Hong Kong students’ sewer escape thwarted
Some anti-government protesters trapped inside a Hong Kong university on Wednesday tried to flee through the sewers, where one student said she saw snakes, but firemen prevented further escape bids by blocking a manhole into the system.
Catalan separatists ERC to consult base on whether to support Spanish leftist coalition
Catalan separatist party Esquerra Republicana de Catalunya (ERC) on Wednesday said it would ask its members whether they wanted to back a coalition government deal between the Socialists and the left-wing Unidas Podemos.
Year-end could see return to North Korea ‘provocations,’ says U.S. envoy Biegun
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said on Wednesday a year-end deadline North Korea has set for Washington to show more flexibility in nuclear talks was an artificial one, but could mean a return to “provocative” steps that pre…
France pledges debt relief for hospitals, unions call another strike
France will absorb 10 billion euros ($11.1 billion) of public hospital debt, Prime Minister Edouard Philippe said on Wednesday, in an emergency measure designed to end months of protests by disgruntled doctors and nurses.
Year-end could see return to North Korea ‘provocations,’ says U.S. envoy
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said on Wednesday a year-end deadline North Korea has set for Washington to show more flexibility in nuclear talks was an artificial one, but could mean a return to “provocative” steps that pre…
U.S. State Department nominee Biegun says China action against Muslims ‘unacceptable’
The nominee for the U.S. State Department’s number-two position said on Wednesday he had no reason to doubt reports about China’s treatment of ethnic minorities, including the Uighurs, and the elimination of Muslim heritage sites.
Sudan’s top Islamist politician summoned over 1989 coup
Sudan’s most prominent Islamist politician is under investigation over former leader Omar al-Bashir’s rise to power in a 1989 coup, an official from his party said on Wednesday.
Iraq’s Khor al-Zubair port reopens, operations resume: port officials
Iraq’s Khor al-Zubair commodities port near Basra reopened on Wednesday and operations resumed normally, port officials said.
U.S. envoy Biegun still believes North Korea can decide to denuclearize
U.S. Special Representative for North Korea Stephen Biegun said on Wednesday there had been no concrete evidence that North Korea had made a decision to give up its nuclear weapons, but he still believed Pyongyang could make this choice.
North Korea says no interest in Trump summit until ‘hostile policy’ removed
A senior North Korean official said on Wednesday that the United States must drop its “hostile policy” towards Pyongyang in order to restart stalled denuclearisation talks, South Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported.
