Tag: diplomacy

Nicaraguan president, wife banned from US

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — The United States on Tuesday imposed an entry ban on Nicaraguan President Daniel Ortega, his vice-president wife and his government, after elections that were internationally dismissed as illegitimate. Before the November 7 vote, Nicaraguan authorities detained nearly 40 opposition figures, including seven would-be presidential challengers, assuring victory for long-time ruler Ortega and his wife Rosario Murillo. “The repressive and abusive acts of the Ortega government and those who support it […]

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G20 leaders approve global tax reform deal

G20 leaders have formally endorsed the global agreement for a minimum 15 percent corporate tax, US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said Saturday, hailing it as a “historic” step. “Today, every G20 head of state endorsed an historic agreement on new international tax rules, including a global minimum tax that will end the damaging race to the bottom on corporate taxation,” she said. Some 136 countries representing more than 90 percent of global GDP have signed […]

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India vows to take up ‘climate justice’ combat at COP26

NEW DELHI, India (AFP) – India will be a fighter for “climate justice” at the upcoming COP26 summit, seeking to make rich nations pay for measures to ease rising temperatures, the country’s environment minister said Wednesday. And the world’s third biggest source of greenhouse gases is not yet guaranteeing that it will offer new mitigation efforts at the crucial conference which starts Sunday in Glasgow. India, along with the world’s leading gas emitter China, is […]

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Brazil, Colombia ‘united’ in defense of Amazon ahead of UN summit

Brasília, Brazil (AFP) – Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro and his Colombia counterpart Ivan Duque said on Tuesday they would head to the next UN climate summit “united” in defense of the Amazon. The Cop26 climate conference begins in Glasgow on October 31 and will last two weeks. “We will arrive in Glasgow untied to tackle a very important and dear affair for all of us: our dear, rich and desirable Amazon,” said Bolsonaro following his meeting […]

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Algerian president demands ‘total respect’ from France

Algerian President Abdelmadjid Tebboune on Sunday demanded France’s “total respect”, following a row over visas and critical comments from Paris about the North African country. Last weekend Algeria recalled its ambassador from Paris and banned French military planes from its airspace, which France regularly uses to reach its forces battling jihadists in the Sahel region to the south. The moves came after a bitter row over visas, followed by media reports that French President Emmanuel […]

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Taiwan official warns China military tensions highest in decades

by Amber WANG TAIPEI, Taiwan (AFP) — Military tensions between China and Taiwan are at their highest in four decades, the island’s defence minister warned Wednesday, adding Beijing would be in a position to launch a full-scale invasion in 2025. Taiwan lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the self-ruled democratic island as its territory to be seized one day, by force if necessary. Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng offered his assessment […]

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Foreign Minister Yair Lapid opens Israeli embassy in Bahrain

MANAMA, Bahrain (AFP) — Israel’s top diplomat Yair Lapid opened the Jewish state’s embassy in Bahrain Thursday, a year after the US-brokered normalisation of ties. “We have officially opened the Israeli embassy in Bahrain,” tweeted Lapid. “We agreed that by the end of the year, there will be the opening of the Bahraini embassy in Israel.” © Agence France-Presse

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N. Korea’s Kim condemns US dialogue offer as ‘facade’: state media

SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — North Korean leader Kim Jong Un condemned a US offer of dialogue as a “facade”, state media reported Thursday, and accused the Joe Biden administration of continuing a hostile policy against his nuclear-armed country. Talks between Pyongyang and Washington have been largely at a standstill since the collapse of the Hanoi summit between Kim and then-president Donald Trump over sanctions relief and what the North would be willing to give […]

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North Korea fires ‘missile’, insists on right to weapons tests

  by Claire LEE Agence France Presse SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — Nuclear-armed North Korea fired a presumed short-range missile into the sea on Tuesday, the South’s military said, as Pyongyang’s UN ambassador insisted it had an undeniable right to test its weapons. The projectile was fired from the northern province of Jagang into waters off the east coast, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and a Japanese defence ministry spokesman told AFP […]

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India to export 8 million Covid-19 jabs in October

  NEW DELHI, India (AFP) — India will export eight million coronavirus vaccine jabs by the end of October after ending its ban on sending doses abroad, a top foreign ministry official said Saturday. Prime Minister Narendra Modi promised to resume exports at a meeting of leaders from the so-called Quad in Washington as India, Japan, Australia, and the US try to counter growing Chinese influence across the Asia-Pacific region. Foreign secretary Harsh Vardhan Shringla […]

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France denies report it would give up permanent UN seat

PARIS, France (AFP) — France denied a report in Britain’s The Daily Telegraph on Wednesday that it would be prepared to give its permanent seat at the UN Security Council to the European Union. Citing a member of the European parliament, the paper said that France would consider exchanging the seat in exchange for support from other EU members for a European army and reforms to the way the bloc formulates its foreign policy. “We […]

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US to announce ‘additional commitments’ on Covid Wednesday: Biden

UNITED NATIONS, United States (AFP) — The United States will announce “additional commitments” on fighting Covid-19 when the White House hosts a summit on the pandemic on Wednesday, President Joe Biden said Tuesday. Biden said the commitments would be announced “as we seek to advance the fight against Covid-19 and hold ourselves accountable around specific targets on three key challenges — saving lives now, vaccinating the world, and building back better.” © Agence France-Presse

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