LONDON / AP Britain is leaving the European Union’s single market but wants a “frictionless†new trade relationship with the bloc, the government said in the most detailed account yet of its EU exit plans. In a bid to ease uncertainty around the UK’s exit from the European Union — and appease opposition demands for greater clarity — the ...
Read More »Court denies Trump request to immediately restore travel ban
WASHINGTON / AP A federal appeals court denied early Sunday the Justice Department’s request for an immediate reinstatement of President Donald Trump’s ban on accepting certain travelers and all refugees. The Trump administration appealed a temporary order restraining the ban nationwide, saying late Saturday night that the federal judge in Seattle overreached by “second-guessing” the president on a matter ...
Read More »Australia’s Turnbull says Trump isn’t chasing a refugee deal
CANBERRA / AP Australia’s prime minister on Sunday ruled out any deal to get the United States to honor an agreement to resettle hundreds of Muslim refugees that President Donald Trump has described as “dumb.” Prime Minister Malcom Turnbull also dismissed a Nine Network television network journalist’s suggestion that he should be offended that White House spokesman Sean Spicer has ...
Read More »Afghan official: 38 killed by avalanches after heavy snow
KABUL / AP At least 38 people have been killed over the course of three days in Afghanistan by avalanches caused by heavy snow, officials said on Sunday. Omer Mohammadi, spokesman for the Afghan state minister for disaster management and humanitarian affairs, said that more than 20 others have been injured. Mohammadi said that 22 of Afghanistan’s 34 provinces ...
Read More »Visa holders take flights to US amid reprieve
CHICAGO / AP Visa holders from seven majority-Muslim countries who were turned away from the United States due to President Donald Trump’s travel ban are rushing to try again, hoping to make it through a narrow window opened by legal challenges. The federal appeals court in San Francisco denied Trump’s effort to immediately reinstate the ban early Sunday. For ...
Read More »â€˜Brexit, Trump give French reason to vote’
LYON / AP Britain’s decision to leave the European Union and the election of U.S. President Donald Trump have given the French a “reason to vote” because it can result in real change, the top lieutenant of far-right French presidential candidate Marine Le Pen declared on Sunday ahead of her long-awaited speech. Le Pen supporters were pouring into the ...
Read More »Israeli PM calls for unity against Iran before UK visit
JERUSALEM / AP Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is calling for international unity against Iran after Tehran’s recent ballistic missile test. Netanyahu spoke Sunday ahead of his visit to London where he will meet Prime Minister Theresa May to “deepen bilateral diplomatic, security, economic and technological ties.” He said “In the diplomatic sphere, I intend to emphasize the need ...
Read More »Serb wall in Kosovo city pulled down with no incidents
PRISTINA / AP A concrete wall erected in the northern Kosovo city of Mitrovica that has provoked tensions between Kosovo and neighboring Serbia has been pulled down. The move followed an agreement between the government and the country’s ethnic Serb minority, facilitated by the European Union and the United States embassy. The wall’s destruction by two excavators on Sunday ...
Read More »Turkish police detain over 440 people in anti-IS operation
ISTANBUL / AP Turkey’s anti-terrorism police have detained over 440 people for alleged links to the IS group, the state-run agency reported on Sunday. The Anadolu Agency said 60 IS suspects, the vast majority of them foreigners, were taken into custody early Sunday in the capital, Ankara. It said a total of 445 people were detained in simultaneous pre-dawn ...
Read More »Trump must shun ill-planned actions against Iran
By putting Iran ‘on notice’ for its aggressive behaviour, President Trump has taken aim at a country that’s opposed by many US allies. But he has begun this confrontation without much preparation or strategic planning, continuing the haphazard pattern of his first two weeks in office. Iran is a convenient enemy for Trump. Israel and the Gulf Arab states share ...
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