NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. President Donald Trump has said that he would send National Guard troops to Memphis, Tennessee, to combat crime, following his administration’s unprecedented police takeover in Washington, D.C. last month. Trump has sought to make crime a central issue even as violent crime rates have fallen in many cities. His crackdown on Democratic-led municipalities has spurred protests, including a demonstration by several thousand people in Washington last weekend. “We’re going to Memphis. Memphis is deeply troubled,” Trump said in an interview with the Fox News “Fox and Friends” program at a studio in New York. “We’re going to fix that, just like we did Washington.”

 

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KINSHASA (AP) - A motorized boat capsized in northwestern Congo’s Equateur Province, killing at least 86 people, state media reported Friday. The state news agency reported that the accident occurred on Wednesday in Basankusu territory, and that most of the victims were students.  It was not immediately clear what caused the accident although state media attributed it to “improper loading and night navigation,” citing reports from the scene.  Images that appear to be from the scene showed villagers gathered around bodies as they mourned. 

 

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SEOUL (Reuters) - North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said the country will present a policy of jointly advancing nuclear arms and conventional military might during an upcoming key meeting of its ruling party, state media KCNA reported on Saturday. While inspecting weapons research centers on Thursday and Friday, Kim said “the 9th Congress of the Workers’ Party of Korea would put forward the policy of simultaneously pushing forward the building of nuclear forces and conventional armed forces in the field of building up national defence”, KCNA said. Kim also on Friday oversaw a shooting drill by North Korean military and inspected a hospital construction site, KCNA said.

 

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KATHMANDU, Nepal (AP) — Nepalese authorities lifted the curfew in the country’s capital and surrounding areas on Saturday as calm returned following the appointment of the Himalayan nation’s first woman prime minister in the wake of protests this week that killed at least 51 people and collapsed the government. In the capital, Kathmandu, and neighboring Lalitpur and Bhaktapur areas, officials told people they could move around freely while markets reopened and traffic returned on the streets. The massive demonstrations began on Monday over a social media ban and quickly turned violent, with protesters attacking government buildings and police opening fire.

 

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SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australia said on Saturday it would spend A$12 billion ($8 billion) to establish defense facilities in Western Australia to help deliver submarines under the AUKUS nuclear submarine deal. The AUKUS pact, agreed upon by Australia, Britain and the U.S. in 2021, aims to provide Australia with nuclear-powered attack submarines from the next decade to counter China’s ambitions in the Indo-Pacific region. President Donald Trump’s administration is undertaking a formal review of the pact. 

 

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LONDON (Reuters) - Britain’s biggest company AstraZeneca has paused a planned 200 millionpound ($271.26 million) investment in its Cambridge research site, a spokesperson said, the latest drugmaker to pull back on its business in Britain. The decision on the investment, which had been set to create 1,000 jobs, means none of AstraZeneca’s planned new funding - originally announced in March 2024 - is currently proceeding. In January, the company scrapped plans to invest 450 million pounds in its vaccine manufacturing plant in northern England, citing a cut in British government support. U.S. drugmaker Merck & Co this week blamed the UK’s challenging business environment as it abandoned a new research centre in London.