OTTAWA: Just one day after signing a $233 million agreement to sell 16 helicopters to the Philippines, the Canadian government on Wednesday ordered a review of the deal amid concerns the aircraft could be used to fight rebels. Trade Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne said that the deal — formally signed on ... Read More »
WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump is continuing his habit of painting immigrants as criminals, highlighting gang connections, calling family reunification a national security threat and bemoaning the death of a pro football player involved in a car accident with a man living in the country illegally. Speaking to law enforcement ... Read More »
New European Commission road map lays out conditions for quick accession Serbia and Montenegro could be set to join the European Union as early as 2025, according to a new action plan launched by Brussels. The EU enlargement plan for the Western Balkans, presented by the European Commission on ... Read More »
Former White House senior strategist will defy subpoena, citing lack of agreement on scope of questioning, says individual familiar with matter The former White House senior strategist Steve Bannon will not testify before the intelligence committee of the US House of Representatives on Tuesday, according to sources – defying ... Read More »
MAIDUGURI, NIGERIA: Boko Haram fighters stormed a village in northeast Nigeria and murdered two civilians, while six people were killed in an attack in northern Cameroon, a local resident and security sources told AFP on Monday. The attacks came as Nigeria’s military again maintained the jihadists had been defeated, ... Read More »
The Defence Logistics Agency reportedly misstated hundreds of millions of dollars in project spending The US Defence Department can’t account for more than $800m(£571m) in spending, according to an audit of one of its agencies. A review of the Defence Logistics Agency, a subsection of the Defence Department, shows ... Read More »
ROME: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected proposals of a partnership with the EU, insisting full membership to the bloc is the only option, in an interview published Sunday. Hosting Erdogan on a visit to Paris in January, French President Emmanuel Macron said it was “hypocrisy” to say ... Read More »
JAKARTA, Indonesia: The UN’s human rights chief has warned that Myanmar’s persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority has the potential to spark regional conflict. Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein reiterated while in Indonesia on Monday that acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing may have occurred in the campaign of violence against ... Read More »
WASHINGTON: Secretary of State Rex Tillerson on Thursday warned countries in the Western Hemisphere to beware of Chinese investment, saying it is reminiscent of European colonialism. He also derided Russia for selling weaponry to unfriendly, authoritarian governments in the region. Before embarking Thursday on a five-nation trip to Latin America, ... Read More »
BALUKHALI REFUGEE CAMP, Bangladesh: The Associated Press has confirmed more than five previously unreported mass graves in the Myanmar village of Gu Dar Pyin through multiple interviews with more than two dozen survivors in Bangladesh refugee camps and through time-stamped cellphone videos. The Myanmar government regularly claims massacres like Gu ... Read More »
Lebanese Ministry of Information