AFP - President Donald Trump said the United States "deeply respects" Africans and will dispatch its top diplomat to the continent, in a letter to African leaders seen by AFP on Sunday.

NEWS.COM - A LAST ditch battle to avert a looming US government shutdown moved to the Senate overnight, where Democrats angered by the collapse of immigration talks have vowed to block a stopgap funding bill.

REUTERS - German Chancellor Angela Merkel is considering joining French President Emmanuel Macron at the World Economic Forum in Davos next week in what could turn into an epic clash of competing world views with U.S. President Donald Trump.

AFP - Ghana's President Nana Akufo-Addo on Saturday said Donald Trump's reported description of African nations as "shithole countries" was unacceptable, while his predecessor branded the US head of state a racist.

AFP - Haitians have taken special offense to Donald Trump's "shithole" slur targeting countries including the island nation, where some detect a hint of racism linked to their historic independence as the first black republic.

AFP - President Donald Trump reportedly lashed out in a Thursday meeting with lawmakers about immigration reform, demanding to know why the US should accept citizens from what he called "shithole" countries.