Jerusalem / AFP The Israeli parliament gave initial approval on Wednesday to a bill to legalise thousands of West Bank settler homes, a measure drawing international anger and posing the government’s biggest test since 2015 polls. The measure, which would apply to an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 Jewish homes in the occupied West Bank, requires three more full parliamentary ...

  Marrakesh / AFP Morocco is to host an African summit later on Wednesday as the kingdom presses a bid to rejoin the continental bloc 32 years after walking out in protest at its position on the Western Sahara. Some 30 leaders are due to take part, including those of English-speaking states like Kenya and Nigeria as well as Morocco’s ...

Athens/ AFP Globalisation has brought many economic benefits to the world but needs a “course correction” to address growing inequality, US President Barack Obama said on Wednesday on his European farewell tour. Obama spoke during a visit originally planned as a valedictory lap, but which has become focused on reassuring jittery allies after the shock election victory by Donald Trump, a ...

  Rome/ AFP Italian police launched a crackdown on illegal immigration from China, on the day President Xi Jinping was due to arrive for a stopover visit. In an operation dubbed “White Collars”, the GDF financial police said they had ordered 15 arrests and 111 raids on premises across five regions as well as placing another 83 people under formal investigation. ...

  Seoul / AFP South Korean prosecutors questioned a former vice sports minister on Wednesday as their probe into the corruption scandal engulfing President Park Geun-Hye spreads to preparations for the 2018 Winter Olympics. Park is under pressure over her shadowy confidant Choi Soon-Sil, who is accused of using her personal ties with the president to coerce local firms to donate ...

  Marrakesh/ AFP Ministers gathered at a UN conference on Wednesday to discuss the hot-button issue of finance for staving off dangerous climate change, while America’s top diplomat is expected to hammer home the perils of not acting swiftly. A day after dozens of heads of state and government addressed the annual UN climate huddle, more than 100 foreign, energy and ...

  Manila / AFP Filipino and US troops began training exercises this week, the Philippines military said on Wednesday, despite President Rodrigo Duterte’s threats to end joint war games and kick American soldiers out of his country as he edges closer to Beijing. Duterte has called for the withdrawal of American troops from his country and has branded US President ...

  France /AFP A year after extremists used weapons manufactured in Serbia to gun down victims in Paris, Balkan countries are struggling to end the scourge of illegal arms trafficking. The killers who opened fire at the Bataclan theatre, cafes and restaurants in the French capital last November used Yugoslav-era assault rifles produced by Serbia’s Zastava Arms. Months earlier the ...

  Paris / AFP French ex-economy minister Emmanuel Macron, a 38-year-old political novice, announced his bid for the presidency on Wednesday, as an alternative to the “same men and same ideas” that have guided France for decades. Macron finally ended speculation about his intentions by announcing his candidacy for his “En Marche” (“On the Move”) centrist party from a training ...

  Bloomberg The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) is poised to become the latest central bank to test its own digital currency, which it will use in a trial of a blockchain-driven system for interbank payments. The ‘proof-of-concept’ project, which also involves the city’s stock exchange and eight banks, is aimed at simplifying the payments process and reducing transaction costs, ...