up during that election, saying in hindsight ..

In political turn, Taylor Swift accuses Trump of 'autocracy'

US President Donald Trump lashed out at Beijing and vowed a quick response to China's plans for new tariffs, while ordering American companies to leave the country.
The blistering Twitter screed called into doubt chances for a quick resolution to the escalating trade war between the world's economic superpowers, which by the end of the year will cover nearly all imports and exports exchanged between the two countries.
"We don't need China and, frankly, would be far... better off without them, Trump said.
The trade friction already has slowed US growth, and undercut the global economy, so the threat of a deterioration sent stock markets falling sharply.
The Dow lost more than 500 points from its peak, while London's FTSE and the German DAX also lost ground.
"Our Country has lost, stupidly, Trillions of Dollars with China over many years. They have stolen our Intellectual Property at a rate of Hundreds of Billions of Dollars a year, & they want to continue. I won't let that ...

Trump lashes out at China, vows quick response

The US and the Taliban said they would return to talks in Qatar on Friday aimed at bringing a close to Afghanistan's 18-year conflict.
Taliban spokesman Zabihullah Mujahid told a media WhatsApp group that day two of the ninth round of negotiations in Doha would "restart after evening prayers and will continue till late evening".
A source close to the US negotiating team confirmed to AFP that "talks will resume this afternoon".
The US, which invaded Afghanistan and toppled the Taliban in 2001, wants to withdraw thousands of troops but only in return for the insurgent group renouncing Al-Qaeda and curbing attacks.
Washington is hoping to strike an agreement with the Taliban by September 1 -- ahead of Afghan polls due the same month, and US presidential polls due in 2020.
Taliban lead negotiator Abbas Stanikzai told AFP Thursday that talks had been "going well".
The talks are expected to focus on establishing a timeline for the US withdrawal of its more than 13,000 troops.
"We've been ...

US, Taliban due to resume peace push at Doha talks

French prosecutors said Friday they had opened an inquiry into the suspected rape and sexual abuse of minors linked to the scandal surrounding disgraced US multimillionaire  Jeffrey Epstein.
The move came after growing calls for French investigators to look into allegations of abuse at Epstein's sumptuous apartment near the Champs-Elysees in Paris.
"The investigations... will focus on potential crimes against French victims committed on national territory as well as abroad, and on perpetrators who are French citizens," Paris Prosecutor Remy Heitz said in a statement.
The potential charges could include the rape and sexual assault of minors aged 15 and over, the prosecutors said.
It will also investigate claims Epstein and others participated for years in a vast child sex trafficking ring.
The move came after US investigators turned up links in France in their probe into the disgraced financier, who was found hanged at his New York jail cell on August 10 while awaiting trial on new sex 

France opens Epstein-linked rape, abuse probe

Rohingya imams offered special prayers Friday for a safe return to their homeland ahead of the second anniversary of hundreds of thousands of the minority fleeing Myanmar to Bangladesh.
Some 740,000 Rohingya from Myanmar's Rakhine state escaped in August 2017 a military offensive, joining another 200,000 who had fled earlier persecution.
Two years later they remain in vast refugee camps in Bangladesh refusing to go home until Myanmar guarantees their safety and gives them citizenship.
The imam at the Khadijatul Kubra mosque in Kutupalong -- the largest refugee settlement in the world -- prayed to "soften up" the heart of the Myanmar government.
"Let us go back home in peace," Abdul Hakim said.
Most of the displaced mostly Muslim minority left their homes clutching only what they could carry.
Bangladesh and Myanmar signed a repatriation deal in 2017 but two attempts to start sending people back, in November and then again this week, failed as the refugees refused to go.
In addition to .

Rohingya offer special prayers to go home

Frank Lampard insists Chelsea's misfiring strikers will rediscover their touch in front of goal.
Lampard's forwards are still waiting for their first Premier League goal this season after midfielder Mason Mount netted in last weekend's draw with Leicester.
Neither Tammy Abraham or Olivier Giroud scored in the opening defeat at Manchester United, while Michy Batshuayi has yet to feature.
Lampard has no options to change his forward line with Chelsea serving a transfer ban.
France veteran Giroud did score in Chelsea's European Super Cup loss to Liverpool in Istanbul and Lampard is confident his forwards will come good, starting at Norwich on Saturday.
"As I said before, if we'd have been more clinical in front of goal we possibly could have had three wins," Lampard told reporters on Friday.
"The competition is there and that's the challenge for the strikers.
"I've got no problems with their attitude and training. We work hard on the training ground as a team to create and also to ...

Lampard says Chelsea's misfiring strikers will come good

US President Donald Trump on Friday pledged a quick response to China's decision to slap a new round of tariffs on US goods, and told American firms to find an "alternative" to making their products in China.
In a series of bilstering tweets, Trump did not hint at what his response to Beijing would be.
He "ordered" US companies to change their production strategies, but did not say how he would enforce such an order.
"I will be responding to China's Tariffs this afternoon," Trump said.
"The vast amounts of money made and stolen by China from the United States, year after year, for decades, will and must STOP," he added.
"Our great American companies are hereby ordered to immediately start looking for an alternative to China, including bringing your companies HOME and making your products in the USA.

Trump vows quick response to China tariffs

At least four people died and nearly three dozen were missing after a passenger ferry went up in flames off Indonesia's Java island, authorities said Friday.
The boat was travelling from Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya to Balikpapan on Borneo island with some 277 people aboard when it caught fire Thursday evening, according to police.
Television images on Friday showed plumes of black smoke pouring out of the boat, as search teams hunted for the missing passengers after scores were rescued.
East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera confirmed Friday that at least four people died in the accident and dozens were unaccounted for.
Earlier, Syachrul Nugroho, a spokesman for Surabaya's Tanjung Perak port, gave a lower figure for the number of missing.
"We don't know if they're still on the boat," he said.
The cause of the accident was not immediately clear.
Nugroho said it appeared a fire had broken out and the ferry's power went down, cutting off its water pumps.
"The crew ..

Four dead, 33 missing after Indonesia ferry fire: Police

A Spanish navy patrol boat sent to Lampedusa to pick up 15 migrants from the charity rescue ship Open Arms arrived Friday off the southern Italian island, the Spanish government said.
The Audaz will pick up 15 migrants who arrived in Lampedusa on the Open Arms, Spain's quota of migrants agreed with France, Germany, Portugal and Luxembourg.
"The navy ship Audaz has arrived in Lampedusa," government spokeswoman Isabel Celaa told a news conference.
Lampedusa has long been a magnet for African migrants fleeing poverty and conflict.
It was not yet clear when the ship will begin its return trip as the 15 migrants still need to go through administrative procedures in Italy, Celaa added.
Madrid on Tuesday dispatched the Audaz to take all of the migrants who were aboard the Spanish vessel, stranded off Lampedusa for days because Rome refused to let them set foot on Italian soil.
But just a couple of hours later an Italian prosecutor ordered that the roughly 80 migrants still aboard the Open ...

Spanish ship arrives in Italy to take in 15 rescued migrants

Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said Friday that Turkish troops will not quit a military observation post in northwestern Syria where they are surrounded by government forces.
"We are there, not because we can't leave but because we don't want to leave," he told a news conference in Lebanon, denying that Turkish troops had been "cut off" by a government advance into the jihadist-ruled Idlib region.
Earlier, Syrian regime forces overran a string of towns and villages in the north of Hama province, including the town of Morek, where the Turkish observation post is located, Syria's state news agency SANA said.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said that "regime forces have surrounded the Turkish observation post in Morek" after the advance.
Cavusoglu acknowledged that "there are clashes in the Idlib region".
"Regime forces are conducting activities around our observation post," he said , adding that the issue was being discussed with Damascus allies Russia and ...

Turkey vows not to quit army post surrounded in Syria

French prosecutors said Friday that they had opened an inquiry into suspected cases of rape and sexual abuse of women, including minors, by late US financier Jeffrey Epstein, a convicted sex offender.
"The investigations... will focus on potential crimes committed against French victims on national territory as well as abroad, and on suspects who are French citizens," Paris Prosecutor Remy Heitz said in a statement.
The potential charges could include rape and sexual assault against minors, including some younger than 15 years old, prosecutors said.
It will also investigate claims Epstein and others participated for years in a vast child sex trafficking ring.
The move came after US investigators turned up links in France to the disgraced financier, who hanged himself in his New York jail cell this month while awaiting trial on new sex trafficking charges.
Epstein had just arrived in the United States from Paris, where he owned a posh apartment near the Arc de Triomphe, when he was ...

France opens rape, child assault inquiry against Epstein

Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro said Friday he is considering deploying the army to help combat fires in the Amazon rainforest, amid growing international pressure over the wildfires.
The fires raging in parts of the world's largest rainforest have sparked protests around the world, ignited a war of words between Bolsonaro and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron, and threatened a blockbuster trade deal with the European Union.
The latest official figures show 76,720 forest fires were recorded in Brazil so far this year -- the highest number for any year since 2013. More than half are in the Amazon.
"The tendency is that," Bolsonaro told reporters in Brazil's capital Brasilia when asked if he was considering sending the army to fight the fires.
A decision would be made Friday morning, he added.
Bolsonaro's remarks come as demonstrations are held around the world over the fires in the Amazon forest, a region considered the "lungs of the planet" and seen as crucial to keeping ...

Bolsonaro mulls deploying army to combat Amazon fires

Global stock markets fell on Friday as trade war worries returned with a vengeance when China said it would target US imports worth USD 75 billion with new tariffs.
The new round in the bruising trade war between Washington and Beijing caused a sudden trend reversal in European markets which had been showing solid gains in the morning.
Wall Street, which had been expected to open higher, also came off to a weaker start.
US stocks were "decisively lower", said analysts at Charles Schwab, "with the threat of new tariffs on USD 75 billion of US goods by China causing trade fears to ramp up".
Trade blues even overshadowed excited anticipation ahead of a key speech by Federal Reserve boss Jerome Powell, which will be parsed for clues about the US central bank's plans for monetary policy.
There are hopes Powell will outline further cuts to borrowing costs, having done so last month for the first time since the financial crisis, but with the US economy in much better health than most others, 

AFP

AFP

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