Politics

  Manila / AFP The United States has not renewed a major aid package to the Philippines because of “significant concerns” about the rule of law under President Rodrigo Duterte, the US embassy said on Thursday. “This decision reflects the Board’s significant concerns around rule of law and civil liberties in the Philippines,” embassy spokeswoman Molly Koscina said in a ...

Buenos Aires / AFP Venezuela’s top diplomat turned up uninvited to a meeting of the South America’s Mercosur, despite Caracas’ suspension from the trade bloc for failing to meet democratic and trade standards. Foreign Minister Delcy Rodriguez pushed her way through a crowd of riot police and journalists to enter the Argentine foreign ministry in Buenos Aires where the extraordinary meeting ...

  Aleppo / AFP Deadly clashes erupted in Syria’s Aleppo on Wednesday and a deal for the evacuation of rebel areas was on hold, leaving thousands of cold and hungry civilians uncertain of their future. Entire families had gathered in the early hours, in the hope of leaving Aleppo after an agreement announced the night before for rebels to withdraw from ...

  Ankara / AFP Turkey’s president said on Wednesday he would speak with Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in an effort to rescue a ceasefire deal which would allow civilians and rebel fighters to be evacuated from Syria’s Aleppo. “I will speak with Mr Putin again later in the evening,” President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said during a televised speech in Ankara. “The ...

  Paris / AFP French President Francois Hollande on Wednesday joined calls for international observers to oversee the evacuation of civilians trapped under fire in the wrecked Syrian city of Aleppo. At a meeting with his defence cabinet, Hollande said those trapped by the fighting should “be evacuated in a dignified and safe manner, under the supervision of international observers and ...

  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 ...