Politics

  Riyadh / AFP Saudi Arabia is determined to prevent external “interference” in neighbouring war-torn Yemen, King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al Saud said in an annual address on Wednesday. He did not explicitly refer to the kingdom’s regional rival Iran but Saudi officials have accused Tehran and the Lebanese Shiite militant group Hezbollah of aiding rebels in Yemen. Since March 2015, ...

  Juba / AFP President Salva Kiir called on Wednesday for a “national dialogue” to end the three-year-long civil war in South Sudan. In a speech to parliament, Kiir, whose wrangling for power with his former deputy Riek Machar plunged the world’s newest nation into a brutal, destructive and ongoing civil war in December 2013, said the dialogue would “consolidate peace” ...

  Qaraqosh / AFP Factories churning out tens of thousands of munitions and an entire street turned into a conveyor belt for car bombs: advances by Iraqi forces around Mosul have laid bare the scale of the IS group’s arms industry. In the more than two years since it seized control over swathes of the country, IS established a sprawling and ...

  Rome / AFP Italy’s parliament on Wednesday endorsed a new government tipped to be so short-lived that its inauguration was seen as the start of battle for the next election. Incoming Prime Minister Paolo Gentiloni’s new line-up, appointed after Matteo Renzi quit a week ago following a crushing referendum defeat, was approved by 169 votes for to 99 against ...

  Washington / AFP President-elect Donald Trump tapped former Texas governor Rick Perry, who once famously said he would abolish the Energy Department, to serve as its secretary Wednesday. The nomination puts Perry, the oil-rich state’s longest-serving governor, in charge of a vast array of energy oversight, including enhancement of nuclear security and science and innovation in the energy field. “As ...

  The Hague / AFP A Dutch court ruled on Wednesday that priceless Crimean art treasures loaned to an Amsterdam museum shortly before Russia annexed the peninsula in 2014 should go back to Ukraine. Four Crimean museums launched a joint legal bid in November 2014 to force the Allard Pierson Museum to return the historic collection of archeological artefacts, displayed in ...

  Sydney / AFP The United States will keep challenging Beijing’s “assertive, aggressive behaviour in the South China Sea”, the US Pacific commander said on Wednesday, as tensions between two powers rise over comments by Donald Trump. Admiral Harry Harris, head of the US Pacific Command, warned Washington would not accept Chinese control of the region, despite Beijing’s rapid development of ...

  London / AFP Britain’s divorce from the European Union could involve a transition arrangement “if necessary”, but a deal should be possible within 18 months, Brexit minister David Davis said Wednesday. The hardline eurosceptic told a committee of British lawmakers that such an arrangement could be struck “if it’s necessary, and only if it’s necessary” but that a deal ...

  Manila / AFP Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has said he personally killed suspected criminals when he was mayor of a southern city to set an example for police. Duterte made the comments in a speech to businessmen as he discussed his campaign to eradicate illegal drugs, which has seen police and unknown assailants kill thousands of people since he became ...

  Washington / AFP US President-elect Donald Trump on Tuesday tapped ExxonMobil chief Rex Tillerson as his nominee to be secretary of state, despite concerns on both sides of the political aisle about the oilman’s deep ties to Russia. The nomination was the one most awaited by observers at home and abroad as the 70-year-old Republican billionaire builds his cabinet ...