Donald Trump will lay out new Iran strategy, complicating European ties
President Donald Trump will lay out a more confrontational strategy towards Iran by the United States on Friday in a speech in which he is likely to strike a blow at an international Iran nuclear deal, complicating US relations with European allies.
US officials said Trump was expected to announce that he will not certify the 2015 Iran nuclear deal, believing the agreement is not in the national interests of the United States. He had certified it twice before but aides said he was reluctant to do so a third time.
Trump could have a last minute change of heart before he outlines his administration's new approach towards Iran in speech at the White House at 12.45pm EDT on Friday (00.45am on Saturday, Singapore time).
"It's imperative that Europe sticks together on this issue,"German Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel told the RND German newspaper group. "We also have to tell the Americans that their behaviour on the Iran issue will drive us Europeans into a common position with Russia and China against the US."
White House chief John Kelly: 'Unless things change, I'm not quitting. I'm not getting fired.'
White House Chief of Staff John Kelly, making his first public appearance before journalists, said on Thursday that he is neither frustrated in his job nor planning to depart.
Taking the lectern in the White House briefing room, Kelly sought to dismiss reports that he has been frustrated working for President Donald Trump in what he characterised as "the hardest job I've ever had."
"Although I read it all the time pretty consistently, I'm not quitting today," Kelly said.
God can't survive science, says author of The Da Vinci Code
God cannot survive science, The Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown said, putting his faith in technological advances to connect people in new ways that would eventually scrap the need for religion.
"Historically, no god has survived science. Gods evolved," the best-selling American novelist said at the Frankfurt Book Fair, where he unveiled his newest book, Origin.
"Over the next decade, our species will become enormously interconnected at a level we are not used to, and we will start to find our spiritual experiences through our interconnections with each other... Our need for the exterior God that sits up there and judges us... will diminish and eventually disappear."
Men dominate American Music Awards nominations
Bruno Mars, Drake and Ed Sheeran led nominations for the American Music Awards, where for the first time no women were vying for the top prize.
In the televised gala, set for Nov 19 in Los Angeles, winners are determined by fan voting, unlike the more prestigious Grammy Awards, which is based on polling of music industry players.
No women were in the running for Artist of the Year for the first time since the category took its current form in 2002.
Football: Klopp proving a tough nut for Mourinho to crack
Juergen Klopp can boast what few top managers can when his Liverpool side take on Manchester United on Saturday - a winning record over Jose Mourinho.
Apart from Pep Guardiola, who has won eight and lost four of his meetings with Mourinho during spells with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now Manchester City, Mourinho has more often than not proved a thorn in the side of most of his rivals.
Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger took 13 years to finally enjoy a Premier League win over the Portuguese, at the 13th attempt. The uber-confident Klopp, however, will suffer no such inferiority complex.
