Politics

  United Nations / AFP The Security Council on Thursday unanimously backed Antonio Guterres, the former prime minister of Portugal who was the UN’s refugee chief for a decade, to be the next secretary-general. During a closed-door meeting, the 15 council members adopted a resolution formally presenting Guterres as their choice to be the world’s diplomat-in-chief. Applause rang out in ...

  Rome / AFP Departing UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on Thursday hailed his likely successor Antonio Guterres as a “superb choice”, ahead of the former Portuguese prime minister’s expected backing by the Security Council. “I know Mr Guterres very well and consider him a superb choice,” Ban, who has served as UN chief since January 2007, said in Rome, ...

  Kapitan-Andreevo / AFP The EU launched its beefed-up border force on Thursday in a rare show of unity by the squabbling bloc as it seeks to tackle its worst migration crisis since World War II. European Union officials inaugurated the new task force at the Kapitan Andreevo checkpoint on the Bulgarian-Turkish border, the main land frontier for migrants seeking to ...

  Jakarta / AFP The Indonesian air force Thursday held a major exercise around its islands in the South China Sea where there have been clashes with Chinese vessels in waters claimed by Beijing. Thousands of personnel as well as F-16, Sukhoi and Hercules planes took part in the drill around the remote Natuna islands in the far northwest of ...

  Manila / AFP Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte’s popularity has soared during his first three months in office, an independent survey showed on Thursday, in an apparent endorsement by Filipinos of his brutal war on crime. Defence ally the United States, the United Nations and the European Union have led global condemnation of Duterte’s unprecedented crime crackdown, which has left more ...

The Hague / AFP The UN’s highest court on Wednesday narrowly threw out landmark cases brought by the tiny Marshall Islands against India, Pakistan and Britain for allegedly failing to halt the nuclear arms race. In majority decisions, the 16-judge bench at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled there was no evidence that Majuro had had a prior dispute ...

  Brussels / AFP World powers pledged billions of dollars for war-ravaged Afghanistan until 2020 at talks in Brussels on Wednesday amid fresh calls for the Taliban to make peace 15 years after they were driven from power. Afghanistan’s President Ashraf Ghani met officials from more than 70 countries and international groups, including US Secretary of State John Kerry and ...

  London / AFP Nigel Farage on Wednesday ruled out returning to head up Britain’s anti-EU UK Independence Party, a day after its newly nominated leader Diane James resigned suddenly just over two weeks into her new job. “Not at all. I’ve done my job,” Farage said when asked by Sky News about the possibility of returning. “It is time ...

  Moscow / AFP President Vladimir Putin on Wednesday appointed former prime minister and long-term nuclear chief Sergei Kiriyenko to the key position of deputy head of his presidential administration. The appointment is the latest in a broader reshuffle by the Russian leader that has seen some of his top allies shifted. The Kremlin published a decree on the appointment ...

  United Nations / AFP The race to become the next UN chief takes a decisive turn on Wednesday when the big powers at the Security Council will for the first time indicate which candidates they are prepared to block. During the sixth straw poll to pick the new secretary-general, Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States will use pink ...