HELSINKI: The likelihood of the EU extending the UK’s Brexit deadline “looks good,” after which Britain should put forward a candidate for the European Commission, its incoming president said on Thursday.“The question of granting an extension, that looks very good,” EU president-elect Ursula von der Leyen told reporters during a visit to Helsinki.EU member states…
MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday sought to expand Moscow’s clout in Africa by touting military aid and economic projects at the first-ever Russia-Africa summit and even offered to help mediate a growing dispute between two of the continent’s largest powers, Egypt and Ethiopia.Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Putin addressed the issue with Egyptian…
EL PARDO, Spain: Spain exhumed the embalmed body of Francisco Franco from a grandiose state mausoleum on Thursday, reburying it in more discreet grave in a country still conflicted over the dictator’s decades-long regime.The carefully-choreographed operation which began inside an imposing basilica in Valley of the Fallen and ended some four hours later at a…
TIRANA: Albanian police said Wednesday they had thwarted a planned attack by a Tehran-backed “terrorist cell” against opponents of the Tehran regime in the Balkan country last year. In a statement, police said the group belonged to the elite Quds force which runs foreign operations for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This cell “had planned, among…
TIRANA: Albanian police said Wednesday they had thwarted a planned attack by a Tehran-backed “terrorist cell” against opponents of the Tehran regime in the Balkan country last year. In a statement, police said the group belonged to the elite Quds force which runs foreign operations for the Iranian Revolutionary Guard. This cell “had planned, among…
MANILA: An Iranian beauty queen seeking asylum in the Philippines remains incarcerated at Manila’s Ninoy Aquino International Airport almost a week after she was barred from entering the southeast Asian country due to an Interpol red notice.Bahareh Zare Bahari, Iran’s representative to the 2018 Miss Intercontinental pageant, was arrested at the airport last Thursday following…
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump has authorized $4.5 million in aid for Syria’s White Helmets group, famed for rescuing wounded civilians from the frontlines in the civil war, the White House said Tuesday.Trump ordered the funds for what is formally known as the Syria Civil Defense group “to continue United States support for the organization’s important…
TOKYO: It was a ceremony similar to coronations used by monarchs worldwide, but combining the historical and the spiritual with modernity. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito formally completed his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Oct. 22.Purple curtains were drawn back to reveal Naruhito, 59, and Empress Masako, 55, standing before their imperial…
TOKYO: It was a ceremony similar to coronations used by monarchs worldwide, but combining the historical and the spiritual with modernity. Japan’s Emperor Naruhito formally completed his ascension to the Chrysanthemum Throne at the Imperial Palace in Tokyo on Oct. 22.Purple curtains were drawn back to reveal Naruhito, 59, and Empress Masako, 55, standing before their imperial…
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump on Monday exhorted fellow Republicans to get tougher and fight for him, saying the Democratic-led US House of Representatives wants to impeach him “as quick as possible” over his request that Ukraine investigate a domestic political rival.Trump made his comments during a White House Cabinet meeting as Democrats sought to build…
WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump lashed out Monday at critics who prompted him to move next year’s Group of Seven summit from his private golf club in Florida, claiming he would have hosted it for free and now it will end up costing taxpayers “a fortune.”Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Trump said it would have been…
VILNIUS: The United States on Monday began deploying a battalion of troops and dozens of tanks to Lithuania for an unprecedented six-month rotation, a move sought by the Baltic EU and NATO state to deter neighboring Russia.Dozens of Abrams tanks and Bradley armored vehicles arrived by railway at the army training area in Pabrade.Lithuania’s Defense…
SAN ANTONIO, Texas: The shout of “2024!” from the crowd was unmistakable. It stopped Donald Trump Jr. cold.President Donald Trump’s eldest son had been in the midst of a humor-laced screed in which he decried Joe Biden as too old and Elizabeth Warren as too liberal and insisted his father’s 2016 campaign was too disorganized…
Donald Trump Jr.: provocateur, master preacher for father The son has become the prime warmup act for the father at political rallies He has not shied away from the spotlight or criticism Updated 20 October 2019 JONATHAN LEMIRE | AP October 20, 2019 22:31 SAN ANTONIO, Texas: The shout of “2024!” from the crowd was…
Donald Trump Jr.: provocateur, master preacher for father The son has become the prime warmup act for the father at political rallies He has not shied away from the spotlight or criticism Updated 20 October 2019 JONATHAN LEMIRE | AP October 20, 2019 22:31 SAN ANTONIO, Texas: The shout of “2024!” from the crowd was…
JUBA, South Sudan: South Sudan opposition leader Riek Machar returned to the country Saturday to meet with President Salva Kiir less than a month before their deadline to form a unity government after a five-year civil war.Machar last met face-to-face with Kiir in September, when they discussed outstanding issues in a fragile peace deal. His…
KABUL: Afghanistan’s election commission conceded its failure to release initial presidential poll results set for Saturday and gave no new deadline for the vote which was marred by Taliban attacks and irregularities.The presidential poll on Sept. 28 saw the lowest turnout of any elections in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s ousting.Hawa Alam Nuristani, the chief of…
KABUL: Afghanistan’s election commission conceded its failure to release initial presidential poll results set for Saturday and gave no new deadline for the vote which was marred by Taliban attacks and irregularities.The presidential poll on Sept. 28 saw the lowest turnout of any elections in Afghanistan since the Taliban’s ousting.Hawa Alam Nuristani, the chief of…
BRUSSELS: European Union leaders discussed a new budget plan on Friday that could allow the EU to spend up to 1.1 trillion euros ($1.2 trillion) in the 2021-2027 period, but deep divisions among governments may block a deal for months.Under a proposal prepared by Finland, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency, the next long-term budget…
BRUSSELS: The EU has made a “historic mistake” that risks destabilising the Balkans, senior officials warned Friday, after a handful of countries led by French President Emmanuel Macron again blocked membership talks for North Macedonia and Albania.There was widespread frustration and disappointment, particularly among eastern European countries keen to broaden the EU club, at the…
