SEOUL – North and South Korea will hold official talks next week for the first time in more than two years after Pyongyang accepted Seoul’s offer for dialogue, just hours after the United States and South Korea delayed a joint military exercise. The South’s unification ministry said North Korea ... Read More »
Donald Trump threatens cutting off aid to Palestinians
US President Donald Trump, whose controversial decision last month to recognise Jerusalem as Israel’s capital prompted global condemnation and widespread protests, has threatened to cut off aid to Palestinians. Trump said in a pair of Twitter posts on Tuesday that “we pay the Palestinians HUNDRED OF MILLIONS OF DOLLARS ... Read More »
Long queues at US airports as immigration computers go down
Two-hour outage for passport processing on Monday evening not thought to be malicious, authorities say Immigration desk computers at various US airports went down for about two hours on Monday, causing long lines for travellers entering the United States, according to Customs and Border Protection and posts on social ... Read More »
North Korea will not be accepted as a nuclear power by US or Russia, say Rex Tillerson and Sergei Lavrov
Both sides agree to pursue a ‘diplomatic solution’ to the crisis The US and Russia have insisted they will not accept North Korea as a “nuclear state”, amid a series of missile tests by the East Asian nation and increased rhetoric from both Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump. US Secretary of ... Read More »
Libya puts 142 migrants on plane back to Guinea
MISRATA, Libya (Reuters) – Libya put 142 illegal migrants on a flight back to Guinea on Wednesday with the help of the U.N. migration agency, officials said, as the North African country steps up deportations to ease severe overcrowding in its detention centers. The number of people stuck in ... Read More »
Russia says satellite launch failure due to programming error
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said on Wednesday the failed launch of a 2.6 billion-rouble ($44.95 million) satellite last month was due to an embarrassing programming error. Russian space agency Roscosmos said last month it had lost contact with the newly-launched weather satellite – the ... Read More »
China, Pakistan, Afghanistan ask Taliban to join peace process
ISLAMABAD: China hosted the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Afghanistan on Tuesday, in a bid to improve the neighbors’ historically fractious relationship. Foreign Minister Wang Yi of China, Foreign Minister Salahuddin Rabbani of Afghanistan and Pakistani Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif led delegations from their respective countries. According to a joint ... Read More »
US says it negotiated $285 million cut in United Nations budget
The U.S. government says it has negotiated a significant cut in the United Nations budget. The U.S. Mission to the United Nations said on Sunday that the U.N.’s 2018-2019 budget would be slashed by over $285 million. The mission said reductions would also be made to the U.N.’s management and ... Read More »
Aung San Suu Kyi ‘avoided’ discussion of Rohingya rape during UN meeting
Myanmar state counsellor refused to engage in substantive talks about alleged violence against the Muslim minority, says envoy Aung San Suu Kyi avoided discussing reports of Rohingya women and girls being raped by Myanmar troops and police when she met a senior UN official, according to an internal memo ... Read More »
Pope Francis takes swipe at Donald Trump and calls for a two-state solution to end Israeli-Palestinian conflict
‘The winds of war are blowing in our world’, the Pope said Pope Francis has taken another swipe at President Donald Trump, appearing to rebuke the US leader’s decision to recognise Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. In his traditional Christmas message, the Pope called for a two-state solution ... Read More »