Trump speaks with Taiwan’s president, risking China tensions
Trump speaks with Taiwan’s president, risking China tensions
NEW YORK (AP) — President-elect Donald Trump spoke Friday with the president of Taiwan, a move that will be sure to anger China.
It is highly unusual, probably unprecedented, for a U.S. president or president-elect to speak directly with a leader of Taiwan, a self-governing island the U.S. broke diplomatic ties with in 1979.
Washington has pursued a so-called “one China” policy since 1979, when it shifted diplomatic recognition of China from the government in Taiwan to the communist government on the Chinese mainland. Under that policy, the U.S. recognizes Beijing as representing China but retains unofficial ties with Taiwan.
A statement from Trump’s transition team said he spoke with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, who offered her congratulations. It was not clear who initiated the call.
China’s embassy in Washington did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
During first look at wildfire rubble, residents in a daze
GATLINBURG, Tenn. (AP) — Residents and business owners in Gatlinburg on Friday got their first look at the wildfire destruction, and many walked around the once-bustling tourist city in a daze, sobbing.
They hugged each other and promised that they would stay in touch.
“We love it up here so much,” said Gary Moore, his voice trembling. “We lost everything. But we’re alive, thank goodness. Our neighbors are alive, most of them. And we’re just so thankful for that.”
A county mayor raised the death toll to 13 and said the number of damaged buildings now approached 1,000.
After days of waiting to see their homes, some of the shock began to give way to anger, and local authorities bristled when asked why they waited so long to order the evacuation.
Russian military criticizes UN for dragging its feet on aid to areas of Aleppo
MOSCOW (AP) — The Russian military is criticizing the United Nations for dragging its feet on delivering humanitarian aid to the areas of Aleppo, which recently were seized by Syrian government forces.
Russian Defense Ministry spokesman Maj. Gen. Igor Konashenkov said the Russian military has been the only source of food, medicine and other supplies for 90,000 residents of Aleppo’s neighborhoods seized by the Syrian army this week.
In Friday’s statement, Konashenkov called on Jan Egeland, a senior U.N. aid official for Syria, to move faster to provide aid to the area.
Libya’s Tripoli sees worst militia clashes in 2 years
BENGHAZI, Libya (AP) — Clashes continued for the second day among heavily-armed militias in the Libyan capital Tripoli, vying for power and control of the city, with one dislodging another in at least two posts, a five-star hotel and a barracks, in what appears to be the worst outbreak of violence the city has seen in two years.
Competing militias chopped Tripoli up into fiefdoms and power centers after longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi, was ousted and killed in an uprising in 2011.They maintain what observers describe as a “balance of terror.”
Witnesses in Tripoli said Friday that gun battles rocked the southeastern Nasr Forest district and adjacent neighborhoods as residents were advised by a local emergency body affiliated with the Interior Ministry to remain home and away from windows. The clashes started Thursday and have reportedly killed at least eight, according to state news agency LANA. During a lull in the violence late Thursday night, panicked residents could be seen lining up outside gas stations to stock up on fuel.
In a statement Friday, U.N. Envoy to Libya Martin Kobler called for halt to the fighting, saying he is “extremely alarmed.”
“It’s completely unacceptable for armed groups to fight to assert their interest and control, particularly in residential areas, terrorizing the population,” he said.
Chains and branded skin: California kidnap case baffles cops
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Three weeks after Sherri Papini disappeared, the question of whether she was dead or alive was answered when the young mother and wife was spotted waving frantically for help along a California freeway early on Thanksgiving morning. But the mystery over what happened to her during those 22 days just seemed to grow stranger.
She was battered and bruised, her hands were chained, her long blond hair had been chopped off, and her flesh had been branded with a threatening message. The 34-year-old Papini told authorities that she had been kidnapped at gunpoint by two women Nov. 2 while she was out for a run near her home.
The bizarre turn of events — with many of the most sensational details released not by authorities but by her husband in an exclusive interview with ABC — has baffled police and set social media aflutter, with armchair detectives scouring the internet’s darkest corners for clues and others arguing that the case is some kind of twisted hoax, like something out of the movie “Gone Girl.”
Her husband, Keith Papini, has condemned the rumors as “exhausting and disgusting,” and police have said they have no reason to doubt his wife’s harrowing account. But they have a multitude of questions, among them: Who are these women? Where did they keep her? Was she selected at random or targeted?
And, most of all, why?
Police: Marksman killed gunman after child ran to porch
SEATTLE (AP) — The gunman had already shot a police officer, threatened to kill two children and barricaded himself upstairs in a house for 11 hours when one of the kids, a 6-year-old boy, escaped.
As the suspect held a little girl as a human shield, his movements exposed him to a sheriff’s marksman who targeted him through a window and killed him with a shot to the head, allowing the 8-year-old girl to break free from his grasp and run to safety, authorities disclosed Friday about the killing of Bruce R. Johnson in Tacoma, Washington.
“Once we were able to assess that the kids were still alive, it went into play,” sheriff’s spokesman Ed Troyer said of the SWAT team’s plan to end the standoff in a suburban neighborhood south of Seattle. “He had a choice to put the guns down. We weren’t about to let those kids get hurt.”
The standoff began after Police Officer Reginald “Jake” Gutierrez, 45, was fatally shot Wednesday night when he and his partner went into the house to investigate a domestic violence call. Gutierrez’s partner returned fire and helped get Johnson’s wife safely out of the house.
Other officers came under fire as they worked their way into the house and pulled Gutierrez out. He later died in surgery.