Reuters'Tarnished image': Myanmar touts troubled Rakhine as investment destination
Myanmar denies the charge and says its offensive was a legitimate response to an insurgent threat and that it is welcoming the refugees back. Myanmar hopes the Rakhine State Investment Fair – the first of its kind – will bring money into the impoverished region. Civilian leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who
ReutersIran's Rouhani says U.S. sanctions are 'terrorist act'
Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday relations with the United States had rarely been so bad and that sanctions imposed by the Trump administration targeting Tehran's oil and banking sectors amounted to "a terrorist act". Animosity between Washington and Tehran - bitter foes
ReutersExplainer: Does Islamic State still pose a threat?
Islamic State looks about to lose its last foothold on the banks of the Euphrates in Syria, but though its era of territorial rule may have been expunged for now, there is near universal agreement that the group remains a threat. Islamic State's possession of land in Iraq and Syria set it apart
- Christian Science Monitor
Who’s a populist? Democrats taking on Trump look to reclaim the mantle
“Stop calling Donald Trump a populist,” liberal New York Times columnist Paul Krugman ordered the media last August. It’s true, Mr. Krugman wrote, President Trump does occasionally “pose” as a champion of ordinary Americans against the elite. Mr. Trump, for his part, boasts that his policies have been
- Christian Science Monitor
Bearing witness: When hospital work becomes a test of faith
When Tom Catena moved to Sudan in 2008 to work as a surgeon in a remote, rebel-held territory, he first needed to earn the community’s trust. A decade into the job, Dr. Catena, who is also a Catholic missionary, leads the Mother of Mercy Hospital in the Nuba Mountains of South Kordofan, Sudan. Catena
- Christian Science Monitor
Trump meets his Magna Carta
Perhaps never before in the history of Presidents’ Day has the power of an American president been so openly challenged as it was during the holiday on Feb. 18. Thousands rallied nationwide to protest President Trump’s use of emergency powers to take money for a border wall. Many in Congress plotted
- Christian Science Monitor
Peaceful revolutionary: Can Armenia’s prisoner-turned-prime minister govern?
Eventually Pashinyan turned himself in when a general amnesty was announced for political prisoners. Pashinyan delivered a passionate lecture on how inappropriate a poster promoting assault rifles was for a judge’s office. In the end, the judge took the poster down and granted Pashinyan partial amnesty
Associated PressThe Latest: Valero stops importing Venezuela crude oil
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) — The latest on the political crisis in Venezuela (all times local):
- Reuters
Factbox: Who has quit Theresa May's Conservative Party? And what does it mean?
Three pro-EU lawmakers from Britain's governing Conservative Party quit to join an independent group in parliament on Wednesday, in a blow to Prime Minister Theresa May's attempts to unite her party around her Brexit plans. May's Conservative Party does not have a majority in parliament
- Reuters
Macron aides withheld information in Benalla hearings: senate committee
A French senate committee said on Wednesday that senior aides to President Emmanuel Macron withheld information during their testimonies to parliament's investigation into the Benalla affair. The senators said Alexis Kohler, Macron's closest adviser, and his chief of staff Patrick Strzoda had
- Associated Press
Former top Chinese general sentenced to life for corruption
BEIJING (AP) — A former top Chinese general has been given a life sentence for taking and distributing bribes and possessing a large amount of property whose origins he could not account for.
AFPSaudi prince agrees to step up anti-terror 'pressure' with India
Saudi Arabia's Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and Indian leader Narendra Modi vowed Wednesday to increase pressure on countries that fuel terrorism. The promise came as fallout from a suicide bomb attack that India has blamed on Pakistan overshadowed the latest leg of the crown prince's tour
- Reuters
North Korean special envoy arrives in Hanoi before Trump-Kim summit
North Korean special envoy Kim Hyok Chol arrived in Hanoi on Wednesday, a Reuters witness and a source with direct knowledge said, ahead of the second summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and North Korea's Kim Jong Un in Vietnam's capital. Trump and Kim are due to meet in Hanoi next Wednesday
ReutersPutin: We'll target USA if Washington deploys missiles in Europe
In his toughest remarks yet on a potential new arms race, Putin said Russia was not seeking confrontation and would not take the first step to deploy missiles in response to Washington's decision this month to quit a landmark Cold War-era arms control treaty. Let them count the speed and the range
- Reuters
'We are ready', EU executive says of no-deal Brexit
BRUSSELS (Reuters) - The European Union is ready for the worst possible Brexit scenario under which Britain would crash out of the bloc with no agreement to mitigate disruption and manage the new relationship, the bloc's executive said on Wednesday. "We are ready for all possible scenarios,
- Associated Press
3 UK Conservative lawmakers defect to new independent group
LONDON (AP) — Three pro-European lawmakers have quit Britain's governing Conservatives to join a newly formed centrist group of independent legislators opposed to the government's conduct of Brexit.
ReutersFrench senators call for perjury investigation against ex-Macron aide Benalla
A French senate committee on Wednesday recommended President Emmanuel Macron's former security aide, Alexandre Benalla, be prosecuted for perjury during a seven-month investigation into his violent conduct on the sidelines of a protest. Benalla was caught on video last year beating a May Day protester
AFPEgypt hangs nine for 2015 murder of top prosecutor
Egypt hanged nine men on Wednesday for the 2015 assassination of the prosecutor general, judicial sources said, bringing to 15 the number of executions it has carried out this month. Hisham Barakat was killed in June 2015 when a car bomb struck his convoy in Cairo following jihadist calls for attacks
Associated PressThe Latest: Russia 'remains open' for arms talks with US
MOSCOW (AP) — The Latest on Putin's state-of-the-nation speech (all times local):
- Associated Press
Egypt executes 9 over 2015 assassination of top prosecutor
CAIRO (AP) — Egypt on Wednesday executed nine suspected Muslim Brotherhood members convicted of involvement in the 2015 assassination of the country's top prosecutor, security officials said.
AFPMozambique arrests another journalist in jihadist-hit north
Mozambique authorities have detained a journalist working in a northern region that has been rocked by a jihadist insurgency, a media watchdog said Wednesday, the third such arrest in as many months. Germano Daniel Adriano, who works for a local radio and television broadcaster, Radio e Televisao Macomia
- Reuters
Syrian fighters start to evacuate civilians from Islamic State pocket: spokesman
Trucks began evacuating civilians from Islamic State's last pocket of ground in east Syria on Wednesday, a spokesman for U.S.-backed fighters there said, a step seen as crucial towards the final capture of the area. A spokesman for the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), Mustafa Bali, said they were
- Associated Press
EU border guard chief says 'no burning crisis' over migrants
BRUSSELS (AP) — The head of the European Union's border agency says there is "no burning crisis" right now in Europe due to migrant arrivals, but that more and more Africans are trying to enter Spain from Morocco.
- Associated Press
Top Asian News 11:05 a.m. GMT
TOKYO (AP) — With their second summit fast approaching, speculation is growing that U.S. President Donald Trump may try to persuade North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to commit to denuclearization by giving him something he wants more than almost anything else: an announcement of peace and an end to the
Associated PressPossible peace declaration looms large over Trump-Kim summit
TOKYO (AP) — With their second summit fast approaching, speculation is growing that U.S. President Donald Trump may try to persuade North Korean leader Kim Jong Un to commit to denuclearization by giving him something he wants more than almost anything else: an announcement of peace and an end to the