PM heads to Brussels as Philip Hammond declares ‘Malthouse compromise’ unviable Theresa May will present the EU with new legal proposals to solve the Irish backstop issue on Wednesday, which Downing Street hopes will be enough to convince Eurosceptics to back her Brexit deal. The chancellor, Philip Hammond, confirmed late ... Read More »
House investigates ‘White House plan’ to share nuclear technology with Saudis
Top Trump officials pushed plan to share technology despite objections, according to House oversight committee report Top White House officials pushed a plan to share nuclear technology with Saudi Arabia, despite objections from career national security staff, according to a new congressional report. The report from the House oversight committee ... Read More »
Trump says Venezuela’s military will ‘lose everything they have’ if they continue to support Maduro
President’s attack on ‘evils’ of socialism likely made with 2020 presidential election in mind Donald Trump has issued his most blunt threat yet to Venezuela’s military – stop supporting Nicolas Maduro or risk “losing everything”. In a speech in which he claimed “the evils” of socialism were also being turned ... Read More »
Trump will declare national emergency to build border wall after failing to secure funding
Donald Trump will declare a national emergency to build a wall along the southern US border after failing to secure funding for the measure through Congress. The president plans on issuing that declaration after he signs the government funding bill that Congress is poised to approve to keep the government ... Read More »
US could come under attack from space, government report warns
The US could come under attack from space, the government’s Defense Intelligence Agency has warned. Other countries including Russia and China are building technologies that could challenge the perceived advantage and dependence of the American government’s military in space, a new report warns. At its most dramatic, it even suggests ... Read More »
South Korea signs deal to pay more for U.S. troops after Trump demand
Officials signed a short-term agreement on Sunday to boost South Korea’s contribution toward the upkeep of U.S. troops on the peninsula, after a previous deal lapsed amid U.S. President Donald Trump’s call for the South to pay more. About 28,500 U.S. troops are stationed in South Korea, where the United ... Read More »
Brexit: UK will not be ‘trapped’ in backstop, May to tell EU
Theresa May will return to Brussels later to press EU leaders for legally binding changes to the Brexit deal. The PM will insist the UK will not be “trapped” in the backstop – the plan to avoid the return of Irish border checks should no UK-EU trade deal be in ... Read More »
Trump wants out of America’s longest war, but Afghans can’t just walk away
Hope is real after landmark Taliban talks, but fears remain about what might happen if US troops depart The start of 2019 has brought for Afghanistan a tantalising hope of peace, fragile but very real, as the Taliban sat down for talks first with Americans in Qatar and this week ... Read More »
France accuses Italy of ‘unacceptable provocation’ after deputy PM meets yellow vest leaders
Luigi Di Maio says ‘winds of change’ have crossed the Alps France’s foreign ministry has said that Italy’s deputy prime minister meeting with leaders of the yellow vest movement is an “unacceptable provocation”. Luigi Di Maio, who also leads the populist, anti-establishment 5-Star party, said he met yellow vests leader ... Read More »
Afghan president says his government must be ‘decision-maker’ in any peace deal
Afghanistan President Ashraf Ghani said on Tuesday no peace deal between the Taliban and the United States could be finalised without involving his government as “the decision-maker”. Ghani’s government has so far been shut out of the evolving peace talks between Taliban negotiators and U.S. envoys to end more than ... Read More »