The Maldives government’s “anti-India stance” may turn out detrimental to the island nation’s development, the two main opposition parties have warned, two days after the administration announced a Chinese ship will be docking at their port. The words of caution by the Maldivian Democratic Party (MDP) and the Democrats comes amid strained ties between the...
A far-reaching plan to channel Europe-Asia trade through the Middle East is at risk of stalling before it even gets started. The Israel-Hamas war has halted progress on what’s known as the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor – a project touted last year by Washington and key allies that envisages building new rail links across the...
A Russian IL-76, a heavy lift military transport aircraft crashed with 65 Ukrainian Prisoners of Wars (POWs) in the Belgorod region of Russia, which borders the region. A video of the crash showed the aircraft rapidly losing altitude and heading straight toward the ground, the IL-76 is out of pilot’s control and crashes near a...
Donald Trump won the key New Hampshire primary Tuesday, moving him ever closer to locking in the Republican presidential nomination and securing an extraordinary White House rematch with Joe Biden. With vote counting ongoing, it was unclear if Trump had secured the knockout victory to put his sole remaining challenger out of the contest. In a...
US and UK strikes on rebel-held Yemen have marked a sharp rise in tensions around the Red Sea, where Iran-backed Houthi insurgents have been attacking shipping. The Houthi attacks since November, which the group says target vessels linked to Israel and are in support of Gaza, have disrupted shipping in the vital route which normally...
Former Australian prime minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday said he was leaving politics to pursue a business career, calling time on a contentious career. The veteran politician announced he was stepping down as representative for a Sydney suburb next month, after 16 years in parliament. Morrison said he would “take on new challenges in the...
They talked about what’s going on in the Red Sea and the need for a continued international multilateral approach to disrupting and degrading Houthi capabilities,” White House spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington. Biden and Sunak also spoke about the need to bring down the number of civilian casualties and to increase the flow...
The underwater drone, which supposedly can carry a nuclear weapon, was tested off the east coast, state media said. There is no other evidence of the tests being conducted and Seoul had earlier said the North’s descriptions of the drones’ capability were exaggerated. South Korea called the reported tests a “provocation”. It “threatens peace on...
North Korean leader Kim Jong Un has declared the South his country’s “principal enemy”, jettisoned agencies dedicated to reunification and outreach, and threatened war over “even 0.001 mm” of territorial infringement. But is the fiery rhetoric a sign of a real shift? AFP takes a look at what we know: After years of worsening ties,...
At least 11 people have been killed after Iran and Pakistan traded airstrikes this week, signalling a worrying escalation of tension and armed conflict in a Middle East already wracked by violence and bloodshed, after Israel’s war on Gaza and attacks by Tehran-backed Houthi militia – who claim to be acting in solidarity with the Palestinians besieged by Tel Aviv –...