Category: Foreign Affairs
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UK to unveil ‘largest military investment’ in three decades
Prime Minister Boris Johnson will on Thursday unveil what is being billed as Britain’s biggest programme of investment in the armed forces since the end of the Cold War. In a speech to lawmakers in parliament, Johnson will announce an extra £16.5 billion ($22 billion, 18.5 billion euros) in funding over the next four years.…
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After 30 years Iraq, Saudi reopen border crossing
Iraq and Saudi Arabia on Wednesday reopened their Arar desert crossing, a long-awaited sign of closer trade ties after 30 years of sealed land borders between the two countries. Top officials including Iraq’s interior minister and the head of its border commission travelled from Baghdad to formally open Arar, where a line of cargo trucks…
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Boris Johnson under fire for criticising Scottish parliament
Scottish independence campaigners have seized on comments by British Prime Minister Boris Johnson in which he said the creation of a devolved parliament in Edinburgh had been “a disaster”. Scottish National Party leader Nicola Sturgeon, who is First Minister in the devolved parliament, tweeted late Monday that it was “worth bookmarking these PM comments for…
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Ugandan President meets Ethiopia minister, seeks negotiation
Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni on Monday met with Ethiopia’s foreign minister to discuss the growing conflict in that country, urging negotiations between warring parties. Museveni met with Demeke Mekonnen, Ethiopia’s deputy prime minister and foreign minister, to discuss the almost two-week-old conflict in the dissident northern region of Tigray. Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed announced…
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COVID-19: British Prime Minister Boris Johnson goes on self isolation
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson was in self-isolation Monday after a contact tested positive for the coronavirus while spiralling infections in the United States saw stay-at-home measures imposed on Chicago, its third-biggest city. Global infections have soared past 54 million with more than 1.3 million deaths, spurring governments to reimpose unpopular and stifling restrictions on…
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Pigeon sells for record 1.6 mn euros to Chinese fancier
An unidentified Chinese buyer on Sunday paid a world record 1.6 million euros ($1.9 million) for a female homing pigeon called New Kim, online auctioneers Pigeon Paradise (PIPA) said. The sale beat the 1.25 million euros paid for male pigeon Armando last year, according to PIPA. New Kim, a well-bred two-ear-old from a renowned Antwerp…
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Peru president under fire over death of three protesters
The head of Peru’s Congress called Saturday night for the “immediate resignation” of interim president Manuel Merino after a violent crackdown on protests against his new government left at least three dead and 13 injured. Thousands have taken to the streets in days of protests against Merino following the ouster of his popular predecessor Martin…
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Al-Qaeda’s number two secretly killed in Iran
Al-Qaeda’s second-in-command, indicted in the US for the 1998 bombings of its embassies in Tanzania and Kenya, was secretly killed in Iran in August, The New York Times reported Friday. Abdullah Ahmed Abdullah, who was on the FBI’s list of most wanted terrorists, was shot and killed in Tehran by two Israeli operatives on a…
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After arresting opposition leaders, Tanzania’s President declares democracy ‘has limits’
Tanzanian President John Magufuli said Friday that freedom and democracy have limits, after a disputed election which saw scores of opposition members arrested and his main rival leave the country. Magufuli was declared the victor of October 28 election with 84 percent of the vote, but the opposition and diplomats have dismissed the process as…
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COVID-19: Former Ghana President, Jerry Rawlings passes on
Former President Jerry Rawlings of Ghana has died of coronavirus-related complications at the age of 73, according to multiple reports from Ghanaian media. The development comes less than a month after he buried his mother. Rawlings, who is one of the most respected African leaders, was a military leader in Ghana and later became a…