International Affairs

World Bank President Jim Yong Kim announced on Monday that he would step down next month, more than three years before his current term was due to expire. The decision ends Mr. Kim’s six-year tenure and may give U.S. President Donald Trump decisive influence over the future leadership of the …

Sheikh Hasina was sworn in as Bangladesh’s Prime Minister for a record fourth term on Monday after her Awami League registered a landslide victory in the recent election that was marred by deadly violence and allegations of vote rigging. President Md. Abdul Hamid administered the oath of office to the …

Chinese and American officials began talks on Monday aimed at ending a bruising trade battle between the world’s two biggest economies, as Beijing complained over the sighting of a U.S. warship in what it said were Chinese waters. It was unclear if the ruckus over the warship might disrupt the …

Supporters of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi are calling for constitutional changes that would allow him to stay in power once his second term ends in 2022. Backers of the former military chief want Parliament to discuss repealing an article limiting Presidents to two consecutive four-year terms. In an editorial …

The U.S. and Israel officially quit the UN’s educational, scientific and cultural agency (UNESCO) at the stroke of midnight, the culmination of a process triggered more than a year ago amid concerns that the organisation fosters anti-Israel bias. The withdrawal is mainly procedural, yet serves a new blow to UNESCO, …

Trump hails ‘solid friendship’ with Xi The Presidents of China and the U.S. have exchanged messages vowing to boost cooperation despite a bruising trade war, on the 40th anniversary of the countries’ diplomatic relations, state media reported. In the messages sent on Tuesday, President Xi Jinping underlined the importance of …

Labour Party not to partner with Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah Israel’s centre-left opposition dramatically split on Tuesday ahead of an April 9 election, with leader Avi Gabbay announcing that he would no longer partner with veteran politician Tzipi Livni as she sat stone-faced next to him. The announcement means the end …

Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday held a meeting with his party’s electoral organisers, fuelling speculation that he may be hoping for a possible presidential re-run in 2019. Sirisena could call a snap presidential election after January 8 next year. Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/lanka-prez-sirisena-meets-party-organisers-hints-2019-may-be-election-year/article25829731.ece

Terror strikeSuicide attackers stormed the Libyan Foreign Ministry in Tripoli on Tuesday, killing at least three people, including a senior civil servant, and wounding 10 others. A special forces spokesman accused the Islamic State of being behind the bombing.AFPMAHMUD TURKIA Source : https://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-international/under-siege/article25829649.ece

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina’s foreign policy adviser speaks on the upcoming election, the China factor and the unresolved river-sharing issue Gowher Rizvi, foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, discusses a plethora of issues, including those connecting Bangladesh and India, days before the country’ general election on December 30. …

French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday criticised U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw American forces from Syria, saying that “an ally must be reliable”.Speaking in the Chad capital N’Djamena, Mr. Macron said “I deeply regret the decision” by Trump to pullout U.S. troops. r. Trump last week ordered a …

Politicians and voters may or may not be making America great again, but they are making American politics young, and young again, if one considers the fact that several of the country’s ‘Founding Fathers’ were in their 20s and 30s. This trend is showing up in at least two ways …

The U.S.’s plans to withdraw about 7,000 troops, nearly half of its current strength, from Afghanistan, has invited strong, shocked reactions from Afghans as well as international stakeholders. The decision followed a three-day long meeting of the U.S. special envoy Zalmay Khalilzad with Taliban members in Abu Dhabi earlier last …

The Pentagon is considering using small teams of Special Operations forces to strike the Islamic State (IS) group in Syria, one option for continuing a military mission there despite President Donald Trump’s order to withdraw troops.The U.S. commandos would be shifted to neighbouring Iraq, where an estimated 5,000 U.S. forces …

Bethlehem is buzzing, with more tourists expected this Christmas than have visited the Biblical city in years, causing the kind of problem that modern technology was almost born to deal with. Such are the crowds at the church built on the site where Jesus is believed to have been born …

Sri Lanka President Maithripala Sirisena on Sunday reinstated United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe as Prime Minister, seven weeks after firing him in a snap move. The re-appointment signals a likely end to the political impasse that gripped the island since October 26, when Mr. Sirisena appointed his former rival …

China pressed on with its trade war truce with the United States on Friday, announcing that it will suspend extra tariffs added to U.S.-made cars and auto parts for three months from January 1. The move is another sign that the ceasefire has not been derailed by the recent arrest …

PM goes to Brussels seeking legal & political assurances to “assuage concerns” of MPs over Brexit deal British Prime Minister Theresa May headed to Brussels on Thursday to attend an EU council meeting after Conservative MPs backed her by a majority of 83 in a secret ballot on Wednesday night. …

Situation on Korean peninsula is in flux: Xi Chinese President Xi Jinping told North Korea’s Foreign Minister on Friday that he hoped Pyongyang and Washington will address each other’s concerns so that peace talks on the Korean peninsula “continue to make positive progress”. Mr. Xi met with Ri Yong Ho …

Says U.K. should use risk of Ireland food shortage in talks Britain’s Indian-origin former Cabinet Minister Priti Patel has faced condemnation in the U.K., Ireland and beyond for suggesting that Britain should use the food shortages that Ireland would suffer in the event of a no-deal as leverage to improve …