Category: WORLD NEWS

The North Korean special representative for the US arrived in Beijing on Tuesday, apparently en route to Vietnam to meet his Washington counterpart ahead of a second scheduled summit between Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency said. Kim Hyok Chol arrived in the Chinese capital at around 10 am (0200 GMT) and was expected to board a plane bound for Hanoi later in the day. Kim’s trip comes three days after Kim Jong Un’s de-facto chief of staff, Kim Chang Son, landed in Hanoi to…

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Pakistan has the potential to become one the top 20 economies of the world, Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad bin Salman said Monday as he concluded his two-day visit to Islamabad. The Crown Prince briefly interacted with the media along with Prime Minister Imran Khan at Nur Khan air base at the conclusion of his first state visit to Pakistan. “We saw the Pakistani economy grow by 5 per cent in 2018 so we believe that Pakistan has huge potential. It could be one of top 20 economies in the future,…

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The son of Mozambique’s former president Armando Guebuza was arrested on Saturday in a legal crackdown on suspects linked to a USD 2 billion government debt scandal, local media and judiciary sources said. Ndabi Guebuza, the oldest of Guebuza’s four children, was picked up from his home in the capital Maputo. Maputo-based independent STV channel said he was arrested in connection with a government debt which plunged the country into its worst financial crisis. “He is one of the eight arrested by order of the Attorney General,” a judiciary source…

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Munich, Feb 16 (AFP) German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned Saturday that Washington’s plan to swiftly pull its soldiers out of Syria risks allowing Russia and Iran to boost their role in the region. Islamic State group fighters have been boxed in to a scrap of land in the battle for their last remaining territory in northeastern Syria and their final defeat is expected imminently. Once they are defeated, US forces are set to soon withdraw after President Donald Trump in December announced the pullout of around 2,000 troops. But Washington…

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Dhaka, Feb 15 (DIN NEWS) Bangladesh Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, who won a historic fourth term, becoming the country’s longest-serving leader, has indicated that she will retire after the current term to promote young leaders, according to a media report. In an interview with the German broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) 71-year-old Hasina, who assumed office just a month ago, for the fourth time as the prime minister, said she wanted to retire after the five-year term, the Bangladesh daily Dhaka Tribune reported. “It’s the third consecutive term and before that…

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Bangladesh police have stopped 43 Rohingya refugees from being smuggled to Malaysia by boat with a dozen women claiming they were abducted by traffickers, officials said Thursday.Acting on tip-offs, police found the refugees at two separate places in the southeastern border district of Cox’s Bazar, raising the number of Rohingya being rescued from the traffickers to more than 100 in less than a week. About 740,000 of the Muslim minority fled Myanmar for Bangladesh after a military clampdown in the Buddhist-majority nation in August 2017.They have joined another 300,000 Rohingya…

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Chinese President Xi Jinping plans to meet with top US officials in Beijing this week, a report said Wednesday, as the world’s two biggest economies rush to patch up their trade differences before a looming deadline.Xi will meet on Friday with officials including US Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, who are in the capital for crunch talks towards a trade deal, the South China Morning Post reported.”Xi is scheduled to meet both Lighthizer and Mnuchin on Friday,” it said, quoting a source briefed on the arrangements.The…

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China and Russia have developed robust and capable space services and the two countries pose a challenge and threat to the space capabilities of the US, the Pentagon has said. Chinese and Russian military doctrines indicate they view space as important to modern warfare and counterspace capabilities as a means to reduce US and allied military effectiveness, the Pentagon said in a report released by the Defense Intelligence Agency.The report “Challenges to Security in Space” examines the space and counterspace programmes that could challenge the US or partner interests in…

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Thai Princess Ubolratana was on Monday formally disqualified for running for prime minister, ending her brief and ill-fated political union with a party allied to the powerful Shinawatra clan, just days after a stern royal command rebuking her candidacy was issued by her brother, the king. Uncertainty and conjecture have coursed through Thailand since Friday when the Thai Raksa Chart party made the explosive announcement of Princess Ubolratana, King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s elder sister, as their candidate for premier after the March 24 election.Her tilt appeared to some to be a…

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Nudged by rightwing political rivals after a deadly Palestinian attack on a young Israeli woman, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who seeks re-election pledged Sunday to freeze money transfers to the Palestinian Authority.Israel collects around USD 127 million a month in customs duties levied on goods destined for Palestinian markets that transit through Israeli ports and then transfers it to the PA.The Israeli parliament last year passed legislation to partially withhold funds, in response to PA payments to families of Palestinians jailed by Israel for attacks against Israelis.”By the end of…

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