Month: July 2020

Australia on Thursday said it was “urgently seeking clarification” about reports that one of its citizens had been detained in North Korea.  Korean-language media named the man as Alek Sigley, 29, one of only a handful of Western students at Kim Il Sung university, who also runs Tongil Tours, a company which has specialised since…

Rahul Gandhi has resigned as the head of India’s main opposition Congress Party, taking complete responsibility for its crushing defeat in May’s general elections. The 49-year old president of the 134-year-old Congress Party, which has dominated Indian politics before and after independence, announced his resignation on Wednesday afternoon, saying that accountability for the electoral setback…

The South Korean government has angrily denied claims by Japan that its is turning a blind eye to transfers of sensitive technology to North Korea, in defiance of United Nations sanctions on Pyongyang.  Sung Yun-mo, the South Korean industry minister, told a press conference on Tuesday that the government has “found no evidence” that banned…

Suspected Russian hackers have stolen the personal details of five million people from Bulgaria’s national revenue agency, in possible retaliation for the purchase of several US F-16 fighter jets. Boyko Borissov, the Bulgarian prime minister, called an emergency meeting after the cyber attack came to light, and examined the extent of the damage with Bulgarian…

When assessing how Prime Minister Boris Johnson will fare in Donald Trump’s Washington there are insights to be gleaned from his relationship with another prominent Republican: Paul Ryan.  Mr Johnson’s attempt to woo the man who was House Speaker – the most senior Republican in the US House of Representatives – has all the hallmarks of…

A woman who accused an Indian politician of rape was fighting for her life on Monday after a car crash which her family claim was part of an assassination plot. The woman, who accused Bharatiya Janata Party legislator Kuldeep Singh Sengar of raping her in 2017, was in a critical condition in hospital alongside her…

Patrick Crusius, the suspected gunman in the El Paso mass shooting, was being investigated for hate crimes on Sunday as a familiar portrait began to emerge of the alleged shooter.  Just as it was the case in a series of recent tragedies in the US, the suspect in Texas was a young, white man who had…

The FIA stewards of the Austrian Grand Prix have dismissed a protest filed by Red Bull against Mercedes’ innovative DAS system, insisting the complaint is “not founded”. The German outfit used its Dual Active Steering device in free practice on Friday, but Red Bull officially contested the system which helps Mercedes’ drivers increase front tyre…

OTTAWA — Youth Minister Bardish Chagger says the WE organization won’t manage the federal government’s $900-million program to pay students and fresh graduates for volunteer work this summer. In a statement put out on Friday morning, Chagger says it’s a “mutually agreed upon decision.” Since the charity founded by brothers Craig and Marc Kielburger was…

OTTAWA — The Prime Minister’s Office would not say Friday whether Justin Trudeau recused himself from a cabinet decision awarding a multimillion-dollar contract to a charity with close ties to his family — a question that is now at the heart of an investigation by Canada’s ethics watchdog. Mario Dion, the conflict of interest and…