New York, United States | AFP | Iran warned Saturday it is ready to “vigorously” resume nuclear enrichment if the United States ditches the 2015 nuclear deal, and said further “drastic measures” are being considered in response to a US exit. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif told reporters in …
Read More »North Korea’s nuclear declaration: what it does and does not mean
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared an end to the nuclear and intercontinental ballistic missile tests that sent tensions soaring on the peninsula, in the region, and beyond. The move, enshrined in a decision by the ruling Workers’ Party, comes ahead of …
Read More »Minister’s ouster unlikely to slow Sudan’s push to get off US ‘terror’ list
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | President Omar al-Bashir’s dismissal of Sudan’s foreign minister, Khartoum’s top negotiator with Washington, is unlikely to affect efforts to have Khartoum removed from a US “terrorism” blacklist, experts say. On Thursday, Bashir sacked Ibrahim Ghandour, who headed negotiations with Washington that in October helped lift …
Read More »N. Korea’s Kim promises no more nuclear or missile tests
Seoul, South Korea | AFP | North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said he would halt nuclear tests and intercontinental missile launches, in a Saturday announcement welcomed by US President Donald Trump ahead of a much-anticipated summit between the two men. Pyongyang’s declaration, long sought by Washington, will be seen …
Read More »Bashir fires Sudan foreign minister: state media
Khartoum, Sudan | AFP | President Omar al-Bashir on Thursday fired Sudan’s Foreign Minister Ibrahim Ghandour, state media reported, after he said that Sudanese diplomats abroad had been unpaid for months. In a speech to lawmakers on Wednesday, Ghandour, who negotiated the lifting of decades-old sanctions with Washington in October 2017, …
Read More »Zimbabwe heads to Commonwealth summit to ‘re-engage’
Harare, Zimbabwe | AFP | Zimbabwe will attend a Commonwealth summit this week in London as an observer, an official said Monday, underlining the country’s international re-engagement since President Robert Mugabe’s fall. Mugabe angrily pulled Zimbabwe out of the Commonwealth bloc in 2003 after its membership was suspended over violent …
Read More »Trump to host Nigerian president April 30: White House
6666, United States | AFP | President Muhammadu Buhari of Nigeria will meet Donald Trump in Washington on April 30 to discuss issues including “fighting terrorism” and economic growth, the White House announced Sunday. “President Trump looks forward to discussing ways to enhance our strategic partnership and advance our shared …
Read More »US strikes leave Syrian peace process right where it was
6666, United States | AFP | The Western air strikes against Syria probably won’t slow Bashar al-Assad and Russia’s campaign and they certainly don’t amount to a strategy to kick start the failing peace process. They were never meant to. But, by re-focusing Washington’s attention however briefly on Syria’s seven-year-old …
Read More »New tests for Macron and May with first major military operations
2500, France | AFP | Shortly after coming to power last year, Emmanuel Macron mused to a friend about the role of president. “You go through stages,” he said. “Innocence is not allowed.” On Friday night, like British Prime Minister Theresa May, he ordered his first major military intervention. Early …
Read More »Russia, Egypt resume direct flights two years after attack
Moscow, Russia | AFP | Russia and Egypt are to resume direct flights on Wednesday following a more than two-year hiatus after a bomb downed a Russian charter over the Sinai peninsula in 2015. Moscow officials stopped direct flights citing security concerns after the attack, in a major blow for …
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