The United States aims to avoid war with Iran and the additional troops ordered to be deployed in the Gulf region are for “deterrence and defense,” U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said on Sunday. Speaking to Fox News Sunday, Pompeo added that he was confident U.S. President Donald Trump ... Read More »
Italy and France agree migrants must be distributed around the EU
The European Union must introduce a new, automatic system of taking in migrants saved from the Mediterranean, the leaders of Italy and France said on Wednesday, as they sought to patch up bruised bilateral relations. Italy has long complained that it has been left alone to deal with the hundreds ... Read More »
Scientists set out how to halve greenhouse gas emissions by 2030
Strong civil society movements are needed to ramp up pace of change, says study Greenhouse gas emissions could be halved in the next decade if a small number of current technologies and behavioural trends are ramped up and adopted more widely, researchers have found, saying strong civil society movements ... Read More »
Ex-Google worker fears ‘killer robots’ could cause mass atrocities
Engineer who quit over military drone project warns AI might also accidentally start a war A new generation of autonomous weapons or “killer robots” could accidentally start a war or cause mass atrocities, a former top Google software engineer has warned. Laura Nolan, who resigned from Google last year ... Read More »
Amazon deforestation is driven by criminal networks, report finds
Criminals threaten and attack government officials, forest defenders and indigenous people, Human Rights Watch finds Deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon is a lucrative business largely driven by criminal networks that threaten and attack government officials, forest defenders and indigenous people who try to stop them, according to a new ... Read More »
Trump threatens Iran after Saudi attack: ‘I don’t want war but US is more prepared than any country’
Iran denies being behind attacks and vows to defend itself Donald Trump has threatened Iran after accusing it of attacking oil facilities in Saudi Arabia, saying the US was “better prepared” than anyone in history if military action was needed. Two days after two facilities in Saudi Arabia were ... Read More »
US Warship Docks in Beirut Port as Sign of ‘Enduring Partnership’ with Lebanon
A US warship docked off the port of Beirut on Saturday in what American Ambassador Elizabeth Richard said was a sign of the “enduring partnership between the US and Lebanon”. Vice Admiral James Malloy, commander of the US Fifth Fleet, was aboard the USS Rampage, which hosted a reception for ... Read More »
Hariri hopes to maintain, lower 7.6 percent deficit in budget
Prime Minister Saad Hariri said Sunday it is important that the 2020 budget maintains or goes below the 7.6 percent deficit-to-GDP ratio and that state spending be directed towards investment. His words came days before he heads to France to meet President Emmanuel Macron. “We need to reach a time ... Read More »
How Tunisia’s presidential election could deliver a populist president
On Sunday, Tunisia is holding the second free presidential election in its history. The Tunisian democracy faces high uncertainty, with a populist candidate, Nabil Karoui, leading in the polls. Among other unprecedented circumstances, the presidential election will precede parliamentary elections set to take place next month. This is due to ... Read More »
Trump says US ‘locked and loaded’ after Saudi Arabia attack, as oil prices soar
US president says he has ‘reason to believe we know the culprit’ of the drone attacks on Aramco plant Donald Trump has said the US was “locked and loaded” and to ready respond to drone attacks on a petroleum processing facility in Saudi Arabia, saying the US knew who ... Read More »