When the United States tried to seal a defense deal seven years ago with the Maldives, a sprawling and strategic archipelago, its plans were quietly torpedoed by a friend — India, which considers the Indian Ocean its sphere of influence. US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will visit the Maldives this week after top-level talks […]
Traditional American allies in Europe fear that the United States has been lost as a reliable partner on the world stage, even if President Donald Trump goes down in defeat. In interviews with the New York Times, European officials said that they fear the shift of the Republican Party away from traditional American foreign policy […]
Russia and the United States on Tuesday were edging closer to breaking an impasse in long-running talks aimed at extending a landmark nuclear arms deal, due to expire within months. US officials said they were ready to meet Russian diplomats as soon as possible, shortly after Moscow stated it could compromise on an American demand. […]
The World Health Organization reported a record one-day increase in global coronavirus infections on Thursday, with 338,779 new cases registered in the past 24 hours. According to Reuters, the record single-day surge is largely driven by 96,996 new cases in Europe, which is now reporting more new cases than the United States, India, and Brazil—the […]
Emmanuelle Charpentier of France and Jennifer Doudna of the United States on Wednesday won the Nobel Chemistry Prize for developing the gene-editing technique known as the CRISPR-Cas9 DNA snipping “scissors”. “Using these, researchers can change the DNA of animals, plants and microorganisms with extremely high precision,” the Nobel jury said. “This technology has had a […]
Almost two decades after the United States launched what would become its longest-ever war with air strikes on Afghanistan’s ruling Taliban regime, the hardline group are in a stronger position than ever. The invasion on October 7, 2001 quickly toppled the militants, who had harboured Al-Qaeda, the group behind the September 11 attacks that killed […]
China, Russia and two dozen other countries called on the United States and Western countries to end the use of unilateral sanctions, which they said make it harder to deal with Covid-19. In a statement read by Chinese envoy Zhang Jun at the United Nations, they accused the United States of violating human rights, systematic […]
Entre Rios (Guatemala) (AFP) – More than 2,000 migrants on Saturday dropped their bid to reach the United States after Guatemala threatened to expel them out of concern they might spread Covid-19.The group, mostly made up of Hondurans who set out last Thursday from San Pedro Sula, asked local authorities to help them return home, […]
Thousands of mostly Honduran migrants bound for the United States surged across the border into Guatemala on Thursday. Carrying backpacks and plastic bags, the migrants pushed past two lines of Guatemalan soldiers at the Entre Rios border crossing and continued northwards — defying the risks and restrictions linked to the coronavirus pandemic. The soldiers handed […]
European leaders on Tuesday agreed on a massive aid package for their pandemic-ravaged economies, as President Donald Trump changed his tune in favour of face masks as a tool against the coronavirus in the United States. The virus has infected more than 14.6 million people and killed over 600,000 of them since it first emerged […]
Tensions are mounting by the day between the United States and China, leading to talk of a new Cold War. Experts see important historical differences — but believe the two powers are entering dangerous territory. US President Donald Trump’s administration has increasingly gone global against China, pushing other nations to reject its strings-attached aid and […]
India crossed 1 million coronavirus cases on Friday, third only to the United States and Brazil, prompting concerns about its readiness to confront an inevitable surge that could overwhelm hospitals and test the country’s feeble health care system. A surge of 34.956 new cases in the past 24 hours took the national total to 1,003,832. The Health […]
“We have lift-off, we have lift-off!” The summer race to land a space probe on Mars is off to a hot start. Three countries — The Hope Probe (United Arab Emirates), Tianwen-1 (China) and Mars 2020 (United States) — have all taken their positions, hoping to take advantage of the period of time when the […]
Venezuela’s Supreme Court, stacked with loyalists of the regime of President Nicolas Maduro, on Tuesday ordered Juan Guaido to relinquish his position as leader of one of the main opposition parties, giving the position to one of his rivals instead. Guaido, who is recognized by the United States and some 60 other countries as the […]
Asian markets mostly fell Tuesday as traders took a step back after their latest rally, with a run of upbeat economic data offset by fears over a spike in new virus infections. While several countries are suffering a fresh surge in infections — particularly the United States — the ongoing easing of lockdown measures and […]
Drunken celebrations on English pub reopening night and US beach closures prompted a global rethink on Sunday of coronavirus measures during the summer holiday season. Hopes of the sun making the new disease go away are fading as the United States racks up record daily infection numbers and quarantines return to parts of Europe. Cases […]
It seems as if it happened ages ago, but you may recall that at the beginning of the year the United States came very close to going to war with Iran. There had been a number of skirmishes over the previous months and Iran’s proxies had been lobbing rocket attacks at bases in Iraq, none of which was particularly […]
“The United Nations needs to do its job—not get bullied out of doing it,” said the ACLU in response. The United Nations Human Rights Council on Friday unanimously adopted a resolution condemning police abuses and ordering an inquiry into law enforcement actions that “resulted in the death of George Floyd and other Africans and people of African descent.” But […]
The world is shocked and alarmed as the United States refuses to lockdown as COVID-19 cases increase. Florida, Texas, Arkansas and other states are spiking cases of the coronavirus across a country that purports to be the richest and most powerful in the world. “Health experts in countries with falling case numbers are watching with […]
President Donald Trump warned Thursday the United States had the option to separate from China’s deeply intertwined economy, despite the powers’ pledges to move forward on a trade deal. Tensions have been mounting between Beijing and Washington on a number of fronts including trade, although the two sides signed a “phase one” deal earlier this […]
The EU’s chief diplomat on Monday called for Europe and the United States to launch talks aimed at forging a common transatlantic front against an increasingly assertive China. Brussels and Washington are at odds over a range of major global issues, but EU foreign affairs high representative Josep Borrell said the two sides should make […]
“This is the worst public health crisis we’ve faced—and it has come at a time when we have the worst government in the world.” Brazil is now second only to the United States in terms of both Covid-19 cases and deaths, and its daily death toll is the highest in the world—conditions that public health officials within […]
A Russian court found ex-U.S. marine Paul Whelan guilty of spying for the United States on Monday and sentenced him to 16 years in jail after a closed trial which U.S. diplomats said was unfair and opaque. Whelan, who holds U.S., British, Canadian and Irish passports, has been in custody since he was detained by agents […]
Geneva (AFP) – Thousands of demonstrators marched in cities and towns across Switzerland on Saturday to denounce racism and police brutality in the wake of the death of George Floyd in the United States.Despite rules in place banning gatherings of more than 300 people to prevent the spread of COVID-19, several cities saw huge crowds […]
A Canadian network has pulled the TV series of Meghan Markle’s fashion stylist friend Jessica Mulroney, who was accused of “white privilege” in a spat with a black lifestyle blogger. Mulroney got into the row with Sasha Exeter over the blogger’s support for the anti-racism protests that swept the United States. According to the single […]
North Korea criticized Donald Trump in a stinging denunciation of the United States on Friday, the second anniversary of a landmark summit in Singapore where the US president shook hands with leader Kim Jong Un. It was the latest in a series of vitriolic statements from Pyongyang aimed at both Washington and Seoul, and came […]
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday welcomed moves by US President Donald Trump to sanction any International Criminal Court officials who investigate US troops, as the tribunal examines alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. “This court is politicized and obsessed with carrying out a headhunt against Israel and the United States as well as other […]
President Donald Trump on Thursday ordered sanctions against any official at the International Criminal Court who investigates US troops, ramping up pressure to stop its case into alleged war crimes in Afghanistan. In an executive order, Trump said the United States would block all US property and assets of anyone in the Hague-based tribunal involved […]
New Yorker columnist Susan Glasser made the astute observation that if Russian President Vladimir Putin wanted to destabilize the United States with the election of President Donald Trump, he’s clearly achieved his objective. It was reported in March that Russian intelligence services are working to incite violence using white supremacist groups to try and sow […]
Washington on Wednesday ordered the suspension of all flights by Chinese airlines into and out of the United States after Beijing failed to allow American carriers to resume services to China. The move adds to a growing set of tension points between the world’s two biggest economies in the aftermath of the coronavirus crisis. The […]