“Nowruz means ‘new day’ in Persian,” the president said in the statement. “It is an occasion to celebrate new beginnings, a sentiment that is particularly meaningful for so many Iranians who have come to our country in recent decades to make a new start in a free land.” Continue reading the main story Among the sections deleted were one that said America looked forward to engaging someday […]
SEOUL A North Korean missile launch failed on Wednesday, with the rocket exploding within seconds, the U.S. military said, the latest in a series of North Korean weapons tests to rattle its neighbours and raise tension in the region. South Korea said the apparent test launch of one missile by nuclear-capable North Korea, from the city of Wonsan on its east coast, had failed. South Korea’s defence […]
By Yawen Chen and Ryan Woo | BEIJING BEIJING Business sentiment at Asia’s top companies rose to its highest in almost two years in the first quarter of 2017, buoyed by positive economic signs from the United States and China that underpinned improved global demand, a Thomson Reuters/INSEAD survey showed. The Thomson Reuters/INSEAD Asian Business Sentiment Index .TRIABS RACSI, representing the six-month outlook of 96 firms, rebounded […]
By Stephanie Nebehay | GENEVA GENEVA North Korea has nothing to fear from any U.S. move to broaden sanctions aimed at cutting it off from the global financial system and will pursue “acceleration” of its nuclear and missile programmes, a Pyongyang envoy told Reuters on Tuesday. This includes developing a “pre-emptive first strike capability” and an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM), said Choe Myong Nam, deputy ambassador at […]
By Robin Emmott | BRUSSELS BRUSSELS U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s decision to miss his first meeting with NATO foreign ministers has unsettled European allies who fear the no-show reopens questions about President Donald Trump’s commitment to the alliance. Reuters exclusively reported on Monday that Tillerson would stay at home to attend Trump’s expected April 6-7 talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Florida, skipping the […]
By Luke Baker | JERUSALEM JERUSALEM Russia and other world powers must move to limit Iran’s growing military strength in Syria because it poses a regional threat, the director-general of Israel’s Intelligence Ministry told Reuters in an interview. Israeli officials estimate Iran commands at least 25,000 fighters in Syria, including members of its own Revolutionary Guard, Shi’ite militants from Iraq and recruits from Afghanistan and Pakistan. It […]
MANILA The Philippines plans to file a strong protest against China after it announced preparatory work for an environmental monitoring station on a disputed shoal in the South China Sea, a Cabinet minister said on Tuesday. China five years ago started blockading the Scarborough Shoal, a rocky outcrop within the Philippines’ 200 mile exclusive economic zone (EEZ), and the United States has warned Beijing against carrying out […]
By Matt Spetalnick and David Brunnstrom | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON The Trump administration is considering sweeping sanctions aimed at cutting North Korea off from the global financial system as part of a broad review of measures to counter Pyongyang’s nuclear and missile threat, a senior U.S. official said on Monday. The sanctions would be part of a multi-pronged approach of increased economic and diplomatic pressure – especially on […]
By Christine Kim and Jane Chung | SEOUL SEOUL South Korea’s trade minister said on Monday Seoul had complained to the World Trade Organization (WTO) about China’s retaliation against South Korean companies over the deployment of a U.S. anti-missile defence system in the South. “We have notified the WTO that China may be in violation of some trade agreements,” Trade Minister Joo Hyung-hwan told parliament in response […]
Two days after Syria claimed it had shot down an Israel jet over its territory on Friday morning, an incident Israel denied even if it admitted violating Syria’s sovereign airspace by engaging in an air raid near Palmyra, the Israeli defense minister threatened to destroy Syrian air defenses after they shot (but allegedly did not down) at Israeli warplanes, which violated Syrian airspace and bombed targets on […]
By Mike Stone | WASHINGTON WASHINGTON U.S. President Donald Trump says he wants to build dozens of new warships in one of the biggest peace-time expansions of the U.S. Navy. But interviews with ship-builders, unions and a review of public and internal documents show major obstacles to that plan. The initiative could cost nearly $700 billion in government funding, take 30 years to complete and require hiring […]
One day after Rex Tillerson warned that the US is contemplating a pre-emptive military attack on North Korea, the isolated nation announced it has conducted a ground test of a new type of high-thrust rocket engine that leader Kim Jong Un is calling a “revolutionary breakthrough” for the country’s space program, the North’s state media said Sunday. Kim attended Saturday’s test at the Sohae launch site, according […]
The United States has declassified its secretive footage of the nuclear tests it conducted between 1945 and 1962 and published them online on YouTube. Much of the footage will make viewers run for cover as they see chilling reminders of the arms race for military superiority during the Cold War. The footages were captured by multiple cameras at various angles. They documented each explosion at the rate of […]
By Angus MacSwan | QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq QAYYARA WEST AIRFIELD, Iraq U.S. troops are hard at work rehabilitating this battle-scarred, rubble-strewn airfield as a logistics and support hub for Iraqi and international forces in the decisive battle against Islamic State for the city of Mosul 60 km to the north. Map of Mosul battlefront: tmsnrt.rs/2fd0nGE The whirl of activity and the return of American soldiers signify […]
SEOUL North Korea has conducted a test of a new high-thrust engine at its Tongchang-ri rocket launch station and leader Kim Jong Un said the successful test was “a new birth” of its rocket industry, the reclusive North’s official media said on Sunday. The engine would help North Korea achieve world-class satellite launch capability, KCNA said, indicating the test was of a new type of rocket engine […]
President Donald Trump has proposed to boost federal spending on the production of nuclear weapons by more than $1 billion in 2018 while slashing or eliminating spending on many federal programs related to diplomacy, foreign aid, and social needs, in a budget proposal that reflects the first tangible expression of his defense priorities. The $1.4 billion budget increase for the National Nuclear Security Administration amounts to just […]
BEIJING U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Sunday that President Donald Trump looks forward to enhancing understanding with China and the opportunity for a visit in the future. Xi said he was glad to see good progress from Tillerson’s meetings in China so far and that he and Trump expect a new stage of constructive development in bilateral relations. Tillerson said […]
Photo Part of Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system in the Golan Heights on Friday. Israeli officials said a separate system, Arrow, had intercepted a missile that appeared to be heading toward Israeli territory. Credit Atef Safadi/European Pressphoto Agency JERUSALEM — The Syrian armed forces fired antiaircraft missiles at Israeli warplanes that had struck targets deep in Syria early Friday, in what appeared to be the most […]
ADEN: A Houthi missile attack Friday killed 26 members of pro-government forces in a camp east of the Yemeni capital Sanaa, hospital officials in the town of Al-Maarib said. The news agency of the internationally recognized government said the attack took place during Friday prayers in Al-Maarib province, eastern Yemen. The death toll is expected to rise, it said. A loyalist military source said the attack targeted […]
By Ben Blanchard | BEIJING BEIJING China is likely to express its anger at being told to rein in nuclear-armed North Korea when U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson arrives in Beijing on Saturday, his first visit to the country since taking office last month. Beijing is expected to call on Washington to share responsibility in lessening tensions in the region, while strongly opposing this month’s deployment […]
“At this particular time, its purpose was to host this meeting of very senior people in Al Qaeda,” Captain Davis said. Officials emphasized that widely recognized military guidelines allow sites to be targeted for attacks based on what they are being used for at a given moment — and not on their general purpose or even typical use. Continue reading the main story Mohamed Ibrahim, who lives […]
Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, the former Exxon CEO, is undoubtedly familiar with “tone at the top,” a term coined by audit firms and drilled home by business ethicists in the wake of financial scandals at Xerox, Enron and Arthur Andersen. When corporate leaders fail to model tone at the top by upholding principles, corners are cut and lapses trickle down and poison institutional culture. And yet […]
By John Davison and Abdelaziz Boumzar | MOSUL, Iraq MOSUL, Iraq From a distance, the exhausted Iraqis fleeing parts of Mosul controlled by Islamic State appeared to be pushing their worldly possessions on handcarts. By the time they reached Reuters journalists it was clear that their cargo was far more precious, and more tragic. One man lifted a grubby, fluffy blanket to reveal the dust and blood-covered […]
WASHINGTON — The United States military said that it had carried out an airstrike against a meeting of Qaeda militants on Thursday in Syria and that a number of the extremists had been killed. The American military statement came as Syria activists reported that a mosque had been bombed and that scores of innocent civilians had been killed and wounded. A spokesman for the United States Central […]
