Politics

  Brussels / AFP Donald Trump’s “America first” approach has Europe worried he may cut US commitments to NATO just as it mounts its biggest military build-up since the end of the Cold War to counter a more assertive Russia. Trump caused uproar during the campaign when he suggested Washington would think twice about coming to the aid of an ...

    Vienna /AFP Donald Trump’s stunning victory is a “wake-up call” against the rise of populism ahead of Austria’s presidential election, candidate Alexander Van der Bellen said on Thursday, three weeks before the poll. The independent ecologist is running against Norbert Hofer who is striving to become the EU’s first far-right elected head of state on December 4. Opinion ...

  Washington / AFP Donald Trump’s surprise victory in the US presidential race raises new questions over Federal Reserve policy in the short run and the central bank’s vital operational independence over the longer term. How his proposed, dramatic policy shifts impact the economy could influence Fed plans to resume raising interest rates after a year’s hiatus, which was widely ...

  Seoul/ AFP North Korea on Thursday warned the incoming Donald Trump administration will have to acknowledge it as a nuclear state, as the South said the maverick billionaire had pledged to protect it. The United States maintains it cannot accept North Korea as a nuclear power, despite it conducting five nuclear tests and has pushed harsh international sanctions against ...

  Ain Issa / AFP US-backed forces pressed offensives on Wednesday on the IS group’s strongholds in Syria and Iraq, as a strike by the American-led coalition was reported to have killed 20 civilians near Raqa. Supported by coalition air raids, Iraqi forces have pushed into IS’s Mosul stronghold and a Kurdish-Arab militia alliance has been advancing on the extremists’ de ...

  Jerusalem / AFP Israeli forces attacked a Syrian military position on Wednesday, hours after a rocket from Syria hit the Israeli-held Golan Heights, the army said. “In response to the projectile which hit Israel earlier today, the IDF (Israel Defence Forces) targeted an artillery position of the Syrian regime in the northern Syrian Golan Heights,” a statement said. The ...

  Moscow / AFP Russia on Wednesday accused a Dutch submarine of trying to monitor its aircraft carrier and escort vessels in the Mediterranean, denouncing such manoeuvres as “dangerous”. According to the Russian defence ministry, the Severomorsk and the Vice-Admiral Kulakov, two of its anti-submarine ships, had “spotted a submarine from the Dutch navy… which tried to approach the Northern ...

  Bashiqa / AFP Iraqi Kurdish forces came under heavy fire from a salmon-coloured house on the edge of the IS group-held town of Bashiqa, but when they stormed it, it was empty. “The fiercest resistance was coming from here,” said Corporal Hawkar Weis, pointing to the two-storey house on the eastern side of Bashiqa, which is now under the control ...

  Aden / AFP An elite Yemeni force backed by Saudi-led coalition air strikes killed 30 suspected Al-Qaeda fighters in the southeast of the country in a 24-hour operation that ended on Wednesday, the army said. The force raided an Al-Qaeda hideout west of the port city of Mukalla on Tuesday in a “very successful” operation that lasted 24 hours, ...

  Brussels /AFP The EU warned Turkey on Wednesday that “backsliding” on rights after a coup attempt was putting its membership bid at risk and urged Ankara to decide whether or not to commit. President Recep Tayyip Erdogan however hit back at the “shameless” European Union and challenged it in return to make a final choice on Turkey’s long-stalled application ...