Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would halt nuclear tests and intercontinental missile launches, in a Saturday announcement welcomed by US President Donald Trump ahead of a much-anticipated summit between the two men. Pyongyang’s declaration, long sought by Washington, will be seen …
Read More »Bashir fires Sudan foreign minister: state media
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday fired Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour, state media reported, after he said that Sudanese diplomats abroad had been unpaid for months. In a speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, Ghandour, who negotiated the lifting of decades-old sanctions with Washington in October 2017, …
Read More »Zimbabwe heads to Commonwealth summit to ‘re-engage’
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe will attend a Commonwealth summit this week in London as an observer, an official said Monday, underlining the country’s international re-engagement since President Robert Mugabe’s fall. Mugabe angrily pulled Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth bloc in 2003 after its membership was suspended over violent …
Read More »Trump to host Nigerian president April 30: White House
6666, United States | AFP | President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria will meet Donald Trump in Washington on April 30 to discuss issues including “fighting terrorism” and economic growth, the White House announced Sunday. “President Trump looks forward to discussing ways to enhance our strategic partnership and advance our shared …
Read More »US strikes leave Syrian peace process right where it was
6666, United States | AFP | The Western air strikes against Syria probably won’t slow Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s campaign and they certainly don’t amount to a strategy to kick start the failing peace process. They were never meant to. But, by re-focusing Washington’s attention however briefly on Syria’s seven-year-old …
Read More »New tests for Macron and May with first major military operations
2500, France | AFP | Shortly after coming to power last year, Emmanuel Macron mused to a friend about the role of president. “You go through stages,” he said. “Innocence is not allowed.” On Friday night, like British Prime Minister Theresa May, he ordered his first major military intervention. Early …
Read More »Russia, Egypt resume direct flights two years after attack
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia and Egypt are to resume direct flights on Wednesday following a more than two-year hiatus after a bomb downed a Russian charter over the Sinai peninsula in 2015. Moscow officials stopped direct flights citing security concerns after the attack, in a major blow for …
Read More »Mexican president orders review of cooperation with US
Mexico City, Mexico | AFP | Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has ordered his government to carry out a sweeping review of its cooperation with the neighboring United States, his office said Monday, as tensions rise with the Donald Trump administration. The move comes days after Trump ordered thousands of …
Read More »Ambassador Hyuha presents credentials to Indonesia president
Jakarta, Malaysia | THE INDEPENDENT | Ambassador Dorothy Samali Hyuha on Wednesday presented her credentials to President of Indonesia Joko Widodo at a brief ceremony at the Presidential Palace (Istana Merdeka), Jakarta. Hyuha, takes charge of Indonesia but with residence in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where she is Uganda’s High Commissioner. According to …
Read More »Russia promises ‘tough response’ to US sanctions
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Moscow on Friday promised a “tough response” to new US sanctions imposed on seven of Russia’s most influential oligarchs following the diplomatic crisis sparked by the poisoning of former spy Sergei Skripal. “We will not let the current attack, or any new anti-Russian attack, go without …
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