Politics

  Bloomberg Japan and Australia agreed to enhance coordination on Asian security issues, including the South China Sea and North Korea, at a meeting of the two countries’ leaders on Saturday, while reaffirming that the US remains the cornerstone of their strategic arrangements. “We confirmed our intention to maintain solid cooperation with the incoming Trump administration,” Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo ...

  BERLIN / AP German Chancellor Angela Merkel is stressing as she awaits Donald Trump’s inauguration that the world’s problems need solving in cooperation, rather than by each country individually. Asked at a news conference Saturday about protectionist tendencies in the U.S., Merkel said she will seek a dialogue with the new president. “I don’t want to get ahead of that, ...

  MOSUL / AP Iraqi forces have secured less than a quarter of Mosul University as they face stiff resistance from IS fighters in the battle for control of the city, according to senior Iraqi commanders overseeing the advance. Convoys of Iraqi Humvees snaked through the sprawling university compound in eastern Mosul, pausing for artillery and airstrikes to clear snipers perched ...

  VATICAN CITY / AP Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas heads into a meeting on Saturday with Pope Francis as he rallies international support ahead of this weekend’s Paris peace summit. Among other things, Abbas is expected to raise with Francis the Palestinian concern about a possible move of the US embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Palestinians strongly ...

  WASHINGTON / AP Pointing towards possible confrontation, Donald Trump’s selection for secretary of state likened Beijing’s island-building in the South China Sea to a takeover of another country’s territory and spoke of forcing Beijing to fully apply sanctions on North Korea. China will likely be alarmed by former Exxon Mobil CEO Rex Tillerson’s Senate confirmation hearing remarks on Wednesday. ...

  PARIS / AP France’s government has quietly backtracked on a policy that allowed children to leave the country without their parents’ permission, after years of complaints from families of radicalized teens who left to join extremist groups. The new rules requiring parental permission go into effect on Sunday, five years after the government lifted the restriction with little fanfare, ...

  WARSAW / AP American soldiers are rolling into Poland, fulfilling a dream Poles have had since the fall of communism in 1989 to have US troops on their soil as a deterrent against Russia. US Army vehicles and soldiers in camouflage crossed into southwestern Poland on Thursday morning from Germany and were heading for Zagan, where they will be ...

  BERLIN / AP Germany’s supreme court has dismissed another challenge to a European Union-Canada trade deal that was signed late last year following tortuous negotiations. The Federal Constitutional Court in October rejected calls from opponents of the trade deal, known as CETA, to issue an injunction forcing the German government to withhold its approval of the pact. It did, ...

  KABUL / AP The US military in Afghanistan said on Thursday that its investigation into a November firefight with the Taliban in northern Kunduz province has shown that 33 civilians died in the raid during which US troops fired on Afghan homes. The probe followed claims that civilian deaths resulted from airstrikes called in to support Afghan and US ...

  SEOUL / AP Former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on Thursday he’ll soon announce whether to run for South Korea’s top job as he returned home and strongly hinted at his political ambitions before hundreds of cheering supporters. Ban’s return will likely heat up local politics as he’s considered as the only major conservative contender in a possible early ...