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Transatlantic bond 'strongest bulwark' against instability: Mattis Munich, Germany The bond between Europe and America is the "strongest bulwark" against instability and violence, US Defence Secretary Jim Mattis said Friday as he tried to calm jittery allies seeking clarity from Donald Trump's White House. International partners remain deeply troubled after Trump's campaign rhetoric questioned long-established alliances, and they worry about a growing scandal over possible ties between some of Trump's staff and Moscow. "The transatlantic bond remains our strongest bulwark against instability and violence," Mattis told the Munich Security Conference. "I am confident that we will strengthen our partnerships, confronting those who choose to attack innocent people or our democratic processes and freedoms." Mattis, a retired four-star Marine general who spent years working with international partners, has often taken a divergent tone fr

China first, Russia second by Michael Klare If there’s a single consistent aspect to Pres. Donald Trump’s strategic vision, it’s that the simple principle of “America First” should always govern U.S. foreign policy, with this country’s vital interests placed above those of all others. “We will always put America’s interests first,” he  declared  in his victory speech in the early hours of Nov. 9, 2016. “From this day forward, it’s going to be only America first, America first,” he  insisted in his inaugural address on Jan. 20, 2017. Since then, however, everything he’s done in the international arena has, intentionally or not, placed America’s interests behind those of its arch-rivals, China and Russia. So to be accurate, his guiding policy formula should really be relabeled America Third. Given 19 months of bravado public rhetoric, there was no way to imagine a Trumpian presidency that would favor America’s leading competitors. Throughout the campaign, he  castigated China for i

The Minister of Health, Prof. Isaac Adewole, on Monday canvassed patronage for Nigerian doctors, declaring their services better than their counterparts abroad. Adewole said this during the commissioning of the Maternity and Neonatal Wards and Central Pharmacy Building at the Obafemi Awolowo University Teaching Hospital Complex (OAUTHC), Ile-Ife in Osun. The minister commended the hospital management for the effective services rendered for the masses, charging them to publicise the hospital services for more patronage. He dismissed speculations that the hospital’s services were limited and that it had no effective medical equipment. He reiterated the plan of the Federal Government to provide standard healthcare for people across the nation. He emphasised that the Rapid Response Initiative (RRI) of the Federal Ministry of Health would continue to provide quick assistance especially to the less privileged. “The RRI will continue for the citizenries to benefit the more. “Majority of the c

Ever have a hard time understanding a road sign in another country? Computer vision startup Mapillary thinks it has a solution. You know how Google hopes to “organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful?” Swedish startup Mapillary wants to do the same thing with the world’s road signs. As it turns out, from warnings about polar bears to alerts concerning “ invisible cows ,” there are some pretty darn unusual roadside messages you’ll come across as you travel the globe. But if you’re only used to the regular old boring signs found in your neighborhood, being expected to understand all of them from behind the wheel is a tall order. Throw self-driving cars — which need to understand this stuff to get you safely from point A to point B — into the mix and things become even more confusing. Computer vision company  Mapillary  has spent the past several years working on just this problem. “Mapillary is a collaborative street-level imagery platform power

The speaker of the UK House of Commons says he is "opposed" to a speech by US President Donald Trump in Westminster Hall, particularly after his order for imposition of a travel ban on seven Muslim-majority countries. John Bercow made the remarks during a speech to the House of Commons on Monday after a point of order by a fellow Labour MP, Stephen Doughty. Bercow noted that his opposition to a Trump speech intensified after the new president‘s executive order. “Before the imposition of the migrant ban I would myself have been strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall. After the imposition of the migrant ban by President Trump I am even more strongly opposed to an address by President Trump in Westminster Hall,” said the speaker. Bercow’s stance complicates the situation for the government of Prime Minister Theresa May, who has been promoting a boost in the UK-US “special relationship” after Trump’s grip on power. Britain's Prime Minister

US President Donald Trump Iran has “total disregard” for the United States, says President Donald Trump, repeating his rhetoric against the nuclear deal between Tehran and the world powers, including Washington. The accord, known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) is “the worst deal I’ve ever seen negotiated,” he said in an interview with Fox News on Sunday. Since he started campaigning for the 2016 presidential election, the New York billionaire has on several occasions spoken ill of the JCPOA, giving promises ranging from an immediate repealing of the deal to renegotiating it. His Sunday appearance still  left the “door open,”  as Fox News put it on its headline. “We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. The new president also parroted the anti-Iran rhetoric, promoted by the GOP and his cabinet members,  accusing  Tehran of supporting terrorism. “They’re sending money all over the place and weapons, and you can’t do that,” he said. “That deal, I would have lived

A U.S. judge has ordered Google to comply with search warrants seeking customer emails stored outside the United States, diverging from a federal appeals court that reached the opposite conclusion in a similar case involving Microsoft Corp. U.S. Magistrate Judge Thomas Rueter in Philadelphia ruled on Friday that transferring emails from a foreign server so FBI agents could review them locally as part of a domestic fraud probe did not qualify as a seizure. The judge said this was because there was "no meaningful interference" with the account holder's "possessory interest" in the data sought. "Though the retrieval of the electronic data by Google from its multiple data centers abroad has the potential for an invasion of privacy, the actual infringement of privacy occurs at the time of disclosure in the United States," Rueter wrote. Google, a unit of Mountain View, California-based Alphabet Inc, said in a statement on Saturday: "The magistrate i

Iran's Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif tweeted on Friday that the Islamic Republic was unmoved by U.S. threats following its missile test launch and that Tehran would never initiate war. "Iran unmoved by threats as we derive security from our people. Will never initiate war, but we can only rely on our own means of defense," Zarif wrote. U.S. President Donald Trump tweeted early on Friday that "Iran is playing with fire" and "they don't appreciate how 'kind' President Obama was to them. Not me!" Trump said on Thursday that "nothing is off the table" in dealing with Iran following its launch of a ballistic missile. Fellow Republicans in Congress said they would back him up with new sanctions. Zarif said Iran had no intention to use its military might against any country, except in self-defense. "We will never use our weapons against anyone, except in self-defense. Let us see if any of those who complain can make the