Category: WORLD NEWS

Egyptians are voting for a second day in a lackluster election that President Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi is virtually certain to win after all serious rivals were either arrested or intimidated into dropping out of the balloting. Voters can choose between el-Sissi, the general-turned-president who came to power after ousting in 2013 his elected but divisive Islamist predecessor, Mohammed Morsi, and an obscure politician who registered at the last minute and says he doesn’t oppose el-Sissi’s policies, Moussa Mustafa Moussa. With the outcome known, el-Sissi’s focus will be on keeping voter turnout…

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President Donald Trump will not be adding two new lawyers to the legal team defending him in the special counsel’s Russia investigation after all, one of the president’s attorneys said. Trump attorney Jay Sekulow said in a statement yesterday that Washington lawyers Joseph diGenova and Victoria Toensing have conflicts that won’t allow them to represent the president regarding special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation. Sekulow had announced diGenova’s appointment last week. Yesterday’s announcement came just hours after Trump used Twitter to push back against reports that he’s having difficulty adding to…

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Israeli police were questioning Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu today as part of an investigation into a corruption case involving the country’s telecom giant, one of a slew of scandals that have engulfed the long-ruling Israeli leader. Two Netanyahu confidants were arrested on suspicion of promoting regulation worth hundreds of millions of dollars to Israel’s Bezeq telecom company in return for Bezeq’s popular news site, Walla, allegedly providing favorable coverage of Netanyahu and his family. It’s the second time that Netanyahu, who held the communications portfolio until last year, is being…

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Prime Minister Shinzo Abe vowed today to press on with his controversial move to amend Japan’s pacifist constitution, undeterred by a political scandal that has dented his popularity. Abe’s political capital is dwindling due to a widening scandal over the cut-price sale of government land to one of his supporters, with the opposition suggesting his wife Akie may have played a role. The scandal worsened when finance ministry bureaucrats admitted altering official records of the sales, erasing references to Abe and his wife as well as other political figures. “I…

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A French police officer who offered himself up to an extremist gunman in exchange for a hostage has died of his injuries, the interior minister said today. Col Arnaud Beltrame was among the first officers to respond to the attack on the supermarket in the south of France yesterday. His death, announced by French Interior Minister Gerard Collomb, raises the toll to four. The gunman was also killed, and 15 people were injured in the attack. The gunman first hijacked a car and opened fire on police, then took hostages…

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The US and China’s top economic officials agreed by phone today to “continue to communicate” on trade issues, Chinese state media said, as President Donald Trump pledged his escalating trade showdown would get results despite pushback from Europe and Beijing. In his latest jolt to the prevailing global order, Trump on Thursday authorised tariffs on as much as USD 60 billion of Chinese imports, targeting sectors in which Washington says China has stolen American technology. Liu He, the Chinese vice premier in charge of the economy, told US Treasury Secretary…

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Weather and climate disasters cost countries about USD 320 billion last year with major monsoon floods in the Indian subcontinent and severe droughts in parts of East Africa contributing to making 2017 the most expensive year on record. The World Meteorological Organisation (WMO) in its State of Climate 2017 report said that the North Atlantic hurricane season was the costliest ever for the US and eradicated decades of development gains in small islands in the Caribbean, such as Dominica. According to the report, Major monsoon floods in the Indian subcontinent…

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President Donald Trump today suspended his controversial tariffs on steel and aluminium imports for the US’ key trade partners, including the European Union. The countries temporarily exempted from the Trump administration’s new 25 per cent import tariff on steel and 10 per cent on aluminium are the EU members states, Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, Mexico and South Korea, the White House said “These suspensions are based on factors including ongoing discussions regarding measures to reduce global excess capacity in steel and aluminium production by addressing its root causes, the White…

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दक्षिण कोरिया की अदालत ने गुरुवार को भ्रष्टाचार के आरोपों को लेकर पूर्व राष्ट्रपति ली म्युंग बक की गिरफ्तारी का वारंट जारी किया है. समाचार एजेंसी सिन्हुआ के मुताबिक, सियोल सेंट्रल डिस्ट्रिक्ट कोर्ट ने ली को हिरासत में लेने का फैसला किया है.  हालांकि, ली ने सभी आरोपों से इनकार किया है. अदालत के फैसले के मुताबिक, इन आरोपों को नकारे जाने से सबूतों को नष्ट करने की संभावना बढ़ी है और ली के कई अपराध न्यायोचित ठहरे हैं. ली को पिछले सप्ताह पूछताछ के लिए समन किया गया था.…

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