Russia says wants peace deal with Japan but sees no quick fix
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia wants to boost bilateral ties with Japan on all fronts and hopes to reach a peace treaty with its eastern neighbor, Kremlin aide Yuri Ushakov said on Tuesday, adding however that agreeing a peace treaty needed “scrupulous work…
IMF’s Lagarde says she was not negligent in payout to French magnate
PARIS (Reuters) – International Monetary Fund chief Christine Lagarde sought on Tuesday to convince judges she was not negligent in signing off on a 400 million euro ($425 million) French state payout to a business tycoon in 2008.
Exclusive: Top U.S. spy agency has not embraced CIA assessment on Russia hacking – sources
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The overseers of the U.S. intelligence community have not embraced a CIA assessment that Russian cyber attacks were aimed at helping Republican President-elect Donald Trump win the 2016 election, three American officials said on …
Merkel, Hollande back extending sanctions on Russia over Ukraine
BERLIN (Reuters) – The leaders of France and Germany, speaking two days before an EU summit which will discuss the conflict in eastern Ukraine, said they want to extend sanctions against Russia due to a lack of progress in implementing a ceasefire deal…
U.S. says ‘one China’ policy should not be used as bargaining chip
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The White House on Monday insisted that Washington’s “one China” policy should not be used as a “bargaining chip” with Beijing after President-elect Donald Trump said the United States did not necessarily have to be bound by its long-standing position that Taiwan is part of China.
Doubts about Israeli submarine deal spur Supreme Court petition
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Israeli lawyers will petition the Supreme Court on Tuesday to intervene over the awarding of a defence contract to Germany’s ThyssenKrupp amid allegations of a conflict of interest involving Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s own…
Friend of South Korea’s Park chooses to appear to ‘get fair trial’
SEOUL (Reuters) – A friend of South Korean President Park Geun-hye at the centre of a scandal that led to Park’s impeachment in parliament will attend the preliminary hearing in her corruption trial next week, even though she is not required to, her la…
Philippines’ Duterte says he suffers from back pains, migraine
MANILA (Reuters) – Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte suffers from back pains and migraine headaches, he has said in comments about his health, but a spokesman was quick to dismiss the ailments as not being serious.
Russia’s opposition leader Navalny plans to run for president in 2018
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russia’s opposition leader Alexei Navalny plans to run for president in 2018, he said in a statement on Tuesday.
Russia’s Putin to Japanese media: Moscow wants to normalize ties with Tokyo in full – reports
MOSCOW (Reuters) – Russian President Vladimir Putin said he wanted relations with Japan to normalize in full, Russian agencies quoted Putin’s interview to Japanese media on Tuesday.
