Australia will not sign up to a United Nations migration agreement because it would compromise its hardline immigration policy and endanger national security, Prime Minister Scott Morrison said on Wednesday. Australia joins the United States, Israel and several Eastern European countries in rejecting the U.N. Global Compact for Migration, which ... Read More »
Trade tensions simmer as China blames US for unprecedented breakdown of talks at Asia-Pacific summit
Relations sour despite Donald Trump and Xi Jinping expressing optimism about resolving trade war The unprecedented failure to agree on a communique at a major Asia-Pacific summit resulted from certain countries “excusing” protectionism, a major Chinese diplomat has said, in an apparently veiled criticism of the United States. After months ... Read More »
In rare coordinated move, Western envoys seek meeting on Xinjiang concerns
A group of 15 Western ambassadors in Beijing, spearheaded by Canada, are seeking a meeting with the top official in China’s restive, heavily Muslim Xinjiang region for an explanation of alleged rights abuses against ethnic Uighurs. The envoys are making their request in a letter to Chen Quanguo, Xinjiang’s Communist ... Read More »
Giant meteorite crater bigger than Paris found beneath Greenland’s ice sheet
Impact could have ‘drastically altered the climate and led to serious consequences for life on Earth at the time’, scientists say A giant crater that was formed when a meteorite smashed into Earth, has been uncovered deep below Greenland’s ice sheets. The 31-kilometre-wide cavity was discovered by an international team ... Read More »
Angela Merkel calls for creation of ‘real, true’ EU army
German chancellor’s call echoes Emmanuel Macron’s similar one last week Angela Merkel has called for the creation of a “real, true” European army, echoing a similar call by her French counterpart. The German chancellor’s backing for the force comes amid a spat with US president Donald Trump, who took offence ... Read More »
Britain agrees Brexit divorce deal with EU, May’s opponents vow to thwart it
Britain struck a draft divorce deal with the European Union after more than a year of talks, thrusting Prime Minister Theresa May into a perilous battle over Brexit that could shape her country’s prosperity for generations to come. While Brussels choreographs the first withdrawal of a sovereign state from the ... Read More »
Iran says armed forces will protect oil tankers after US called them ‘floating liabilities’
Remarks come after Trump administration revived all sanctions on country’s oil, shipping and banking industries Iran’s armed forces have pledged to protect Iranian oil tankers against possible threats after the US said the ships were a “floating liability” and should not be allowed to dock anywhere. Rear-Admiral Mahmoud Mousavi, a ... Read More »
With Trump absent, China and Russia to take center stage at Asia-Pacific summits
When world leaders gather in this city-state and Papua New Guinea for regional summits this week, there will be a conspicuous absence: President Trump. It is summit season in Asia, with Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) meetings due to start Tuesday in Singapore. The 10-member bloc hosts world leaders ... Read More »
Myanmar prepares for first Rohingya returnees, but U.N. warns against rushing
Myanmar officials said on Sunday the country was ready to receive more than 2,000 Rohingya Muslims sheltering in Bangladesh on Nov. 15, the first group from 5,000 people to be moved under a deal between the neighbors struck last month. But more than 20 individuals on a list of potential ... Read More »
“An 11-year-old child with his leg hanging on by a strip of skin was in one operating theatre where we were attempting a vascular repair, with an eight-year-old shot in the groin in a holding bay, when seven more arrived, also critically injured by sniper fire.” These are the words ... Read More »