NEW YORK: The top US and Chinese diplomats meet today in New York as soaring tensions show signs of easing, but Beijing issued a new warning against support for Taiwan. Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi are set to meet on the sidelines of the […]
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SYDNEY: Australia is aiming for a stable relationship with China despite differences in particular on trade, Australia’s foreign minister said, as she called on China to use its influence as a great power to help end the war in Ukraine. Australia’s ties with its largest trading partner are at a […]
NEW YORK: Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov will face off today with his Ukrainian and Western counterparts, including US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, when the United Nations Security Council meets over atrocities committed in Ukraine. UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan will brief the […]
LONDON: Charles III was formally proclaimed king at a historic, pomp-filled ceremony at St James’s Palace in central London on Saturday. Here is the new king’s declaration to the Accession Council, a centuries-old body of senior British royals, and political and religious leaders: “My Lords, Ladies, and Gentlemen. It is […]
JOHANNESBERG: Nelson Mandela was on first-name basis with Queen Elizabeth II, a rare privilege contravening royal etiquette, the late anti-apartheid hero’s foundation said Friday, sharing anecdotes of their fond relationship. Queen Elizabeth II, the longest-serving monarch in British history, died aged 96 in her Scottish summer residence on Thursday. “By […]
KYIV: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy warned Moscow on Tuesday (Aug 23) of a powerful response if Russian forces carry out attacks on or around Ukraine’s Independence Day. Zelenskyy has warned that Russia, which invaded Ukraine on Feb 24, could try “something particularly ugly” in the run-up to Wednesday’s Independence Day, […]
SYDNEY: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said he will release a report on Tuesday from the solicitor general on his predecessor Scott Morrison being secretly sworn into five ministries during the Covid-19 pandemic. Albanese said it wasn’t suggested Morrison’s actions were illegal but they raised questions over political conventions and […]
VATICAN CITY: Pope Francis said Sunday he was “concerned” by rising tensions between the state and the Catholic church in Nicaragua, two days after bishop and regime critic Rolando Alvarez was detained. Francis said he was following “closely with concern and sorrow” the situation in Nicaragua, amid a worsening standoff […]
China’s Xi Jinping and Russia’s Vladimir Putin both plan to attend the Group of 20 summit in Bali in November, Indonesian president Joko Widodo says. “Xi Jinping will come. President Putin has also told me he will come,” Mr Widodo, also known as Jokowi, told Bloomberg News in an interview. […]
UN Secretary General António Guterres has said he is “gravely concerned” about fighting near the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant in southern Ukraine. He made the comments during a summit with Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky and Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Lviv. “Any potential damage to Zaporizhzhia is suicide,” Mr Guterres […]