Irish foreign minister urges caution on Brexit breakthrough
Ireland’s foreign minister tried to dampen expectations on Thursday that a Brexit deal might be imminent and said it would be wrong to assume that any consensus within the British government meant that an agreement had been clinched.
Tanzania frees two members of CPJ journalists’ advocacy group
Tanzania released two staff members of the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) on Thursday, a day after they were detained and their passports seized, the South African Foreign Ministry said.
Vietnam wants 50 percent of social media users on domestic platforms by 2020
Vietnam wants 50 percent of its social media customers to use domestic social networks by 2020 and plans to prevent “toxic information” on Facebook and Google, the information ministry said in a statement on Thursday.
Italy’s government reaches deal on barbed justice reform
Italy’s ruling coalition reached a deal on Thursday over removing time constraints on the prosecution of numerous crimes, including corruption, defusing a row that had threatened the stability of the government.
At least 27 killed in Tajikistan prison riot: security sources
At least 25 inmates and two security officers have been killed after a riot broke out at a high-security prison in Tajikistan, three security sources said on Thursday.
Britain will not pursue ‘race to bottom’ after Brexit: Hunt
Britain will not pursue “a race to the bottom” after it leaves the European Union, its Foreign Minister Jeremy Hunt said in Paris on Thursday, seeking to allay European concerns that Britain might seek to diverge sharply from European regulations.
At least 27 killed in Tajikistan prison riot: security sources
At least 25 inmates and two security officers have been killed in a riot at a high-security prison in the northern Tajik city of Khujand, security sources said on Thursday.
Pakistani Christian woman acquitted of blasphemy ‘secure’, out of jail
A Pakistani Christian woman has been freed from prison a week after the Supreme Court overturned her conviction and death sentence for blasphemy against Islam, and she is at a secure location in the country, officials said on Thursday.
Hungary’s government rules out concessions for Soros-founded university
Hungary’s government said it would not make concessions to the Central European University, the legal status of which has been in limbo for more than a year due to changes in the law from a government hostile to its founder, financier George Soros.
Wintry weather, diplomacy cool down Gaza border protests
A seasonal shift in the weather and intensified international diplomacy are prompting Palestinians mounting protests along Gaza’s border with Israel to rethink their tactics.
