Isis has fought desperately and skilfully to hold the Syrian city of Raqqa, under siege by Kurdish-led forces for more than four months, but will soon lose it in the latest defeat for the Islamic fundamentalist movement. Little is left today of the Caliphate declared in 2014, which once ... Read More »
US flies bombers over Korean Peninsula in show of force as Donald Trump discusses strategy with defence chiefs
President meets with Secretary of Defence General James Mattis to plan best approach to rogue state’s growing nuclear threat The US military flew two strategic bombers over the Korean Peninsula in a show of force late on Tuesday, as President Donald Trump met top defence officials to discuss how to respond ... Read More »
The Nobel in economics rewards a pioneer of “nudges”
Richard Thaler becomes one of very few behavioural economists to receive the discipline’s highest honour NOT long ago, the starting assumption of any economic theory was that humans are rational actors who maximise their utility. Economists summarily dismissed anyone insisting otherwise. But over the past few decades, behavioural ... Read More »
A Declaration of Independence, Sort of, for Catalonia
BARCELONA, Spain — The Catalan secession crisis took a confusing new turn on Tuesday night, after the leader of Catalonia made a perplexing speech in which he appeared to declare independence from Spain, before immediately suspending that decision to allow for more “dialogue” with leaders in Madrid. For days, ... Read More »
Trump’s targeting of Revolutionary Guards is a step too far for Iran
Tehran has promised crushing response if US president makes ‘strategic mistake’ of listing elite force as terrorist entity In the 11 months since Donald Trump’s election, Tehran has been at pains to avoid kneejerk reactions. The measured responses to the US president’s pronouncements on Iranian activities have revealed ... Read More »
Google has found Russian ads related to 2016 election
Google has identified tens of thousands of dollars in ad buys by Russian accounts that used YouTube or Google advertising to try to spread misinformation and sow discord in American politics, sources familiar with the company’s investigation told CNN. These accounts used YouTube, Google search advertising, Gmail advertising and Google’s ... Read More »
South Korea threatens to drop blackout bombs on North Korea
SOUTH Korea’s military is ready to deploy a powerful weapon that can totally paralyse North Korea in the event of a nuclear war. SOUTH Korea is ready to deploy graphite bombs that can paralyse North Korea’s power grid in the event of a nuclear war. Military sources ... Read More »
The search for a new foreign policy
Dr. Hasan Askari Rizvi The recently-concluded foreign minister-level interaction between Pakistan and the United States showed that there are wide gaps in the foreign policy dispositions of the two countries pertaining mainly to Afghanistan, countering terrorism in the region and a framework for bilateral cooperation. The only redeeming feature ... Read More »
North Korea will not flinch an inch! Pyongyang warns US to BACK OFF on nuclear war threats
NORTH KOREA warned it “would not flinch” from “the road to bolstering up the nuclear forces” unless the USA backed down from its “hostile” and threatening policy towards Pyongyang. And Pyongyang’s permanent representative to the United Nations said the United States and Donald Trump should “take the lead” ... Read More »
Isis fighters surrender en masse after fall of Hawija despite vowing to fight or die
Extremist soldiers forego martyrdom to hand themselves in at Kurdish interrogation centre in northern Iraq after loss of regional stronghold in morale-sapping defeat The prisoners were taken to a waiting room in groups of four, and were told to stand facing the concrete wall, ... Read More »