Qatar sheikh in UAE flies to Kuwait

A controversial member of Qatar’s royal family who accused the United Arab Emirates of detaining him has flown to Kuwait, his family said Tuesday. Sheikh Abdullah bin Ali Al-Thani, who emerged as a key figure in the dispute between Gulf states in the weeks after Riyadh and Abu Dhabi cut ties with Doha last June, left the UAE with his daughters. “My father is on his plane to Kuwait with his two daughters,”...

Read More »

Trump denies he’s a racist as Americans honor King

Americans remembered civil rights hero Martin Luther King on his holiday Monday, a day after US President Donald Trump vehemently denied he is a racist amid an uproar over a reported slur. The denial late Sunday came three days after Trump was quoted as calling African nations and Haiti "shithole countries," setting off a storm of condemnation that threatened to derail a bipartisan compromise on...

Read More »

British lawmakers resume debate on key Brexit law

British MPs resumed discussions Tuesday on a landmark piece of legislation allowing Britain to leave the European Union, on the eve of a vote on the draft law. The EU (Withdrawal) Bill is intended to transpose EU regulation into British law and will repeal the legislation enshrining Britain’s EU membership. The bill, which also sets the date and time for Brexit on March 29, 2019, at 2300 GMT, is...

Read More »

Trump allegedly calls Africa ‘shithole’, orders 259,000 immigrants out of US

President Donald Trump has allegedly questioned why the US would want to have immigrants from Haiti and African nations, referring to some as “shithole countries”. This is contained in a new Reuters report, weeks after alleged similar comment by Trump triggered outrage. In December, New York Times reported that Trump, in reaction to the rising number of migrants in the US, said “Nigerians never...

Read More »

Hurricane-hit Puerto Rico launches new drive for US statehood

Hurricane-ravaged Puerto Rico on Wednesday launched a new drive to become the 51st US state, with the island’s governor demanding an end to “second-class” treatment of its citizens. Puerto Rico’s more than three million residents are US citizens, with no obstacles to living and working on the mainland. Yet the US commonwealth in the Caribbean has just a non-voting delegation in the US Congress...

Read More »

Trump embraces role as negotiator in chief on immigration

President Donald Trump took command of a high-profile White House meeting on immigration Tuesday, coaxing Republican and Democratic lawmakers toward a compromise on the fate of undocumented migrants who came to the United States as children. Trump also signaled he was open to more comprehensive immigration reform to address millions of other undocumented people living in the shadows, but did not...

Read More »

Jerusalemites show a leg for worldwide ‘No Pants’ ride

Tram passengers in Jerusalem stripped down to their underwear Sunday for the worldwide annual “No Pants Subway Ride”, drawing embarrassed smiles and dumbfounded stares from fellow travellers. In bracing 10 degree Celsius (50 Fahrenheit) weather, around 20 young men and women met up at an open-air tram stop on the city’s central Jaffa Street and boarded carriages for the 20-minute ride to Mount...

Read More »

Tillerson says he never doubted Trump’s mental fitness

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson declared Friday he has never had any reason to question President Donald Trump’s mental fitness and intends to continue in office. Tillerson’s comments came in an interview to CNN in the aftermath of a bombshell book that cited White House aides questioning the president’s ability to serve. “I’ve never questioned his mental fitness, I’ve had no reason to question...

Read More »

U.S. military warns against getting hopes over North Korean overture

The head of United States (U.S) forces in Seoul warned yesterday against raising hopes over North Korea’s peace overture amid a war of words between the U.S. and the reclusive North over its nuclear and missile programs. In a New Year address, North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he was open to dialogue with U.S. ally South Korea and could send a delegation to the Winter Olympics to be held in...

Read More »

Bannon insists he backs ‘great man’ Trump

Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon is heaping new praise on Donald Trump, after the president scathingly dismissed him as insane and irrelevant for disparaging his family in published remarks. “The president of the United States is a great man,” the executive chairman of right-wing news website Breitbart told SiriusXM late Wednesday. “You know I support him day in and day out, whether...

Read More »

Indonesia police make huge New Year’s Eve marijuana bust

Indonesian authorities have seized 1.3 tonnes of marijuana and arrested six people in a major drug bust on New Year’s Eve, police said Thursday. Authorities confiscated the drugs at a port near Lampung, on the southern tip of Sumatra island. The bricks of tightly-wrapped cannabis — which were displayed at a press conference Thursday — were found hidden inside several vehicles waiting to cross to...

Read More »

Mali president names new PM after surprise government resignation

Mali’s President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita named a new prime minister Saturday, a day after the government resigned in a surprise move just months ahead of presidential polls. A public decree disseminated on Twitter said Keita named former defence minister Soumeylou Boubeye Maiga to replace Abdoulaye Idrissa Maiga, who resigned unexpectedly on Friday. Boubeye Maiga is considered close to Keita despite...

Read More »

South African court rules parliament failed to hold Zuma to account over scandal

South Africa’s Constitutional Court ruled on Friday that parliament failed to hold President Jacob Zuma to account over a scandal related to state-funded upgrades to his home and must launch proceedings that could remove him from office. The ruling is the latest judicial setback for the scandal-plagued Zuma, who has faced widespread public demands to step down as president of Africa’s most industrialized...

Read More »

Opec exit strategy, electric vehicles to set energy tone for 2018

Oil markets can see light at the end of the tunnel in 2018. A year of production cuts by the Organisation of Petroleum Exporting Countries, OPEC, and its allies has reduced global stockpiles and revived prices. A barrel of Brent crude is now worth almost a fifth more in value than it was 12 months ago. Stronger demand should help continue the upward trend. But the New Year also brings with it some...

Read More »

Macron under fire over plan to tighten joblessness monitoring

French President Emmanuel Macron came under fire Wednesday over his policy on jobless benefits after a press leak pointed to plans to tighten monitoring of people on the dole. The investigative weekly Canard Enchaine, citing an internal memo, said those receiving jobless benefits would be required to submit a monthly report on their job-hunting efforts. Politicians both to the left and the right...

Read More »

U.S. Blames North Korea for ‘Cowardly’ WannaCry Cyberattack

The U.S. blamed North Korea for the WannaCry ransomware attack that affected hundreds of thousands of computers globally this year. Homeland security adviser Tom Bossert attributed the May attack to the Pyongyang regime in a Wall Street Journal article late Monday. WannaCry crippled parts of the U.K.’s state-run National Health Service and compromised companies such as FedEx Corp. and Nissan...

Read More »

British embassy worker found murdered in Lebanon

A British woman employed at the UK embassy in Lebanon has been found murdered, a senior official said Sunday, adding that the crime did not appear to be political. “Our first impression is that it’s not politically motivated,” the official, who is involved in the investigation, told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity. He confirmed that the victim’s name was Rebecca Dykes but could not elaborate...

Read More »

Egypt opens Gaza border for four days

Egypt opened its largely sealed border with Gaza on Saturday for only the second time since the Palestinian Authority took control of the crossing from the territory’s Islamist rulers Hamas. The Hamas-run interior ministry, which was organising departures from the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Yunis, said the crossing would stay open for four days but, in the Egypt direction, for humanitarian...

Read More »

Myanmar not yet safe for Rohingya refugee return, says UN

Conditions for Rohingya refugees to safely return to Myanmar from Bangladesh are not in place, the UN said Friday, a day after the two countries announced repatriation would begin in two months. “UNHCR has not yet seen the details of the agreement”, the UN refugee agency said in a statement, referring to the deal inked Thursday between Myanmar and Bangladesh, where an estimated 620,000 Rohingya...

Read More »