Category: WORLD NEWS

London, Feb 23 (DIN NEWS) Prime Minister Theresa May will make a keynote speech next Friday on Britain’s relationship with the EU after Brexit following a “very positive” meeting of her senior ministers, her spokesman said. “The prime minister will be setting out more detail of the government’s position on Friday,” he said. Confirmation of the much-anticipated speech comes after May gathered around a dozen of her senior ministers for an “away day” at her country retreat in Chequers yesterday. Their discussions lasted eight hours as they sought to thrash out…

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Greece’s parliament voted early today following a marathon 20-hour session to investigate 10 senior politicians, including two former prime ministers, over allegations they were involved in a pharmaceutical bribery scandal. The allegations follow a judicial investigation into bribes Swiss drugmaker Novartis allegedly paid to boost the sales and prices of its products in Greece. Officials in the government of left-wing Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras have described the alleged bribery scandal as the worst in modern Greek history. The politicians to be investigated include current central bank governor and former finance…

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A Democratic Senator has urged the US Ambassador to India to ensure that President Donald Trump’s son is not given any special treatment by the diplomatic mission during his ongoing India visit except that required for security. Senator Robert Menendez wrote a letter to Ambassador Kenneth Juster, saying he was concerned that a speech to be given by Donald J Trump Jr at business summit may send a “mistaken message that he is speaking on behalf of Donald Trump”. The 40-year-old Trump Jr is currently on a business trip in…

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The US today expressed disappointment over the Maldivian government extending the state of emergency by another 30 days and asked President Abdulla Yameen to uphold the rule of law in the troubled Indian Ocean island nation. Yameen yesterday extended a draconian state of emergency by another month, bolstering his grip on power in the troubled Indian Ocean island nation. “The United States is disappointed by reports that Maldivian President Yameen has extended the state of emergency in that country for an additional 30 days,” State Department Spokesperson Heather Nauert said.…

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Details of a revamped cross-Pacific pact aimed at slashing trade barriers were released Wednesday amid a renewed push for the United States to rejoin the 11-nation deal. New Zealand unveiled the official text of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, or TPP-11, which had to be redrawn after Donald Trump rejected it last year just days into his presidency. The nation’s Trade Minister David Parker said making it public would allow better scrutiny before it is formally signed in Santiago on March 8. “New Zealand has been working hard to see the text…

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At least 50 northern Tamil youth, including 11 former LTTE members, have been enlisted to serve the Sri Lanka Army s volunteer force, the military spokesman said today. They will not be wearing the military uniforms but would be entitled to pension and other related benefits, military spokesman Brigadier Sumith Atapattu said, adding that they will be deployed for agricultural work carried out by the Army. Among the recruits are 11 former LTTE members who had undergone rehabilitation. At the end of the three-decade-old separatist war, around 11,000 LTTE cadres…

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Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi reversed his decision to take stern action against Hafiz Saeed-led Jamaat-ud-Dawa and Falah-i- Insaniyat Foundation fearing that any such move could trigger a political crisis, a media report said today. Pakistan has come under intense pressure to rein in terror groups after US President Donald Trump accused the country of harbouring terrorists and suspended nearly USD 2 billion in security assistance to it. The JuD is believed to be the front organisation for the LeT which is responsible for carrying out the Mumbai attack…

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Ministers today greenlighted a bill allowing Israel to withhold tax monies it collects for the Palestinian Authority by the same amount as stipends that the PA pays to jailed militants. Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman, whose ministry drafted the bill, welcomed the vote in a ministerial committee, the first step toward sending it to parliament to be passed into law. “Soon there will be an end to this theatre of absurd,” he wrote in Hebrew on Twitter, adding that the money confiscated would be used “to prevent terror and compensate victims”.…

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Khaleda Zia’s counsels were led more by their emotions than professional obligations which delayed her getting privileges she was entitled to as the former premier in the prison after being convicted in a graft case, Law Minister Anisul Huq said today. The 72-year-old three-time former prime minister and main opposition leader was on February sentenced to five years rigorous imprisonment by Dhaka’s Special Court in connection with the embezzlement of 21 million taka (about USD 250,000) in foreign donations meant for the Zia Orphanage Trust, named after her late husband…

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