WASHINGTON(AFP) - U.S. television networks staged an extraordinary revolt Monday when they effectively boycotted coverage of President Donald Trump in protest at his decision to ban three leading outlets from the White House. CNN, MS NOW and Politico also went to court after Trump on Friday ordered them to be barred, as the 80-year-old Republican stepped up his years-long assault on the U.S. media. As a result of the row, Trump’s opening of his cherished new White House helipad and his trip to the United Nations General Assembly proceeded without live television coverage.

 

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KANO (Reuters) - Residents of Nigeria’s north-central Niger protested on Monday over the abduction of hundreds of people who they said remained in captivity a month after gunmen attacked several communities in one of the country’s largest mass kidnappings. The protesters, from Dekara and neighboring communities in Borgu district where residents say armed men abducted about 600 people, mostly women, children and the elderly, converged on the local government headquarters in New Bussa to demand the captives’ release.

 

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TOKYO (AFP) - Four people have died in Japan after Typhoon Dujuan battered Tokyo and surrounding prefectures with torrential rains and destructive winds, local reports said. The storm cut power for 50,000 people and caused the suspension of hundreds of flights. Most evacuation orders were lifted on Tuesday as the storm pulled away from Japan’s eastern coast. At the height of the storm on Monday, authorities warned of an “imminent threat to life” and urged 1.9 million people to move to shelters. The fatalities were from landslides in Kanagawa and Chiba prefectures. Six others were reported missing, public broadcaster NHK reported.

 

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Two pilots died when their helicopter crashed on Sunday afternoon while dropping water on a wildfire in California’s Yosemite National Park, authorities said on Monday. Greg King, with contract firm Precision, was one of the pilots who died, according to a statement from the Alaska Division of Forestry and Fire Protection. The second pilot was not named as family members were still being notified, the agency said. The pilots were carrying out water bucket drops on the Dome Fire when their Super Puma helicopter went down southeast of Ostrander Lake, according to Connie Lau, a spokesperson for the California team managing the response to the fire.

 

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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The United States plans to re-establish a Cold War-era military base in southern Greenland and set up another on the autonomous territory’s east coast, according to three people who spoke with Reuters. The sites of the bases include Narsarsuaq, with a population of only a few dozen people since the U.S. closed its Bluie West One military base in the 1950s, and Mestersvig, a military outpost used by the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, a Danish special forces unit. According to the report, Denmark, Greenland and the United States are expected to sign the agreement at the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday, though its full text has not been made public.