Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s ruling party officials are gathering on Thursday for talks on a general election due by May, with their deliberations overshadowed by the party’s defeat at the polls in three heartland rural states. The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) said the gathering, to be chaired by the ... Read More »
Scientists identify vast underground ecosystem containing billions of micro-organisms
Global team of scientists find ecosystem below earth that is twice the size of world’s oceans The Earth is far more alive than previously thought, according to “deep life” studies that reveal a rich ecosystem beneath our feet that is almost twice the size of all the world’s oceans. Despite ... Read More »
UN states agree historic global deal to manage migration crisis
First international pact on movements of people reached between 164 nations, despite US-led objections The first ever international deal on the migration crisis was signed on Monday by a majority of UN states, despite vociferous objections led by the United States. The historic, non-binding global pact seeking to better manage ... Read More »
Macron bows to protesters’ demands and says: I know I have hurt some of you
President takes emergency measures to placate gilets jaunes but refuses to reinstate wealth tax Emmanuel Macron has bowed to pressure from the street to announce a catalogue of emergency measures aimed at pacifying the gilets jaunes after weeks of civil unrest in France. In a long-awaited address on primetime television, ... Read More »
Brexit in turmoil as UK’s May pulls vote to seek changes to EU divorce
British Prime Minister Theresa May on Monday postponed a parliamentary vote on her Brexit deal to seek more concessions but the European Union refused to renegotiate and lawmakers doubted her chances of winning big changes. May’s abrupt move less than 30 hours before parliament was to vote opens up a ... Read More »
Mexico to invest $30 billion to boost growth, stem migration, foreign minister says
Mexico will invest more than $30 billion in its poor southern states over the next five years, the foreign minister said on Monday, boosting the region economically as part of efforts to curb migration. Under pressure from the United States, Mexico is grappling to halt the northward flow of migrants ... Read More »
Macron must unify France as unrest is hurting economy: Le Maire
President Emmanuel Macron needs to unify a country divided by the forces of globalization in a national addresses on Monday and end anti-government protests that will cut economic growth by about 0.1 percentage points, France’s finance minister said. Protesters rioted in Paris and cities across France on Saturday in a ... Read More »
Tackle climate or face financial crash, say world’s biggest investors
UN summit urged to end all coal burning and introduce substantial taxes on emissions Global investors managing $32tn issued a stark warning to governments at the UN climate summit on Monday, demanding urgent cuts in carbon emissions and the phasing out of all coal burning. Without these, the world faces ... Read More »
Experts fear real estate collapse in Lebanon
Ghostly apartment blocks and half-built buildings dot Lebanon, as experts and entrepreneurs fear that the country’s key real estate sector is on the brink of collapse. The small Mediterranean country’s construction sector had witnessed an unprecedented boom from 2008, fueled in part by sales to wealthy Gulf Arabs and Lebanese ... Read More »
Putin says Russia will start developing intermediate-range missiles if US does not back down on arms control treaty
‘What will our response be? Simple. We’re going to do the same,’ said Vladimir Putin Russian president Vladimir Putin has suggested Russia would develop intermediate-range nuclear arms in response to the US exiting a key Soviet-era arms control agreement. “It seems our American partners think … they should have such ... Read More »