Bigger, stronger and faster than Florence: Super typhoon Mangkhut heads for Philippines at 280km/h
Countries across south-east Asia are issuing emergency alerts and thousands are being evacuated as two typhoons barrel down on the region.
World News
EU must grasp world role as U.S. retreats, Juncker says
The European Union must flex its muscles as a world power, EU chief executive Jean-Claude Juncker said on Wednesday, as he spoke critically of U.S. President Donald Trump’s retreat from international engagement.
Philippines typhoon: Millions in the path of the year’s strongest storm
The most powerful typhoon of the season is closing in on the northern Philippines, where officials ordered precautionary evacuations and closures of schools and offices and urged farmers to quickly harvest their crops to reduce damage.
Iran, in shadow proxy war with Saudis, expands its Pakistan influence
Iran is stepping up its involvement with political and militant Shiite groups in Pakistan, in what foreign affairs experts see as an escalating shadow proxy war with Saudi Arabia in a country with the world’s second-largest Muslim population.
Putin, Xi together for the third time this year as Russia launches largest war games since Cold War
Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping met in far-eastern Russia on Tuesday, the same day the Kremlin began its biggest military exercise since the Cold War.
US, Canada will meet Tuesday, earlier than expected on NAFTA
The U.S. and Canada will resume high-level talks on Tuesday, which is earlier than expected, on the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA).
Syria threatened with ‘stronger response’ if it uses chemical weapons in Idlib
Britain, France and the US have warned Syria it will suffer a “much stronger response” if it uses chemical weapons again.
Iran nuclear chief announces completion of new facility to produce centrifuges
Iran’s nuclear chief Ali Akbar Salehi on Sunday announced to state media that the Islamic Republic had completed construction of a facility capable of producing advanced centrifuges at its nuclear plant Natanz, fulfilling threats that it would continue nuclear production in the event that the US withdraw from the 2014 nuclear deal and slap heavy sanctions on the country.
Syria’s Assad approves gas attack in Idlib despite warning, report says
President Bashar al-Assad has approved a gas attack in the Idlib province, which is the country’s last rebel stronghold, a report on Sunday said.
Trump administration to take tough stance against International Criminal Court
The United States on Monday will adopt an aggressive posture against the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, threatening sanctions against its judges if they proceed with an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan.
U.S. has seen evidence of Syria preparing chemical weapons in Idlib: envoy
There is ‘lots of evidence’ that chemical weapons are being prepared by Syrian government forces in Idlib in northwest Syria, the new U.S. adviser for Syria said on Thursday, as he warned of the risks of an offensive on the country’s last big rebel enclave.
NAFTA talks make progress; U.S., Canadian officials to work into night
The United States and Canada have made progress in talks to revise the North American Free Trade Agreement, and officials from the two sides will work together into the night to flesh out areas for further discussion, Canadian Foreign Minister Chrystia Freeland said on Wednesday.
Typhoon Jebi forces closure of Kansai airport, near Osaka in Japan
A major international airport in western Japan has been closed, with thousands of people evacuated, in the wake of deadly Typhoon Jebi.
Global debt soars, along with fears of crisis ahead
Ten years after the worst financial panic since the 1930s, growing debt burdens in key developing economies are fueling fears of a new crisis that could spread far beyond the disruption sweeping Turkey.
Pompeo to toe hard line in Pakistan; no plan to resume halted U.S. aid
U.S. officials say Secretary of State Mike Pompeo will toe a hard line with Pakistan’s new government when he visits Islamabad this week, roughly nine months after President Trump halted security aid to the South Asian nation on grounds it gives ‘safe haven to terrorists.’
Trump warns Syria not to ‘recklessly attack’ Idlib province
U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday warned Syrian President Bashar al-Assad and his allies Iran and Russia not to ‘recklessly attack’ Syria’s rebel-held Idlib province, warning that hundreds of thousands of people could be killed.
Turkey calls US ‘wild wolves’, vows to abandon dollar in trade
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Sunday vowed Ankara would pursue non-dollar transactions in trade with Russia and other countries, accusing the US of behaving like ‘wild wolves.’
US military to cancel $300m in Pakistan aid over terror groups
The US military says it is canceling $300 million in aid to Pakistan over what it calls Islamabad’s failure to take action against militant groups.
Russian military ‘drills’ point to imminent final clash in Syria
Russia’s navy announced it will open ‘large-scale drills’ in the Mediterranean on Saturday in the latest sign that a major Syrian government offensive against one of the last rebel strongholds in the country is imminent — a development that the United Nations warns could trigger a fresh refugee crisis in the Middle East nation’s 7-year-old civil war.
U.S., Canadian trade negotiators go down to wire with looming deadline for NAFTA deal
U.S. and Canadian officials on Thursday frantically tried to hammer out final sticking points for a deal to replace the North American Free Trade Agreement, with one day left before President Trump’s deadline for an agreement.