Category: WORLD NEWS

Britain and the European Union on Monday enter a pivotal week that determines if they are still on course to reach amicable divorce terms — and when Brexit might finally occur.Queen Elizabeth II is due to step into the fray by performing her ceremonial duty of informing parliament about the government’s agenda for the coming year. But the odds of Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s tenure lasting that long will depend largely on the outcome of hurried discussions held behind closed doors in Brussels around the same time.EU leaders will then…

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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan left for Tehran on Sunday on a day-long visit to help mitigate tensions between bitter regional rivals Iran and Saudi Arabia.Tension has been simmering between the two countries ever since the start of attacks on Yemen in 2015 by a coalition-led by Riyadh and execution of a prominent Shia cleric in the Gulf Kingdom in 2016.Iran and Saudi Arabia came close to blows after damaging September 14 attack on oil facilities in the Gulf Kingdom. Saudi and its allies blamed Iran for the attack, a…

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Alexei Leonov, a Soviet-era cosmonaut who was the first man to conduct a spacewalk in 1965, died in Moscow on Friday aged 85 after a long illness. The Russian space agency Roscosmos said it was saddened to announce the death of “cosmonaut No 11” who was twice decorated with the country’s top honour, the Hero of the Soviet Union.  Leonov was a close friend of Yury Gagarin, the first human to go to outer space in 1961.  Leonov trained together with Gagarin and was selected to perform the first spacewalk…

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Defence Minister Rajnath Singh will meet French President Emmanuel Macron in Paris on Tuesday and receive the first of the 36 Rafale aircraft in the French port city of Bordeaux, where he will perform ‘Shastra Puja’ on the occasion of Dussehra and take a sortie in the fighter jet.“Delighted to be in France. This great nation is India’s important strategic partner and our special relationship goes far beyond the realm of formal ties. My visit to France is aimed at expanding the existing strategic partnership between both the countries,” Singh…

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More than 16,000 scared residents have fled an unrest-hit city in Indonesia’s Papua region, the military said Monday, as one of the deadliest eruptions of violence in years sparked calls for an independent probe.Several dozen people were killed when violence broke out in Wamena city last month, with some victims burned alive when buildings were ablaze, and others stabbed in the chaos, according to authorities.Since mid-August, Papua has been hit by waves of mass protests and violence fuelled by racism against indigenous Papuans by Indonesians from other parts of the…

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Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan did not meet a high-level Afghan Taliban delegation to discuss the revival of the stalled peace process in Afghanistan, his top aide said on Friday, dismissing reports of the meeting in the local and international media as “not true”.Several local and international media outlets had reported that prime minister Khan and the Taliban Political Commission (TPC), led by its head Mullah Abdul Ghani Baradar, discussed the Afghan peace process during a meeting.Geo News channel reported that Khan stressed the need for peace in Afghanistan and…

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A highly poisonous fungus, with toxins that can be absorbed through the skin, has been identified for the first time in the rain forest near the Great Barrier Reef, Australian scientists said on Thursday. The Fire Coral fungus, which is better known in South Korea and Japan as being among the world’s most poisonous mushrooms, was found near Cairns in the northern state of Queensland, scientists from James Cook University said. “If found, the fungus should not be touched, and definitely not eaten,” said Matt Barrett, an expert on fungi…

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Donald Trump on Tuesday denounced the impeachment inquiry threatening his presidency as a “coup,” as his administration pushed back hard against the investigation.Trump’s comments came after Secretary of State Mike Pompeo pressed to prevent or delay five former or current State Department staffers from testifying in the investigation probing accusations that Trump abused his office by seeking dirt from Ukraine on a 2020 election rival. “As I learn more and more each day, I am coming to the conclusion that what is taking place is not an impeachment, it is…

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US President Donald Trump told Russia’s foreign minister and ambassador that he was unconcerned about their country’s interference in the 2016 elections, The Washington Post reported Friday.Trump made the previously unreported comments during the same May 2017 Oval Office meeting in which he famously revealed highly classified information on the Islamic State group.During the conversation he reportedly told Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak that he was not bothered by their country’s meddling because the United States did the same in other countries, according to three…

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Tens of thousands of protesters gathered Friday at rallies around Australia as a day of worldwide demonstrations calling for action to guard against climate change began ahead a UN summit in New York. Some of the first rallies in what is being billed as a “global climate strike” kicked off in Australia’s largest city, Sydney, and the national capital, Canberra. Australian demonstrators called for their nation, which is the world’s largest exporter of coal and liquid natural gas, to take more drastic action to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The Global…

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