Exclusive: Australia’s two biggest cities cancel Mao Zedong concerts, citing safety concerns
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia’s two biggest cities Sydney and Melbourne canceled concerts commemorating the death of former Chinese communist leader Mao Zedong, with one citing safety concerns, after Chinese Australians complained the content was insens…
Taiwan names ex-foreign minister to head China affairs agency
TAIPEI (Reuters) – Taiwan has named former foreign minister Tien Hung-mao as the new head of a semi-official body responsible for conducting day-to-day business with China after Beijing cut communications with the agency in June amid political tensions…
Japan woos Russia with deeper economic ties in face of rising China
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japan is hoping the lure of deeper economic ties with Russia will strengthen strategic relations in the face of a rising China, but skeptics question whether the approach will generate a breakthrough in a decades-old territorial dispu…
China’s new Tibet party chief urges stronger criticism of Dalai Lama
BEIJING (Reuters) – China’s newly appointed Communist Party chief of Tibet called for stronger denunciations of exiled spiritual leader the Dalai Lama, state media said on Thursday, signaling Beijing’s hardline is unlikely to change under his leadershi…
German lawmaker wants to make it easier to deport ‘preachers of hate’
BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany should change its law to make it easier to deport “preachers of hate” and other potentially dangerous individuals, a senior member of Chancellor Angela Merkel’s conservative party said on Thursday.
German official calls for U.N. sanctions against Syria
BERLIN (Reuters) – Gernot Erler, the German government’s point man on Russia, urged the United Nations on Thursday to seek sanctions against Syria for two chlorine gas attacks on civilians, despite Moscow’s threat to veto such a measure.
Australia foreshadows expanding role in fight against Islamic State in Syria and Iraq
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australia will expand its military action against the Islamic State militant group in Syria and Iraq after amending its domestic laws, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said on Thursday.
Turkey wants to ‘cleanse’ strip of territory on Syrian border
JARABLUS, Syria (Reuters) – Turkey wants to clear Islamic State from a 90-km (56-mile) stretch of territory on the Syrian side of its border, an official said on Wednesday, a week after it launched an incursion that has strained ties with the United St…
Israel approves 284 new West Bank housing units, draws U.S. ire
JERUSALEM/WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Israel approved on Wednesday 284 new housing units in Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank, drawing a U.S. accusation that its policies could expand settlements in a “potentially unlimited way.”
U.S. resumes scheduled passenger flights to Cuba after more than 50 years
SANTA CLARA, Cuba (Reuters) – The first scheduled commercial passenger flight from the United States to Cuba in more than half a century landed on Wednesday, opening another chapter in the Obama administration’s efforts to improve ties and increase tra…
