WORLD

Washington, United States | AFP | The United States hopes to make “significant progress” during high-stakes trade talks with Chinese officials this week, US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said Tuesday. Beijing and Washington have a month remaining in a 90-day truce declared in December before US tariffs on hundreds of billions in Chinese exports are …

Paris, France | AFP | World powers are vying to develop so-called “hypersonic” weapons that travel several times the speed of sound, with France the latest to join a field led so far by Russia and China. Hypersonics are like missiles that travel at over five times the speed of …

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | AFP | Saudi Arabia on Monday launched an ambitious programme which it hopes will attract $427 billion in investments in the industrial and logistics sectors, as the OPEC kingpin bids to reduce dependence on oil. To kickstart the 12-year programme, the Gulf state announced the signing …

Madrid, Spain | AFP | Police in Spain said Monday they have smashed a drug smuggling ring which used drones to “monitor” police and ensure the coast was clear when they unloaded shipments of hashish on the country’s southern coast. Officers arrested 12 suspected members of the gang in the southern …

Caracas, Venezuela | AFP | Here are key developments in Venezuela since a band of soldiers briefly rose up against President Nicolas Maduro on January 21, with an opposition leader declaring himself “acting president” days later. – Brief uprising – On January 21 a group of soldiers take control of …

Brussels, Belgium | AFP | Facebook unveiled Monday new tools to counter online political meddling in the European elections, part of a campaign to answer growing pressure to rein in disinformation. The US tech giant’s vice president, former British deputy prime minister Nick Clegg, said in a speech the methods …

Norway | AFP | Paying no attention to nearby divers, a killer whale and her calf hunting for food frolic in a snowy Norwegian fjord. Their favourite meal, herring, abounds, but climate change means both predator and prey must increasingly migrate further north. The clear and calm waters of Reisafjorden, in …

Moscow, Russia | AFP | Moscow on Monday said it had sent “instructors” to Sudan, where demonstrators have been protesting against President Omar al-Bashir for weeks, following reports of sightings of Russian-speaking soldiers in Khartoum. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov did not specify who the “instructors” were, but said they were in …

Paris, France | AFP | To defeat the intertwined pandemics of obesity, hunger and climate change, governments must curb the political influence of major corporations, said a major report Monday calling for a ‘global treaty’ similar to one for tobacco control. But this will not happen unless ordinary citizens demand a …

London, United Kingdom | AFP | Despite the humiliating rejection of Prime Minister Theresa May’s Brexit deal, Britain is no closer to knowing the end result of its vote to leave the European Union. A raft of amendments to be voted on by MPs on Tuesday threaten to further muddy the …