ABU DHABI / WAM President His Highness Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan ordered the release of 1,102 prisoners on the occasion of the UAE’s 45th National Day. The move comes as part of President Khalifa’s keenness to give pardoned inmates an opportunity to start a new life and ease the suffering of their families. Commenting on the occasion, …

  New York / AFP Donald Trump stepped up his search on Tuesday for a secretary of state with loyalists at loggerheads over prospective candidates: erstwhile critic Mitt Romney, scandal-clad general David Petraeus and Senator Bob Corker. Trump’s quest for America’s next top diplomat, the most prestigious position in the cabinet and the statesman who will have to grapple with …

  Manila / AFP The Philippines criticised on Tuesday as “irresponsible and alarming” a UN envoy’s warning that life sentences meted out to two ex-Khmer Rouge leaders should serve as a warning to Manila over human rights abuses. Last week, a United Nations-backed court in Cambodia upheld life sentences for crimes against humanity for two senior leaders of the Khmer …