WASHINGTON: For half a century, Richard Nixon’s opening to communist China has been viewed by many Americans as a diplomatic masterstroke, with successive presidents of both parties following his course. US hawks have now revived an alternative view – that normalisation was a mistake that, in the view of Secretary […]
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CHENGDU: Beijing announced the US consulate in the southwestern city of Chengdu was closed on Monday (Jul 27) morning, after it ordered the facility be shut in retaliation for China being ousted from its consulate in Houston, Texas. Police in Chengdu restricted access to the area around the consulate on […]
WASHINGTON: Top aides to President Donald Trump said on Sunday (Jul 26) they agreed in principle with Senate Republicans on a US$1 trillion coronavirus relief package – the party’s opening offer in negotiations with Democrats less than a week before enhanced unemployment benefits expire. White House Chief of Staff Mark […]
WELLINGTON: New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s party raced ahead of rivals in the latest opinion poll, putting the charismatic 40-year-old leader on track for a comfortable victory in the elections in September. A Newshub-Reid Research Poll released late on Sunday (Jul 26) showed the popularity of Ardern’s Labour Party […]
U.S. stock futures slipped and Asian shares came under pressure in early Monday trade as tit-for-tat consulate closures in China and the United States fanned worries about worsening diplomatic ties between the world’s two largest economies. TOKYO: U.S. stock futures slipped and Asian shares came under pressure in early Monday […]
WASHINGTON: Washington has dispatched a special envoy for Afghanistan to press for peace talks between the government and Taliban fighters, with the diplomat scheduled to visit Kabul on a trip with stops in five nations, the US State Department said on Saturday (Jul 25). US Special Representative for Afghanistan Zalmay […]
MILAN: The governor of Lombardy, the Italian region hardest hit by the coronavirus, denied wrongdoing on Saturday (Jul 25) after he was placed under investigation for suspected fraud over a supply of medical equipment from a company owned by his brother-in-law. Magistrates are investigating Attilio Fontana, 68, a member of […]
ISTANBUL: Turkey and Greece exchanged harsh words on Saturday (Jul 25) over the conversion of Istanbul’s Hagia Sophia into a mosque, a day after Islamic prayers were held at the ancient site for the first time in nine decades. President Tayyip Erdogan, who attended Friday’s ceremony that sealed his ambition […]
WASHINGTON: A Singaporean pleaded guilty Friday (Jul 24) to using his political consultancy in the United States as a front to collect information for Chinese intelligence, the US Justice Department said. Yeo Jun Wei, also known as Dickson Yeo, entered his plea in federal court in Washington to one charge […]
Yeo Jun Wei Dickson targeted US citizens with valuable “non-public information”, including an Army officer in the Pentagon, a civilian who worked with the US Air Force, and a person in the State Department. SINGAPORE: A National University of Singapore (NUS) PhD student who went to Beijing to give a […]