Politics

  Berlin / AFP Germany’s foreign minister said he hoped the warring sides in Ukraine’s conflict could agree to extend a shaky truce, ahead of peace talks in Berlin later Wednesday. Frank-Walter Steinmeier said he also wanted negotiators to move forward on organising local elections in eastern Ukraine, warning that each round of fruitless talks risks undermining a fragile peace ...

  London / AFP Queen Elizabeth II was caught on camera describing some Chinese officials as “very rude” in a rare diplomatic gaffe by the long-serving British monarch over a state visit that drummed up billions in Chinese investment. Her comments, aired on Wednesday, came just hours after Prime Minister David Cameron on Tuesday also made inadvertently public remarks, referring ...

  Davao / AFP The election of Rodrigo Duterte as Philippine president marks the latest victory for populist politics, as voters around the world reward candidates offering simple solutions to complex problems. In a country beset by crime, poverty and corruption, Duterte promised voters a raft of quick fixes that many analysts believe will remain empty promises. One of his ...

  London / AFP A fifth of the world’s plant species are at risk of extinction, British researchers warned on Tuesday in an unprecedented global census of the plant kingdom. The survey by Britain’s Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, London, said 21 percent of species are under threat. The report, the first of its kind, is intended to become a ...

  Washington / AFP Several massive tornadoes churned above Oklahoma, killing at least two people, with hail as big as grapefruit hitting the US state, the authorities and US media said. The storms began forming in southern parts of the state in the afternoon, local media reported, with the first confirmed twister hitting near Elmore City, in rural Garvin County. ...

  Brasília / AFP The impeachment of Brazil’s President Dilma Rousseff looked set to go ahead on Tuesday, after the interim speaker of the lower house said he had reversed his earlier annulment. In the latest twist to the country’s spirling political crisis, local media said Waldir Maranhao had “reversed the decision” to cancel the April vote by lawmakers that ...

  Beijing / AFP The US on Tuesday sailed a warship close to a disputed South China Sea reef Beijing has built up into an artificial island, reports and officials said, prompting China to express “dissatisfaction and opposition”. Guided-missile destroyer USS William P. Lawrence navigated within 12 nautical miles of the Fiery Cross Reef, occupied by China and also claimed ...

Yangon / AFP Washington’s new ambassador to Myanmar on Tuesday said remaining sanctions had taken an “unintended” toll on the nation’s delicate economic development, as the US re-evaluates its embargoes on the former pariah state. Myanmar’s stunning transition from decades of repressive junta rule to a civilian-led government steered by Aung San Suu Kyi and her pro-democracy party was accompanied ...

  Vienna / AFP Austria’s unpopular and squabbling centrist coalition began the search on Tuesday for a new leader and a new start after a surging populist far-right forced Chancellor Werner Faymann to resign. The choice of a successor to Faymann, 56, who quit on Monday due to “insufficient support” in his Social Democrats (SPOe) party, is fraught with potential ...

  Seoul / AFP The US government has suspended millions of dollars in funding to several organisations providing aid for Syria after discovering they were systematically overpaying Turkish companies for basic goods with the collusion of some of their staff. The US Agency for International Development’s independent government auditor said it had “established grounds resulting in the suspension of 14 ...