BRUSSELS – European Union leaders agreed on Friday a hard-fought accord on migration after more than nine hours of talks. The European Council reconfirms that a precondition for a functioning EU policy relies on a comprehensive approach to migration which combines more effective control of the EU’s external borders… This is a challenge not only…
RIYADH – Careem — the Middle East’s answer to Uber — is aiming to change that in one of the most conservative societies in the world by recruiting Saudi women to take the wheel after a female driving ban was lifted on Sunday. Careem has received over 2,000 applications since announcing it would recruit so-called…
LONDON – The UK will have to significantly increase defence spending if it is to maintain influence with Washington and Nato allies, MPs have warned. A Commons Defence Committee report says the defence budget should rise from 2% of GDP (£40bn) to 3% (£60bn). Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson has reportedly demanded an extra £20bn for…
PORT-AU-PRINCE – Haiti has permanently banned UK-based charity Oxfam from operating in the country following allegations of sexual misconduct by its employees while working in the country in the aftermath of the devastating January 2010 earthquake. A government statement said on Wednesday that the action, which followed a temporary suspension in February, was taken because…
SINGAPORE (Reuters) – Oil prices fell on Wednesday, hit by rising supplies in the United States and expectations that producer cartel OPEC could relax voluntary output cuts. Brent crude futures LCOc1, the international benchmark for oil prices, were at $75.36 per barrel by 0708 GMT, down 52 cents, or 0.7 percent, from their last close….
SINGAPORE – Donald Trump and Kim Jong-un have sat down for unprecedented talks between the leaders of two long-hostile nations, as the world watches anxiously for signs of a peace deal and an agreement on the denuclearisation of the Korean Peninsula. Trump and Kim met privately from 9:05am local time for 48 minutes flanked only…
A rescue vessel carrying 629 migrants is stranded in the Mediterranean after Italy’s new interior minister refused permission for it to dock. Matteo Salvini, leader of the right-wing League, said Malta should accept the Aquarius but he was rejected. Malta says the German charity SOS Méditerranée picked up the migrants in Libyan waters, which means…
OTTAWA – Canada’s Senate passed a bill on Thursday legalising recreational marijuana, moving it closer to becoming the first member of the Group of Seven nations to legalise the production, sale and consumption of the drug. Bill C-45, or the Cannabis Act, passed the Senate with 52 votes for, 30 against and one abstention after…
LONDON – British ministers will meet on Thursday to try to hammer out an agreement over a “backstop” plan for the Irish border after concerns were raised by the Brexit minister that a current proposal would keep Britain tied to the EU indefinitely. Ten months before Britain is due to leave the European Union, May is…
WASHINGTON – After what seemed like an endless back-and-forth, a highly-anticipated summit between US President Donald Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong-un in Singapore on June 12 is officially on – again. Trump made the announcement on Friday after welcoming Kim Jong-un’s right-hand man, Kim Yong-chol, to the White House to talk about Washington’s…
