USA

Pence declines to share documents with House impeachment inquiry – counsel

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

WASHINGTON – Vice President Mike Pence declined on Tuesday to submit documents to the House of Representative committees pursuing an impeachment inquiry of President Donald Trump, his office said, calling the probe “self-proclaimed” and the requests for information too broad. 

Europe

Macron on course for clash with Merkel over EU talks with Balkan hopefuls

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

LUXEMBOURG – French President Emmanuel Macron was headed for a clash with German Chancellor Angela Merkel this week after Paris was isolated on Tuesday in opposing starting membership talks with North Macedonia.  Denmark and the Netherlands sided with the French rejection of launching accession talks with another Balkan country, Albania in a meeting of EU […]

Europe

Portugal’s new cabinet list approved; Centeno keeps finance job

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

LISBON – Portugal’s president accepted the line-up of a new minority Socialist government on Tuesday, with Mario Centeno, the mastermind behind the country’s first balanced budget in over four decades, keeping his job as Finance Minister. Centeno, who is the current Eurogroup chief, is credited with devising a way to reverse many of the austerity […]

Middle East

Power shift – Who gains in the battle for Syria’s northeast?

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

ANKARA/BEIRUT – President Donald Trump’s decision to pull out of Syria radically realigns the balance of power in the country’s northeast and creates a vacuum which Russia, Turkey and Iran are racing to fill. With Turkish forces pressing south from the border, the Kurds have invited troops from Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s Russian-backed

Europe

Dutch police discover five siblings locked away for years on farm

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

AMSTERDAM – Five siblings and a man believed to be their father were receiving medical treatment after Dutch police acting on a tip discovered them locked away in a secret room at an isolated farm, officials in the Netherlands said on Tuesday. The five, estimated at 18 to 25 years of age, and a man […]

USA

Trump vetoes measure to end his emergency declaration on border wall

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

WASHINGTON – U.S. President Donald Trump has vetoed a joint resolution of Congress that sought to terminate his declaration of a national emergency on the southern border with Mexico, the White House said on Tuesday. Trump declared the emergency to circumvent Congress and take money already designated for other programs to pay for the U.S.-Mexico […]

USA

Democratic front-runner Biden has less campaign cash than top rivals

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

WASHINGTON/NEW YORK – Former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden had $9 million in his campaign bank account at the end of September, significantly less than his top rivals in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination, data released on Tuesday showed. While Biden leads most national public opinion polls, he has struggled to raise money […]

Europe

Clashes erupt in Barcelona as Catalan separatists protest sentences for leaders

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

BARCELONA – Protesters and police clashed late on Tuesday in Barcelona during rallies against the jailing of nine Catalan separatist leaders, with the unusually tense confrontations turning into a major challenge for Spanish and regional authorities. Protesters threw cans, stones and flares at riot police, and set garbage containers and cardboard on fire in the […]

Middle East

Turkey pushes offensive in Syria, despite sanctions and calls to stop

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

MANBIJ, Syria – Turkey vowed to press ahead with its offensive in northern Syria on Tuesday despite U.S. sanctions and growing calls for it to stop, while Syria’s Russia-backed army moved on the key city of Manbij that was abandoned by U.S. forces. “They say ‘declare a ceasefire’. We will never declare a ceasefire,” Turkish […]

Asia

‘Defiant message’ as North Korea’s Kim rides white horse on sacred mountain

Editorial Bureau October 16, 2019

SEOUL – Aides to Kim Jong Un are convinced the North Korean leader plans “a great operation”, state media said on Wednesday in a report that included lavish descriptions and images of the leader riding a white horse up North Korea’s most sacred mountain.  In the photos released by state news agency KCNA, Kim is […]