United States

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull confirmed the agreement this morning, but did not provide any details on timeframes or the number of people involved.

Speaking in Canberra alongside Immigration Minister Peter Dutton, Turnbull said the deal would only apply to those currently on Nauru and Manus Island.

"There will be American officials from Homeland Security coming to Australia to begin the process in the next few days."

As of October 31, there were 872 people in the processing centre on Manus Island and 390 people in Nauru's centre.

Michael McFaul said the ban was "because of my close affiliation with [President Barack] Obama".

Mr McFaul said he was preparing to visit Russia "to do [Hillary] Clinton transition work" before Donald Trump won the US election.

Russia's foreign ministry confirmed the ban, Russian news agencies reported.

In a public post on Facebook, Mr McFaul said: "Was told that I am on the Kremlin's sanctions list because of my close affiliation with Obama. I will take that as a compliment! The US sanctioned Russians close to Putin.

Last last week, for the first time, frozen albacore tuna was off-loaded at Port Vila's main wharf before being transported to the Chinese-funded fish packing plant at Black Sands.

The Daily Post reports that with the assistance of United States surveillance vessels, the Vanuatu government is committed to having all Vanuatu-flagged fishing vessels unload their catches from the country's Exclusive Economic Zone in Port Vila.

The paper says Bumblebee is in discussion about building a plant in Vanuatu.

Besides the 30 civilians, two US service members were killed in the operation that targeted Taliban leaders planning additional attacks in Kunduz city.

"I deeply regret the loss of innocent lives, regardless of the circumstances," Gen. John W. Nicholson, commander of US forces in Afghanistan, said in a statement Saturday.

"The loss of innocent life is a tragedy and our thoughts are with the families. We will work with our Afghan partners to investigate and determine the facts and we will work with the government of Afghanistan to provide assistance."

Holiday shopping, the city's marathon, and the US voting against the rest of the world at the UN over Washington's Cuba embargo.

On Wednesday, however, the US took the small but significant step of changing its vote to an abstention on the annual UN General Assembly resolution calling for an end to the US economic embargo of the island nation.

 Davis Love III's team held a 9.5 - 6.5 lead heading into Sunday's singles and received a huge boost when Patrick Reed recorded a 1up win over Rory McIlroy in a gripping opening match.

Henrik Stenson, Thomas Pieters and Rafael Cabrera Bello all secured points for the reigning champions, having been sent out early by Darren Clarke, the Belgian breaking new ground as a European rookie with his fourth triumph of the week.

A woeful start at Hazeltine left Europe 4-0 down after Friday's foursomes and they never recovered to take the lead in the tournament.

It left Clarke needing another miracle like the one he contributed to as a vice-captain at Medinah in 2012 and, despite comfortably winning three of the first five matches out, it was all downhill from there.

It was left to Ryan Moore to pick up the winning point to spark wild celebrations among Davis Love III's team and the raucous home fans.

Ri's comments came as the US and Asian nations gathered in New York Friday with a fresh reminder of what they consider the gravest threat facing the region: North Korea's announcement this week that it had successfully tested its most powerful rocket engine yet.

The test Tuesday was followed by a US show of force, as the Pentagon on Wednesday flew two B-1B bombers alongside the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea, setting the the stage for US-South Korea joint military exercises in October that will include a simulated nuclear facility strike.

 The U.S. Embassy Apia’s 2016 Public Diplomacy Grants offers funds to strengthen democracy, engage youth and alumni, promote US-Samoa links, address climate change and health concerns, and the advancement of human rights and women’s rights.

The grantee gathering was conducted at the U.S. Embassy Residence at Vailima where the US Chargé d’Affaires, Mrs Angelina Wilkinson executed the presentations.

The ten grantees are the:

·         Ministry of Agriculture – Scientific Research Organisation of Samoa (SROS) for ‘Identifying cocoa cultivars through DNA sequencing’

Commander of the U.S. Pacific Fleet Admiral Scott Swift will accompany Assistant Secretary Russel will travel to Apia, Samoa; Nuku'alofa, Tonga; and Koror, Palau, February 20-25, for bilateral meetings and regional consultations.