Congress party promises jobs for women amid heated election campaign
Reuters, New Delhi :India’s main opposition Congress party will reserve a third of federal government jobs for women if it comes into power, its chief...
International
Cardinal Pell sent to prison for abusing 2 boys in Australia
AP, Melbourne, Australia :The most senior Catholic convicted of child sex abuse was sentenced Wednesday to six years in prison for molesting two choirboys in...
IS fighters blitzed into surrender as defeat looms in Syria
AFP, Baghouz (Syria) :US-backed forces said Wednesday the Islamic State group was living its “final moments” after thunderous shelling on its last scrap of land...
Air pollution deaths double
AFP, Paris :Air pollution causes 790,000 premature deaths every year in Europe and 8.8 million worldwide, more than doubling recent assessments, according to a study...
Bolton says Pakistan committed to easing tensions with India
Reuters, Washington : White House national security adviser John Bolton said on Monday Pakistan’s foreign minister has assured him Islamabad is committed to de-escalating tensions with...
US to withdraw all embassy personnel from Venezuela
Reuters, Washington :US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said late Monday that the United States will withdraw all remaining diplomatic personnel from its embassy in...
US envoy calls China’s Muslim camps ‘horrific,’ wants probe
AP, Taipei, Taiwan :Describing China’s internment of an estimated one million Muslims as a “horrific situation,” a U.S. envoy on religion called Tuesday for an...
News In Brief
Democrats move to block foreign funding in 2020 electionChristian Science MonitorWith special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation reportedly wrapping up, the spotlight on Russian election interference...
Record number of children died in Syria in 2018: UN
HuffPost :Last year was the deadliest ever for children caught in the Syrian conflict, according to UNICEF.Friday will mark the eighth anniversary of the start...
US says North Korean diplomacy ‘very much alive,’ but it’s watching rocket site
Reuters, Washington : The chief U.S. envoy for North Korea said on Monday that “diplomacy is still very much alive” with Pyongyang despite a failed summit...
Brexit crunch looms for May as EU talks failed
Reuters, London :British Prime Minister Theresa May faces another Brexit humiliation after two major eurosceptic factions in parliament warned they would vote down her divorce...
Syria now facing economic war through sanctions: Assad
AFP, Damascus :As the Syrian government emerges victorious from eight years of a battle against foreign-sponsored militancy, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad says his country now...