Category: World

The upcoming summit in Samarkand will be truly historic as it will bring together for the first time the leaders of the five Central Asian countries and the EU in one place, Uzbekistan President Shavkat Mirziyoyev said in a Euronews exclusive. The Central Asia-EU summit in the historic Uzbekistan city of Samarkand marks a significant development in the relationship between Central Asia and the European Union. This meeting comes at a time of global geopolitical instability, economic risks and climate challenges, which in turn means there is a need for…

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NUUK: US Vice President JD Vance has accused Denmark of neglecting Greenland’s security, warning that the Arctic territory faces growing threats from Russia and China while calling on people for closer cooperation with the United States. The VP pledged respect for Greenland’s sovereignty while urging its people to partner with his country. Vance said the United States does not have immediate plans to expand its military presence on the ground in Greenland but will invest in resources, including additional naval ships. “Denmark has not kept pace and devoted the resources necessary…

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The death toll from a huge earthquake that hit Myanmar and Thailand passed 1,000 on Saturday, as rescuers dug through the rubble of collapsed buildings in a desperate search for survivors. The shallow 7.7-magnitude quake struck northwest of the city of Sagaing in central Myanmar in the early afternoon, followed minutes later by a 6.7-magnitude aftershock. The quake destroyed buildings, downed bridges, and buckled roads across swathes of Myanmar, with massive destruction seen in Mandalay, the country’s second biggest city and home to more than 1.7 million people. At least…

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WASHINGTON: Washington has confirmed plans to shut down USAID by July 2025 as part of sweeping foreign aid cuts, marking the end of the agency that has overseen billions in global assistance since 1961. The latest move by US President Donald Trump’s administration announced on Friday formalises widely criticised plans to dramatically cut foreign aid spending. “Today, the Department of State and the US Agency for International Development (USAID) have notified Congress of their intent to undertake a reorganisation that would involve realigning certain USAID functions to the Department by 1…

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Iran has sent a response through Oman to US President Donald Trump’s letter in which he urged Tehran to reach a new nuclear deal, Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araqchi was cited as saying by the official IRNA news agency on Thursday. “Our policy is still to not engage in direct negotiations while under maximum pressure and military threats, however, as it was the case in the past, indirect negotiations can continue”, IRNA cited Araqchi as saying. Earlier on Thursday, Kamal Kharrazi, an adviser to Iran’s supreme leader, said that Tehran…

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BEIJING: In a meeting with his Bangladeshi counterpart Muhammad Yunus on Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping promised greater cooperation as Dhaka looks for new allies to counteract chilly relations with India. After a student-led uprising overthrew dictatorial former prime minister Sheikh Hasina, who then fled to New Delhi, Yunus assumed power in Bangladesh in August 2024. India was the biggest benefactor of Hasina’s government, and her ouster sent cross-border relations into a tailspin, culminating in Yunus choosing to make his first state visit to China — India’s biggest Asian rival.…

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SYDNEY: Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese called a national election for May 3 on Friday, launching a five-week campaign that is set to be dominated by cost-of-living pressures. Prime Minister Albanese’s Labour party won a majority at the last federal election in 2022, but most recent opinion polls show the party neck-and-neck with the opposition Liberal-National coalition when votes from smaller parties are redistributed. “Our government has chosen to face global challenges the Australian way – helping people under cost-of-living pressure, while building for the future,” he told a press…

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US Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr has unveiled an ambitious plan to streamline the nation’s public health agencies, slashing 10,000 jobs and restructuring key divisions of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Reuters reported. The FDA, CDC, and NIH are among the agencies significantly impacted by the cuts. The reductions will eliminate 3,500 positions at the FDA, 2,400 at the CDC, and 1,200 at the NIH. Recent voluntary departures have already reduced the HHS workforce by 10,000, bringing total full-time employees down from 82,000 to 62,000. “Over…

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A four-party coalition government will be announced in Greenland on Friday, according to local media reports, as the island navigates renewed pressure from US President Donald Trump’s administration regarding its future status, Reuters reported. The announcement is set to take place as US Vice President JD Vance visits the Arctic territory. His revised travel plans, which initially stirred controversy in both Greenland and Denmark, now include a visit to the Pituffik US military base. Originally, Vance, his wife Usha, and National Security Adviser Mike Waltz had planned to attend a Greenlandic dog-sled…

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BERLIN: Private data belonging to top security advisers to US President Donald Trump, including their phone numbers, email addresses and even passwords, can be accessed online, German news magazine Der Spiegel reported Wednesday, adding to the embarrassing messaging app fiasco by his administration last week. Mobile phone numbers, email addresses and, in some cases, passwords used by National Security Adviser Mike Waltz, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, and Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth can be found via commercial data-search services and hacked data dumped online, it said. The phone numbers and email…

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