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CANBERRA, June 23, 2023 (AFP) — A mystery Russian diplomat with a penchant for cigarettes on Friday sparked a national security standoff between Canberra and the Kremlin, which is defying Australia’s efforts to kick him off a messy building site near parliament. Australia last week blocked Russia from building its new embassy on a scruffy parcel of land a stone’s throw from Parliament House, after intelligence officials warned that Moscow would use the site as […]
By Kelly MACNAMARA Agence France-Presse PARIS, June 23, 2023 (AFP) — A global summit seeking to overhaul the international financial system wraps up Friday after taking small steps towards easing the debt burden of developing nations weighed down by climate and economic crises. While host country France pitched the conference as a consensus-building exercise, leaders are under pressure to produce clear outcomes from the two-day meeting as economies stagger under growing debt after successive crises […]
By Shaun Tandon and Aurelia End Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, (AFP) — US President Joe Biden and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday that the two democracies’ partnership would define the next century, as Washington eyes a counterweight to China and brushes off allegations of growing authoritarianism in New Delhi. The two nations reached major deals on engines for fighter-jets, semiconductor investment and space cooperation as Biden rolled out the red carpet to Modi for […]
WASHINGTON, June 22, 2023 (AFP) – Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Wednesday opened a state visit to Washington as the United States steps up its wooing of India despite simmering disagreements on Ukraine and human rights. President Joe Biden is putting on the full pomp for only the third state visitor of his administration, with the billion-plus country seen as a pivotal partner in a growing global competition with China. Modi — flying in […]
SAN FRANCISCO, June 21, 2023 (AFP) — US President Joe Biden equated his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping with “dictators” on Tuesday as he addressed a Democratic Party donors reception in the presence of journalists. Speaking at a campaign fundraiser in northern California, Biden said Xi had been angered over an incident in February when a Chinese balloon — which Washington says was used for spying — flew over the United States before being shot down […]
JAKARTA, June 20, 2023 (AFP) – The Association of Southeast Asian Nations has moved its first-ever joint drills, Indonesia’s military said Tuesday, edging them away from waters disputed by China. The bloc’s joint exercises were initially slated for the North Natuna Sea, which Indonesia claims as its exclusive economic zone but where Beijing’s ships occasionally patrol. When confronted by Jakarta, China has invoked the so-called nine-dash line, which demarcates an area it claims to have […]
BERLIN, June 20, 2023 (AFP) – Chancellor Olaf Scholz hosted Premier Li Qiang for talks on Tuesday, seeking to recalibrate cooperation between Germany and China after Berlin branded Beijing a “systemic rival”. Li is on his first trip abroad since he was named premier in March and tasked with shoring up China’s sputtering post-Covid economy. But unlike previous visits by Chinese dignitaries, when pragmatic German leaders eager to expand business ties with the Asian giant […]
By Shaun TANDON Agence France-Presse BEIJING, China (AFP) — Chinese leader Xi Jinping said Monday he saw headway in the strained relationship with the United States on a rare visit by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, but the rival powers remained at odds over their core disputes. In a symbolic sign of lowering the temperature after soaring tensions, President Xi received Blinken in the vast Great Hall of the People and said the two powers […]
BEIJING, June 19, 2023 (AFP) — China and the United States must choose between “cooperation or conflict”, Beijing’s top diplomat told US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Monday, state media reported. “It is necessary to make a choice between dialogue and confrontation, cooperation or conflict,” Wang Yi told Blinken during a meeting in Beijing, according to a readout from Chinese state media. Blinken spoke to Wang — whose position in the Communist Party ranks […]
BOGOR, Indonesia, June 19, 2023 (AFP) — Japanese Emperor Naruhito met Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Monday during his first state trip since ascending the Chrysanthemum Throne in 2019. Naruhito and Empress Masako’s June 17-23 visit to Southeast Asia’s biggest economy came after Widodo invited the emperor during a trip to Tokyo last year. The royal couple arrived at a presidential palace south of the capital Jakarta, flanked by dozens of well-wishers shouting “Welcome to […]
By Hui Min NEO Agence France-Presse BERLIN, June 19, 2023 (AFP) – China’s Premier Li Qiang will meet German leaders during a trip to Berlin on Monday, at a time when Beijing’s policies on Russia, trade and human rights are receiving an increasingly hostile reception in the West. Li — who is making his first trip abroad since being appointed premier in March — will begin his two-nation tour with so-called “government consultations” involving talks […]
WASHINGTON, June 15, 2023 (AFP) – The United States on Thursday denounced the scourge of human trafficking, calling out forced labor and the little-known but growing problem of boys and young men caught up the trade. The condemnation came as Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented a report on what he called “concerning trends” in human trafficking. Blinken blasted the rise in forced labor as worldwide supply chains were disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic. “Exploitative […]
