Turkey’s president faces some difficult choices after being given green light by the US For Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, it’s a case of be careful what you wish for. By most accounts, Turkey’s president bamboozled Donald Trump into giving a green light for an invasion of north-east Syria. Yet now, ... Read More »
Taiwan leader rejects China’s ‘one country, two systems’ offer
Taiwan’s president rejected on Thursday a “one country, two systems” formula that Beijing has suggested could be used to unify the island and the mainland, saying such an arrangement had set Hong Kong “on the edge of disorder”. President Tsai Ing-wen also vowed in a National Day speech to defend ... Read More »
Trump’s shock Syria retreat reverberates as Turkish troops mass
Officials scramble to understand implications of US move as Kurds face prospect of invasion alonecials scramble to understand implications of US move as Kurds face prospect of invasion alone Kurdish forces in Syria have said the fate of tens of thousands of suspected Islamic State fighters and their families ... Read More »
Hariri in Abu Dhabi to rally support for Lebanon
Prime Minister Saad Hariri arrived in Abu Dhabi Sunday on the first leg of an Arab and foreign tour aiming to drum up Arab and international financial and investment support for Lebanon to help it overcome its economic crisis, officials said. During the two-day official visit to the United ... Read More »
Russia is helping China build a missile defence system, Putin says
Days after Beijing unveils state-of-the-art missiles, Moscow reveals plan that would ‘radically enhance China’s defence capability’ Russian president Vladimir Putin has said that Moscow is helping China build a system to warn of ballistic missile launches. Since the cold war, only the United States and Russia have had such systems, ... Read More »
PM Johnson makes final Brexit offer, draws guarded welcome from EU
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a final Brexit offer to the European Union on Wednesday, pitching a possible compromise for a last-minute exit deal that was cautiously welcomed by the EU though the two sides still remain far apart. In what Johnson’s supporters cast as a moment of truth ... Read More »
Curfews and internet blockages as death toll from protests mounts in Iraq
Curfews and internet blockages have been imposed in parts of Iraq, as officials react to mass protests against unemployment, government corruption and lack of basic services. In multiple cities, clashes between protestors and security forces have turned violent. At least eight people have died and more than 300 left injured ... Read More »
North Korea launches ballistic missile a day after agreeing to US talks
North Korea fired a ballistic missile Wednesday from an underwater launch platform, a US official told CNN, a day after Pyongyang and Washington agreed to resume nuclear talks. The US assessed that the missile was not fired from a submarine although the tested missile is designed to function as a ... Read More »
Hong Kong mops up, braces for fresh protests after National Day violence
Hong Kong awoke to widespread damage on Wednesday and calls for more protests following some of the most violent clashes in nearly four months of unrest, including the shooting of a teenage demonstrator by police. Anti-government protests turned violent early on Tuesday and continued into the night, with intense cat-and-mouse ... Read More »
Saudi Arabia: King Salman’s bodyguard shot dead in ‘personal dispute’ with friend, reports say
Death sparks tributes on social media to prominent security official A prominent bodyguard to Saudi Arabia’s King Salman has been shot dead in a “personal dispute” with a friend, according to state media. Another Saudi national and a Filipino worker were also injured along with five members of the security forces when ... Read More »
Lebanese Ministry of Information