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Photo Basel Ghattas, an Arab member of Israel’s Parliament, in 2015. Mr. Ghattas was accused of smuggling cellphones to Palestinian prisoners. Credit Ahmad Gharabli/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images JERUSALEM — An Arab member of Israel’s Parliament was arrested on Thursday after being accused of smuggling cellphones to Palestinian prisoners, capping days of fractious debate that raised questions about the nature of loyalty and identity in a predominantly […]

More than four decades after a sweeping British military withdrawal from bases “east of Suez”, the UK is scaling up its defence engagement in the Gulf and Asia in what analysts regard as a recognition of the region’s growing global importance. Britain is reopening a naval support facility in Bahrain, creating a permanent army presence in Oman and establishing new defence staff centres in Dubai and Singapore. […]

By Lin Taylor LONDON (Thomson Reuters Foundation) – British shoppers seeking last-minute Christmas presents may want try their luck at charity stores after a 19th century vase, an original Kermit the Frog puppet and a rare military medal were named among the most unusual gifts donated to good causes. Animals were also popular items, with a sheep’s head, two canaries and a live ferret among many bizarre […]

Mr. Trump, who last week nominated as ambassador to Israel a bankruptcy lawyer who heads a fund-raising effort for a West Bank settlement, made clear on Thursday that he would not wait for his inauguration to weigh in. In a statement, he said bluntly that the resolution should be vetoed. Continue reading the main story “As the United States has long maintained, peace between the Israelis and […]

PANAMA CITY: From the Panama Papers to the impeachments of the presidents of Brazil and South Korea, 2016 was a year marked by corruption scandals, and by rising public outrage over graft. The question is, will that translate into a lasting demand for cleaner politics? “A new phenomenon” is being seen, said Jose Ugaz, a renowned Peruvian lawyer and the chairman of Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption […]

PANAMA CITY: From the Panama Papers to the impeachments of the presidents of Brazil and South Korea, 2016 was a year marked by corruption scandals and by rising public outrage over graft. The question is will that translate into a lasting demand for cleaner politics? “A new phenomenon” is being seen, said Jose Ugaz, a renowned Peruvian lawyer and the chairman of Transparency International, a Berlin-based anti-corruption […]

By Claire Milhench | LONDON LONDON Global investors’ equity holdings rose to six-month highs in December on bets that U.S. President-elect Donald Trump’s promised fiscal splurge would spur higher growth and inflation, a Reuters monthly poll showed on Thursday. Trump’s plans to cut taxes and boost spending have sent Wall Street .DJI .IXIC to record highs in December as investors pile into everything from banks, to energy […]

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LONDON “My tax return was on my yacht … which caught fire” – just one of the dozens of unusual excuses the British government’s tax collector said it receives each year from customers who fail to complete their returns on time. “A wasp in my car caused me to have an accident and my tax return, which was inside, was destroyed,” was another, while several blamed children, […]

AP Images A new European Court of Justice ruling has made it more difficult for Britain to seal a major trade deal with the European Union post-Brexit. The European Court of Justice’s Advocate General Eleanor Sharpston published a legal opinion saying that all 38 national and regional parliaments, around five regional and linguistic parliaments in Belgium, and at least five upper chambers in Europe have to approve […]

Iceland Of all the world leaders shamed over hidden wealth stashed offshore, none was more unfortunate than Sigmundur Davíð Gunnlaugsson. The hapless prime minister of Iceland was caught on camera desperately trying to work out how to explain the presence of his signature on the documents of Wintris Inc, a company in the British Virgin Islands that held shares in one of the country’s failed banks. As […]

BUENOS AIRES Argentina and Britain agreed on a framework to identify the bodies of dozens of unknown Argentine soldiers buried on the disputed Falkland Islands, Argentina’s Foreign Ministry said in on Tuesday. The two countries, which went to war over the islands in 1982 and have had strained relations for decades, also agreed to try to increase the number of flights to the remote islands. Britain has […]

Tuesday 19:45 GMT Overview A robust session for US equities saw the Dow Jones Industrial Average climb to within a whisker of the 20,000 milestone as participants shrugged off geopolitical concerns and focused on the prospect of stronger growth under the presidency of Donald Trump. The “risk-on” mood in the markets left US Treasury prices and gold lower while the yen — viewed by many as a […]

  Submitted by Jayant Bhandari via Acting-Man.com, India’s Currency Ban – Part VI India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi, announced on 8th November 2016 that Rs 500 (~$7.50) and Rs 1,000 (~$15) banknotes would no longer be legal tender. Linked are Part-I, Part-II, Part-III, Part-IV, and Part-V, which provide updates on the demonetization saga and how Modi is acting as a catalyst to hasten the rapid degradation of […]

By Steve Scherer | ROME ROME Three days after resigning as Italian prime minister and before his successor took office, Matteo Renzi typed a late-night Facebook post from his family home near Florence that seemed to cast doubt on his future. “I have no seat in parliament, no salary, no pension… I’m starting over,” he wrote. Since stepping down on Dec. 7 after a crushing referendum defeat […]

EDINBURGH Scotland wants to stay in the European Union’s single market after the United Kingdom leaves the bloc and will push for more powers to protect its interests, the head of its pro-independence government said on Tuesday. “We are determined to maintain Scotland’s current position in the European single market,” First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said in a paper setting out Scotland’s views about Brexit. Sturgeon said the […]

ABU DHABI // Iran’s nuclear deal and the republic’s support for militias across the region are some of the major threats GCC countries face, the head of an Abu Dhabi think-tank told the British Parliament. Dr Ahmed Al Hamli told the International Relations Committee this threat had led to a regional shift of power from legitimate states to illegitimate terrorist groups, weakening the region for the Islamic […]

Photo Buses evacuated residents from Fua and Kfarya, Shiite villages near the Syrian city of Aleppo, on Monday. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images BEIRUT, Lebanon — After days of delays and sporadic violence, the evacuation of civilians and fighters from besieged communities in Syria has resumed, with convoys taking people out of Aleppo and two nearby Shiite villages, Syrian state television and opposition conflict monitors reported […]

TOKYO Asian shares slipped to four-week lows on Monday as the prospect of higher U.S. interest rates and a strong dollar stemming from the incoming Trump Administration’s purported policies of cutting taxes and spending heavily threatened to suck capital out of emerging markets. European shares are seen having better luck, following recent gains in shares of banks, resource companies and some automakers. Spread-betters see a rise of […]

By Kylie MacLellan | LONDON LONDON Britain may need a transitional agreement to smooth its exit from the European Union but it should not “buy back” into too many of the bloc’s regulations, Britain’s trade minister Liam Fox said on Sunday. Fox, who campaigned for a Brexit vote in June’s referendum, also indicated he was seeking a flexible approach on trade to try to ensure the best […]

LONDON Leading Brexit campaigner Nigel Farage said on Sunday he wanted to be a bridge between the British government and the new U.S. administration. Last month U.S. President-elect Donald Trump said Farage – the former leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) – would be great as Britain’s envoy to Washington, but the British government dismissed the suggestion. “I can help to be a bridge between […]

David Cameron began 2016 in 10 Downing Street and ended it at DePauw University in a small Indiana town, speaking for a reported £120,000 an hour. The former British prime minister is now paid almost as much for a 60-minute speech as he used to earn in a year, as he tries to make sense of his own historic failure: Brexit. Whatever he says now, Mr Cameron’s […]

Venezuelans are bracing for Christmas without cash after the country’s highest denomination banknote was withdrawn from circulation with new larger bills not due until January, as many fear that the country is spiralling towards hyperinflation. Embattled President Nicolás Maduro this week announced plans to scrap the ubiquitous 100 bolívar bill, which makes up about half the country’s banknotes but is increasingly worthless as annual inflation is forecast […]

It was a clear and chilly afternoon in Moscow – March 18, 2014 – when Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the documents to formally annex the Crimean Peninsula away from Ukraine. Frustrated Western governments soon began rolling out the only response they could agree on to Mr. Putin’s brazen redrawing of Europe’s borders: economic sanctions. Over the next two days, the United States would designate 27 individuals […]

LONDON Scotland will publish proposals this week for how it can remain in the European single market after Britain leaves the European Union in order to avoid the “national disaster” of a “hard Brexit”, the Scottish government said on Sunday. British Prime Minister Theresa May has said she will trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty, the formal process of leaving the EU, by the end of […]

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