Politics

  Rome / AFP Austria will reintroduce controls along its border with Italy unless the migrant flow through the area is drastically reduced, Foreign Minister Sebastian Kurz warned in an interview. Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi last week insisted Italy was not facing an “invasion” after a spike in migrant boat crossings from Libya exacerbated fears it could become the ...

  Brussels / AFP NATO and Russia ran up against “profound disagreements” over Ukraine and other issues as their ambassadors met on Wednesday for the first time since 2014, alliance chief Jens Stoltenberg said. The two sides agreed to keep communicating following the meeting of the NATO-Russia Council, which has been on ice since the alliance cut practical ties with ...

  Berlin / AFP Germany asked neighbouring Belgium on Wednesday to temporarily shutter two ageing nuclear plants near their border over safety concerns. Environment Minister Barbara Hendricks requested that the 40-year-old Tihange 2 and Doel 3 reactors be turned off “until the resolution of outstanding security issues”. The reactor pressure vessels at both sites have shown signs of metal degradation, ...

  Brasília / AFP Brazil’s Supreme Court was due to rule on Wednesday on whether former leader Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva can take up his post as chief advisor to embattled President Dilma Rousseff. The top panel’s decision is expected just days after lawmakers overwhelmingly authorized impeachment proceedings against Rousseff, plunging Brazil into deep political crisis. Rousseff had named ...

  London / AFP US President Barack Obama will be thrust into the eye of a boisterous British debate over European Union membership when he touches down in London on Thursday for a royal-filled visit. The US president’s four-day trip—perhaps his last to Britain before leaving office next year—comes ahead of a June 23 referendum when Britons will be asked ...

  New York / AFP New York began voting on Tuesday in a high-stakes presidential primary tipped to hand Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump victories in the race to clinch the Democratic and Republican tickets to the White House. The former secretary of state, first lady and New York senator leads the polls by double digits over her Brooklyn-born challenger, ...

  Madrid / AFP Spanish police said on Tuesday they had detained a Moroccan man in the Mediterranean island resort of Palma de Mallorca suspected of recruiting jihadists for the IS group. “A police probe revealed that the accused had close contact with established terrorists involved with Daesh who are currently located in Syria,” they said in a statement using ...

  Taiwan / AFP Taiwan said on Tuesday it would protest to Beijing and Belgium after its delegation was barred at a global industry conference in Brussels due to complaints from China. It is the latest bout of diplomatic sparring between Taiwan and China as tensions simmer ahead of the inauguration of Taiwan’s president-elect, Tsai Ing-wen, in May. Beijing does ...

  South Korea / AFP South Korea, Japan and the United States on Tuesday warned North Korea of harsher sanctions and deeper isolation if it went ahead with a fifth nuclear test or other provocations. The warning, which followed a trilateral meeting of top diplomatic officials, came amid growing speculation that Pyongyang is in the final stages of preparing an ...

  MOSCOW / AP Ukraine and Russia have reached a deal to release a jailed Ukrainian pilot, President Petro Poroshenko said on Tuesday, without elaborating if it would entail a swap for two Russian servicemen convicted by Kiev. Nadezhda Savchenko was sentenced to 22 years in prison in Russia last month for her alleged role in the deaths of two ...