Category: WORLD NEWS

Student unions from two Hong Kong universities said Friday that they have turned down invitations from city leader Carrie Lam for talks about recent unrest over her proposal to allow the extradition of suspects to mainland China.The invitations followed a pledge by Lam to do a better job of listening to the voices of young people.Student leaders said at a news conference that they do not think Lam is being sincere. Her office invited them to closed-door meetings, but the students said any meeting should be public and include a…

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President Donald Trump marshaled tanks, bombers and other machinery of war on Tuesday for a Fourth of July celebration that traditionally is light on military might, while critics accused him of using America’s military as a political prop.Under White House direction, the Pentagon was scrambling to arrange for an Air Force B-2 stealth bomber and other warplanes to conduct flyovers of the celebration on the National Mall. There will be Navy F-35 and F-18 fighter jets, the Navy Blue Angels aerial acrobatics team, Army and Coast Guard helicopters and Marine…

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President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday accused the European Union of challenging Sri Lanka’s sovereignty by threatening with tariffs if capital punishment is re-introduced in the country after 43 years.Last week, President Sirisena signed the death warrants to hang four drug convicts, ending a four-decade-long moratorium on the capital punishment in the country.Addressing the National Drug Prevention Day event here, Sirisena underlined the importance of his campaign to combat the drug related crimes in the island nation.The President said that the 28-member European Union bloc has threatened to withdraw the EU…

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Donald Trump stepped onto North Korean soil in a historic first Sunday as he met Pyongyang’s leader Kim Jong Un in a moment of high diplomatic drama on the world’s last Cold War frontier.Moments after becoming the only sitting US president to set foot inside North Korea, Trump brought Kim back over the dividing line for a meeting where they agreed to start working-level talks on Pyongyang’s nuclear weapons. Trump also said he had invited the young leader to the White House “anytime he wants to do it”.“It was an…

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US President Donald Trump on Wednesday left the White House to attend the G-20 Summit in Osaka, Japan over the weekend to hold discussions on a host of bilateral and global issues with leaders of top 20 economies of the world. “I’m heading to Japan, Osaka. And we are going to be meeting with (leaders from) a lot of different countries, many of whom have been taking advantage of the United States but not so much anymore, and soon not at all anymore,” Trump told reporters in the South lawns…

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Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Wednesday warned that “collateral damage” from trade spats between China and the United States were hurting smaller countries and threatening the global economy.In an usually public warning to allies in Washington, Morrison said the “world’s most important bilateral relationship — the US-China relationship” had become “strained”.”Trade tensions have escalated. The collateral damage is spreading. The global trading system is under real pressure. Global growth projections are being wound back,” he said, speaking in Sydney.”The impact of any further deterioration of the relationship will not…

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Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina will visit China in July first week, the first trip to Beijing after her re-election, during which the Asian giant may press for speeding up of the Bangladesh-China- India-Myanmar (BCIM) economic corridor which has failed to take off.With an estimated USD 31 billion investments, China has emerged as a major investor in Bangladesh – mainly in the infrastructure and energy sectors – raising concerns in India over growing Chinese influence in the region.The rapid expansion of Chinese investments in Bangladesh were regarded as the second…

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The UK is falling behind in the global race to engage with India as it has failed to adjust its strategy to fit India’s enhanced influence and power on the world stage, a new British parliamentary inquiry report concluded on Monday. The report ‘Building Bridges: Reawakening UK-India ties’, released to coincide with the first-ever India Day in the Houses of Parliament to mark the launch of UK-India Week 2019, called for a reset of ties through better visa and immigration policies for Indian tourists, students and professionals as it accuses…

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Istanbul went back to the polls on Sunday in a re-run of the mayoral election that has become a test of Turkish democracy as well as President Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s continued popularity at a time of economic trouble. Election authorities annulled the first vote in March after Erdogan’s party alleged corruption in a count that showed the ruling AKP’s candidate had narrowly lost. Polling stations opened at 0500 GMT and the 10.5 million registered voters have until they close at 1400 GMT to elect the new mayor.Critics say Erdogan simply…

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Haytham Salem has not spoken to his sister in years, but this is no ordinary family feud. When Islamic State jihadists overran Iraq’s Mosul, he fled but his nephew joined them. Nearly two years since the group was ousted from the northern Iraqi city, seeds of distrust, betrayal and resentment planted during jihadist rule have begun bearing fruit in Mosul. Some families whose members supported IS have become pariahs, shunned by their onetime neighbours and friends. Others are split by guilt, with relatives who stayed in Mosul after IS’s 2014…

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