North America

Washington, Aug 16 (PTI) US President Donald Trump has revoked the security clearance of former CIA director John Brennan, accusing him of "lying" and blaming his "erratic conduct and behaviour."

The 62-year-old former intelligence official, who served in the previous Obama administration, has been one of the staunchest critics of President Trump and his policies.

He was the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) director from 2013 to 2017.

By Yoshita Singh

United Nations, Aug 15 (PTI) India and China, the most populous nations in the world, are key to making the United Nations relevant to everyone, President-elect of the UN General Assembly Maria Fernanda Espinosa Garces has said.

Garces visited the two countries this month as she prepares to assume the role of President of the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly in September.

NEW YORK, Aug. 13 (Xinhua) -- Airbus announced the successful landing of its solar-powered aircraft Zephyr S after it flew for over 25 days, setting a new world record of flight endurance without refuelling.

Zephyr S took off on July 11 in Arizona, the United States, and stayed aloft at over 70,000 feet (about 21.33 kilometers) for 25 days, 23 hours and 57 minutes, surpassing the old record of 14 days, 22 minutes and eight seconds set by an earlier Zephyr program variant.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- It had been expected up to about 400 white supremacists to gather outside the White House on Sunday. However, by 4:00 pm local time, only dozens of them emerged and marched through Washington D.C. , accompanied by huge boos from crowded counterprotesters separated by heavy police presence.

"Go home, Nazis", "Shame", counterprotesters yelled at the far-right demonstrators, some of them hiding their faces with masks, bags or flags.

WASHINGTON, Aug. 12 (Xinhua) -- Thousands of anti-protesters gathered in several locations in central Washington Sunday afternoon, hours before a controversial right supremacist rally is scheduled.

The protesters are gathered in Lafayette park, just across the street from the White House, and the freedom plaza, just blocks away.

The protesters gathered in the country's capital to mark the one-year anniversary of the deadly Charlottesville protest, during which a white supremacist killed a female anti protester, sparking nationwide furor.

12 Aug 2018; AFP: NASA on Sunday launched a $1.5 billion spacecraft toward the Sun on a historic mission to protect the Earth by unveiling the mysteries of dangerous solar storms.

12 Aug 2018; AFP: US President Donald Trump, often accused of denigrating non-white people, condemned racism Saturday as the nation marked the anniversary of deadly unrest triggered by a neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia.

10 Aug 2018; AFP: US President Donald Trump said Friday he had doubled steel and aluminum tariffs on Turkey, adding to pressure on that nation's troubled economy amid a diplomatic row with Washington.

"I have just authorized a doubling of Tariffs on Steel and Aluminum with respect to Turkey as their currency, the Turkish Lira, slides rapidly downward against our very strong Dollar!" Trump said on Twitter.

"Our relations with Turkey are not good at this time!"

11 Aug 2018; AFP: Two police officers were among four people killed Friday in a shooting that sparked panic and a police lockdown in a sleepy eastern Canadian city, as the nation grapples with rising gun violence.

Residents of the Brookside neighborhood of Fredericton, New Brunswick woke to the sounds of multiple gunshots.

11 Aug 2018; AFP: Monsanto's German owners insisted Saturday that the weed killer Roundup was "safe", rejecting a California jury's decision to order the chemical giant to pay nearly $290 million for failing to warn a dying groundskeeper that the product might cause cancer.