Friedrich Merz, Germany’s soon-to-be chancellor, has announced a strategy to exempt defence spending from limits on government borrowing. The two political parties expected to form the next German government have agreed to loosen the country’s constitutional restrictions on borrowing, enabling €1 trillion or more in spending on defence and infrastructure. It’s a major change in…
China has set an economic growth target for this year of “around 5%” and pledged to pump billions of dollars into its ailing economy, which is now facing a trade war with the US. Its leaders unveiled the plan as thousands of delegates attend the National People’s Congress, a rubber-stamp parliament, which passes decisions already…
MOSCOW, March 5 (Reuters) – The Kremlin said on Wednesday that future talks between Russia and the United States would include discussions on Iran’s nuclear programme, a subject it said had been “touched upon” in an initial round of U.S.-Russia talks last month. Bloomberg reported on Tuesday that Russia has agreed to assist U.S. President…
Five soldiers and at least 13 civilians, including women and children, were killed in a twin suicide bombing Tuesday that targeted a military compound in northwestern Pakistan, according to the military. The attack in Bannu district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province injured at least 32 others, the military’s media wing, Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR), said…
WASHINGTON ‒ Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy says he’s ready to work with President Donald Trump to negotiate a peace deal with Russia ‒ effectively ending a standoff between the leaders that exploded Monday evening when the U.S. said it would stop supplying the country with weapons. Zelenskyy said in a social media post that it…
Legislation to prevent transgender athletes from participating in girls’ and women’s sports failed to advance in the Senate on Monday after all Democrats voted against it. The Protection of Women and Girls in Sports Act failed to clear an initial procedural hurdle on a 51-45 vote. It needed 60 votes to advance, which would have…
A Hong Kong-based conglomerate has agreed to sell its controlling stake in a subsidiary that operates ports near the Panama Canal to a consortium including BlackRock Inc., effectively putting the ports under American control after President Donald Trump alleged Chinese interference with the operations of the critical shipping lane. In a filing, CK Hutchison Holding…
DOHA/CAIRO, March 4 (Reuters) – Arab leaders adopted an Egyptian reconstruction plan for Gaza on Tuesday that would cost $53 billion and avoid displacing Palestinians from the enclave, in contrast to U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Middle East Riviera” vision. Egyptian president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the proposal, welcomed in subsequent statements by Hamas and criticised…
VIENNA, March 3 (Reuters) – Austria’s first three-party government since the aftermath of World War Two took office on Monday, ending the country’s longest-ever wait for a ruling coalition and keeping the Russia-friendly, far-right Freedom Party (FPO) out of power. Although the FPO won September’s parliamentary election with about 29% of the vote, the eurosceptic…
WASHINGTON — President Trump said Monday that Canada and Mexico have “no room left” for talks to avoid a new 25% tariff — with the duty set to begin at midnight alongside a new 20% tariff on Chinese goods. “On the tariffs, is there any room left for Canada and Mexico to make a deal before midnight?”…