BEIJING: China’s foreign minister on Tuesday (Jul 28) slammed the US for “reckless provocation of confrontation” after both sides ordered tit-for-tat closures of each other’s consulates, but called for “rational communication” between the two powers. Wang Yi warned in a call with his French counterpart Jean-Yves Le Drian that China-US […]
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SYDNEY: Australian police on Tuesday (Jul 28) detained at least one person and ordered about 50 others to disperse after they gathered in Sydney to go ahead with a Black Lives Matter protest despite an official ban because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The march, arranged to build on momentum from […]
WELLINGTON: New Zealand has suspended its extradition treaty with Hong Kong and made a number of other changes in light of China’s decision to pass a national security law for Hong Kong, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said on Tuesday (Jul 28). “New Zealand can no longer trust that Hong […]
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday named an outspoken critic of US military deployments as ambassador to Germany, as he moves to pull troops from the NATO ally. The White House said that Trump had nominated retired colonel Douglas Macgregor, a frequent commentator on Fox News who has written about […]
WASHINGTON: The United States and Australia on Monday (Jul 27) opened top-level talks in which they are expected to seek a common front amid soaring tensions between Washington and Beijing. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and Defence Secretary Mark Esper welcomed to Washington their Australian counterparts, Marise Payne and […]
BEIJING: China on Monday (Jul 27) said it was not aware of the case involving Singaporean Dickson Yeo and urged the United States to “stop using the so-called espionage issue to smear” the country. Yeo pleaded guilty last week in the US to working for Chinese intelligence. The former National […]
MADRID: Britain made a mistake when it decided at the weekend to slap a quarantine on people travelling from Spain, Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said on Monday (Jul 27), saying most of the Mediterranean country had a lower coronavirus infection rate than the UK. Sanchez was speaking just after Britain […]
PARIS: The first five of a batch of French Rafale fighter jets purchased by New Delhi in a controversial multibillion-dollar deal headed to India on Monday (Jul 27) for rapid deployment amid rising tensions with China. The deal, estimated to be worth US$9.4 billion, has been overshadowed by corruption allegations […]
LONDON: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson promised to spend £2 billion (US$2.6 billion) on walking and cycling projects in England, seeking to improve public health and capitalise on a shift away from cars during the coronavirus pandemic. Earlier on Monday, Johnson used his own struggle with weight to urge Britons […]
Senator Tom Cotton on Capitol Hill in Washington on Jul 16, 2019. WASHINGTON: Republican US Senator Tom Cotton came under pressure over published comments in which he said America’s founders viewed slavery as a “necessary evil”. Cotton, seen as a possible 2024 presidential candidate, made the comments in an […]