U.S. President Donald Trump said Friday that he’s dispatching the Secretary of State to sign an agreement with the Taliban in Afghanistan aimed at beginning a draw down of thousands of U.S. troops and ending America’s 18-year involvement in the war. Trump said Mike Pompeo would soon, at his direction, witness the signing of an agreement…

U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo defended the Trump administration’s response to the spreading coronavirus and faced contentious questions from Democrats about an airstrike that killed Iran’s most powerful general, Qassem Soleimani. Democrats on the House’s foreign affairs committee expressed frustration that the panel was afforded only two hours to question Pompeo, who until Friday…

Outspoken Hong Kong publisher Jimmy Lai and two prominent opposition politicians were charged Friday with illegal assembly over a pro-democracy march last year, as the territory’s Beijing-backed government appeared to move to settle scores over the protests. The months of demonstrations calling for reforms in semi-autonomous Hong Kong crippled its economy and put its leaders…

Taxi driver Marco Lo Bello sits in his driver’s seat, playing word games, while he awaits passengers in Milan. The dispatch radio is silent.  Lo Bello has been on the job for 35 years and says it’s never been this slow.  He points out his window to the empty Via Manzoni, a busy and fashionable…

The world prepared for a coronavirus pandemic on Friday as hopes the disease could be contained to China vanished and investors dumped equities in expectation of a global recession. South Korea reported 315 more virus cases, bringing its increase for the day to 571 and total number of infections to 2,337. For the first time,…

In a matter of weeks, former vice-president Joe Biden lost his status as the front runner for the Democratic nomination. That title now belongs to Sen. Bernie Sanders — and could be written in stone after Tuesday’s string of primaries across the United States. But first, Saturday’s South Carolina primary will give Biden one last chance…