International Affairs

Washington’s newly named point man tasked with finding a peaceful end to Afghanistan’s 17-year war is in Pakistan to seek help from the new government in Islamabad in bringing the Taliban to the negotiating table, the U.S. Embassy said on Tuesday. A former U.S. Ambassador in Kabul, Zalmay Khalilzad arrived …

Journalists say it curbs media freedom Bangladesh’s President on Monday signed a digital security act into law despite protests by journalists and rights groups that it will severely curb media freedom. “The digital security Bill has been signed by the President today,” President Abdul Hamid’s spokesman Joynal Abedin said. Top …

Brazil barrels towards uncertain presidential run-off A deeply polarised Brazil stood at political crossroads on Monday as the bruising first round of the presidential election left voters with a stark choice in the run-off between far-right firebrand Jair Bolsonaro and leftist Fernando Haddad. Mr. Bolsonaro, an ultraconservative former paratrooper, easily …

Economics Nobel winner Nordhaus says they are lagging way behind what needs to be done U.S. economists William Nordhaus and Paul Romer on Monday shared the 2018 Nobel Economics Prize for constructing “green growth” models that show how innovation and climate policies can be integrated with economic growth. Working independently, …

Foreign Minister tells Pompeo that the two countries should pursue cooperation U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo faced a testy exchange with his Chinese counterpart in Beijing on Monday, days after a blistering U.S. denunciation of the Asian power’s global and domestic policies. Mr. Pompeo and Foreign Minister Wang Yi …

“Rape in war has been a crime for centuries. But it was a crime in the shadows. The two laureates have both shone a light on it,” Dan Smith, Director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), told Reuters. Dr. Mukwege, a past winner of the United Nations Human …

UN agreement now expands to 70 countries The 28-nation European Union on Monday ratified the Marrakesh treaty to ease access to reading material for people who are print-disabled the world over. The coverage of the 2013 United Nations treaty now expands to 70 countries across the globe, according to a …

As politicians embark on their final days of campaigning for Bosnian elections on Sunday, there is one small corner of the country where they cannot pass: Podgora, a poor hamlet fed up with the government’s broken promises. “You’ve been lying to us for years. No party is welcome in Podgora,” …

Alliance to hold its biggest military exercises since Cold War U.S. Defence Secretary Jim Mattis on Tuesday sought to reassure rattled European nations of America’s “iron-clad” commitment to NATO, as the transatlantic alliance announced its biggest military exercises since the Cold War. If U.S. allies have been unnerved by President …

Three scientists on Tuesday won the Nobel Physics Prize, including the first woman to receive the prestigious award in 55 years, for inventing optical lasers that have paved the way for advanced precision instruments used in corrective eye surgery. Arthur Ashkin of the U.S. won one half of the nine …

President Donald Trump on Monday slammed India for imposing “tremendously high tariffs” on American products and said that New Delhi wanted to have a trade deal with America to keep him happy. At a press conference on the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada agreement, Mr. Trump listed out the deals that are under …

Palestinians joined Israeli Arabs on Monday in a general strike against Israel’s controversial Jewish nation-state law, while commemorating the deaths of 13 people killed in clashes with the police in October 2000. In the Arab Israeli community of Jatt in northern Israel, 1,500 participated in the central march in memory …

Indonesia’s President formally invited foreign donors to contribute to rescue and recovery efforts on the quake-and-tsunami-struck-island of Sulawesi on Monday, but his government was at pains to stress the situation was under control. “The President has decided to accept aid from abroad,” said Army General-turned-Minister Wiranto. Giving a less than …

Offers to lift ties between the two nations to ‘a new level’ Chinese President Xi Jinping on Monday congratulated Ibrahim Solih, Maldives’s President-elect. In his message, President Xi offered to “lift the comprehensive friendly cooperative partnership between China and Maldives to a new level”. Mr. Xi stressed that he “highly …

Lauded for their path-breaking research on cancer therapy Two immunologists, James Allison of the U.S. and Tasuku Honjo of Japan, won the 2018 Nobel Medicine Prize for research into how the body’s natural defences can fight cancer, the jury said on Monday. Unlike more traditional forms of cancer treatment that …

A Syrian rebel alliance has not pulled any heavy arms from the country’s north, its spokesman said on Sunday, denying reports it had begun implementing a demilitarisation deal there. Russia and Turkey reached a deal earlier this month to create a buffer zone around the opposition stronghold of Idlib that …

China’s indigenously-built new multi-role combat aircraft for exports has made its debut flight, state media reported on Saturday. The FTC-2000G, a new multi-role combat aircraft developed for export by the State-owned Aviation Industry Corp of China (AVIC), made its debut flight on Friday in the Guizhou province, state-run China Daily …

China’s relentless drive under its flagship Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) to build factories, railways, and other infrastructure, even in risky global hotspots, is having an unexpected fallout — the rise of a home-grown private security industry. Private security companies (PSCs) have spiralled in response to a string of security …

Foreign Minister asks the U.S. to give up pressure tactics, drop Cold War mindset China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi has urged the U.S. to abandon fruitless pressure tactics to resolve the trade row between the two countries. “Regarding trade frictions, China stands for a proper settlement based on rules and …

The FBI investigation will be limited in scope and completed in less than one week, says President U.S. President Donald Trump on Friday ordered a new FBI investigation into sexual assault allegations against his Supreme Court pick, as the Senate delayed a vote on Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to make way …