International

Russia, China veto UN resolution demanding Aleppo truce

UNITED NATION, United States (AFP) — Russia and China on Monday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for a seven-day ceasefire in the embattled Syrian city of Aleppo. Venezuela also voted against the text, while Angola abstained. The 11 other council members voted in favor. The vote marked the sixth time Russia has blocked a council resolution on Syria since the conflict began in March 2011, and the fifth for China. A close ally […]

Trump meets on cabinet appointments

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – by Dave Clark Donald Trump girded Monday for a busy day of meetings to fill cabinet positions including secretary of state, a keenly awaited choice as American allies and foes watch the president-elect engage in his unique, Twitter-heavy brand of foreign policy. Trump will have “a very full slate of meetings” as he looks to finalise key positions, senior aide Kellyanne Conway said Sunday. America’s allies and others are keenly […]

Eurosceptics delight as Italy’s Renzi quits

ROME, Italy (AFP) – by Ella IDE Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi prepared to hand in his resignation Monday after suffering a ruinous referendum defeat cheered by populist leaders but sparking fresh jitters in Europe. “My experience of government finishes here,” said a downcast Renzi after acknowledging a defeat of almost 60-40 percent over his constitutional reform bid, which threw the future of one of the eurozone’s biggest economies into turmoil. Renzi, 41, will meet […]

‘Butcher of Bosnia’ Mladic back in court as trial nears end

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AFP) – by Jo Biddle Former Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, once dubbed “The Butcher of Bosnia”, returned to a UN court Monday as his trial for genocide and war crimes in the 1990s conflict nears an end. More than four years after Mladic’s trial opened at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, prosecutors began three days of closing arguments seeking to dismiss claims he was not […]

Military veterans to join Standing Rock ‘water protectors’ in pipeline protest

  NORTH DAKOTA, United States (Reuters) — In the back reaches of the Dakota Access Pipeline protest camp, U.S. military veterans, armed with saws, hammers and other tools, are quietly building barracks, an infirmary and a mess hall. Despite the bitter cold and an evacuation order from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the veterans hope to erect enough space to house at least several hundred peers making their way into the Oceti Sakowin Camp […]

California warehouse fire death toll climbs to 33

by Nick OTTO OAKLAND, United States (AFP) — The death toll from a fire at a California warehouse where a rave party was taking place rose to 33 on Sunday, with the authorities saying they had no idea how many more bodies they may find. “When we started this investigation, if you would have told us we would have 33 victims, we wouldn’t have believed you,” Sergeant Ray Kelly of the Alameda County Sheriff’s Department […]

Obama bids farewell, for now, to art world

by Olivia HAMPTON WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President Barack Obama attended his last Kennedy Center Honors gala Sunday, making some of his final goodbyes to celebrated artists before leaving office next month. Ahead of the ceremony, Obama hosted a reception in the White House East Room for this year’s award recipients: actor Al Pacino, The Eagles rockers, singer James Taylor, gospel singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples and Argentine pianist Martha Argerich. “The Kennedy […]

New Zealand Prime Minister John Key resigns

WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AFP) — Popular New Zealand Prime Minister John Key announced his shock resignation Monday, saying it was the right time to go after eight years in the job. “This is the hardest decision I’ve ever made and I don’t know what I’ll do next,” he told a news conference, adding that he had never seen himself as a career politician. “Being leader of both the party and the country has been an […]

Trump picks Twitter fight with China

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — US President-elect Donald Trump fired a Twitter broadside at China on Sunday, accusing the Asian giant of currency manipulation and military expansionism in the South China Sea. The taunt came two days after Trump risked offending Beijing by accepting a call from the Taiwanese president, and heralded the prospect of a trade battle between the world’s largest economies. China was a frequent target of Trump’s during his presidential campaign and, […]

Kerry accuses Israeli right of sabotaging peace process

WASHINGTON,United States (AFP) — US Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday accused right-wing Israelis of deliberately thwarting efforts to broker a peace deal with the Palestinians. In unusually stark terms, Washington’s top diplomat warned that Israeli settlement building was undermining any hope of an agreement to allow two states to live side-by-side. At the Saban Forum, an annual gathering of senior Israeli and US policymakers, Kerry said some members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s […]

Italy’s Renzi announces resignation

  ROME, Italy (AFP) — Italy’s Prime Minister Matteo Renzi announced early Monday that he would be stepping down after losing a referendum on constitutional reform. “My experience of government finishes here,” Renzi told a press conference after the No campaign won what he described as an “extraordinarily clear” victory in the referendum on which he had staked his future. Interior Ministry projections suggested the No camp, led by the populist Five Star Movement, had […]

Trump talk with Taiwan leader just a ‘courtesy call’: US VP-elect Pence

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — President-elect Donald Trump’s controversial telephone conversation with the leader of Taiwan was just a “courtesy call,” US Vice President-elect Mike Pence said Sunday. “It was nothing more than taking a courtesy call from a democratically elected leader,” Pence told ABC’s “This Week” program, speaking about the Friday call between Trump and Taiwan’s Tsai Ing-wen, which broke decades of US diplomatic policy and risks creating a serious rift with China. Washington […]