MADRID — The independence-minded Catalonia region tried again Monday to dodge the question of whether it has declared a formal break with Spain, calling instead for talks and listing its grievances against Madrid’s leaders. The lack of clarity elicited a terse and frustrated response from Spain’s justice minister. “Not valid,” ... Read More »
North Korea says it is not interested in diplomacy until it has missile capable of hitting America
Donald Trump has repeatedly hinted that military action would be the only solution North Korea has said they are not interested in diplomatic solutions to its tensions with the US until it develops a missile capable of reaching the east coast of America. A North Korean official ... Read More »
Nearly 40,000 penguin chicks starved to death in Antarctica this year
Only two Adélie penguin chicks out of a colony of 40,000 in Antarctica survived what researchers are calling a “catastrophic breeding event.” For the second time in four years, the Adélie penguins of Antarctica have suffered a devastating blow to their population. French researchers found the two surviving chicks ... Read More »
Australia will ‘not be cowed’ by North Korea threats, minister says
North Korea has issued its latest threat against Australia for its relationship with the US and South Korea, but a Turnbull government minister said the nation would “not be cowed” by the rogue state. North Korean state media reported Australia was “showing dangerous moves of zealously ... Read More »
Iraqi army clashes with Kurds in operation to ‘impose security’ on Kirkuk
Forces started moving at midnight on Sunday towards oil fields and an air base amid rising tensions after Kurds vote for independence Iraqi forces have reportedly advanced on Kirkuk’s oil fields and air base after the prime minister of Iraq, Haidar al-Abadi, ordered his army to “impose security” ... Read More »
UK vows to close all coal power plants by 2025
UK will ‘champion a global alliance’ on a transition to coal-free power generation The UK has committed to a programme that will phase coal out of all electricity generation by 2025. Canada has also said it will close its coal power stations by 2030, and both countries are ... Read More »
Erdogan says US sacrificing strategic ally Turkey
ANKARA: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has accused the US of mistreating a strategic ally, in a blistering speech which appeared to rule out swift resolution to a dispute between two NATO allies jointly fighting Daesh. Hours after Ankara announced officials would meet soon to settle differences, Erdogan accused the ... Read More »
Astronomers find half of the missing matter in the universe
Scientists produce indirect evidence of gaseous filaments and sheets known as Whims linking clusters of galaxies in the cosmic web It is one of cosmology’s more perplexing problems: that up to 90% of the ordinary matter in the universe appears to have gone missing. Now astronomers have detected about ... Read More »
U.S. Will Withdraw From Unesco, Citing Its ‘Anti-Israel Bias’
WASHINGTON — The Trump administration announced on Thursday that it would withdraw from Unesco, the United Nations cultural organization, after years of the United States distancing itself because of what it called the group’s “anti-Israel bias.” The administration also cited mounting arrears at the organization as ... Read More »
Isis is facing near total defeat in Iraq and Syria – but it has been beaten and come back before
Isis has fought desperately and skilfully to hold the Syrian city of Raqqa, under siege by Kurdish-led forces for more than four months, but will soon lose it in the latest defeat for the Islamic fundamentalist movement. Little is left today of the Caliphate declared in 2014, which once ... Read More »