New York Post
President Trump would consider beefing up the US military presence in Afghanistan, according to a report.
Trump “said he would certainly continue to support Afghanistan security forces and will consider a proposal for more troops after an assessment,” an official told The Wall Street Journal about a phone conversation between the president and Afgahn leader Ashraf Ghani last month.
Bellen sworn as Austrian President
AP, Vienna
Alexander Van der Bellen has been sworn in as Austria’s president, the last act of a dramatic race for the position won by the left-leaning economics professor after a repeat vote.
Defeated rival Norbert Hofer, a right-wing populist who is also one of three presidents of parliament, was among those present for the parliamentary ceremony Thursday. Van der Bellen had narrowly won the initial elections, but Austria’s Constitutional Court ordered a repeat after Hofer’s Freedom Party claimed widespread voting irregularities.
Yemen rebels mount resistance in key port city
AFP, Aden
Yemeni rebels are putting up fierce resistance in a key Red Sea port city where they are encircled by pro-government forces, military and health officials said Thursday.
Deadly clashes have shaken Mokha since loyalist fighters launched an offensive nearly three weeks ago to oust the Iran-backed Shiite Huthi insurgents and their allies from Yemen’s southwestern coast.
Kenyan doctors given five days to end strike
AFP, Nairobi
A Kenyan court on Thursday gave doctors and nurses five days to end a crippling nationwide strike, reneging on an earlier threat to jail union officials.The strike that began on December 5 has left public hospitals shut and patients unable to get basic medical care for more than seven weeks. Hellen Wasilwa, a judge at Kenya’s Employment and Labour Relations Court, on January 12 gave seven union officials one-month suspended sentences and ordered them to end the strike within two weeks.
