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 …
Read More »Race for ‘hypersonic’ weapons heats up as France joins fray
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 …
Read More »Saudi Arabia hopes to lure over $425 bln in investments
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 …
Read More »Spanish drug smuggling ring used drones to ‘monitor’ police
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 …
Read More »Week of turmoil in Venezuela
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 …
Read More »Facebook has ‘new tools’ against EU election meddling
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 …
Read More »Climate change pushing killer whales to migrate north
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 …
Read More »Russia says state and private ‘instructors’ are in Sudan
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 …
Read More »‘Radical rethink’ needed to tackle obesity, hunger, climate: report
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 …
Read More »What next for Brexit?
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 …
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