(Refiles to correct name in paragraph 15) By Laurie Chen BEIJING (Reuters) – A senior employee of the Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB) said on Thursday he was advised to flee the country after resigning from the bank in protest over what he alleged was Chinese Communist Party influence. Bob Pickard, a Canadian national…
SYDNEY (Reuters) – Papua New Guinea’s parliament has begun debating a defence deal with the United States, with Prime Minister James Marape acknowledging the concerns of some students and unions ahead of a vote to ratify it in August. The defence agreement will allow U.S. forces to refurbish and develop infrastructure for military and civilian…
TOKYO (Reuters) – Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Thursday he would not dissolve parliament in the coming days, following weeks of speculation that he might do so to call a snap election in the hopes of solidifying his power within the ruling party. Talk of a dissolution surfaced a few weeks ago as…
By Renju Jose SYDNEY (Reuters) -Australia said on Thursday it would introduce legislation to parliament to cancel Russia’s lease to build a new embassy in the national capital of Canberra, citing national security. The move follows the conclusion of a long-running litigation regarding the leased site after the federal court ruled last month that an…
By Takaya Yamaguchi TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida’s administration will pledge to boost childcare spending and focus on sustaining wage hikes in its mid-year economic policy roadmap, a final draft seen by Reuters showed on Thursday. The blueprint, expected to be approved by cabinet on Friday, comes amid speculation Kishida could dissolve parliament…
By Renee Maltezou SALAMINA, Greece (Reuters) -Greece’s conservative leader Kyriakos Mitsotakis hopes that victory in an election re-run on June 25 will open the way to finally achieve a goal he set when first elected four years ago: for Greece to regain coveted investment grade status. Mitsotakis’s New Democracy party won a May 21 election…
By Sakura Murakami and John Geddie TOKYO (Reuters) -The Pacific island nation of Palau has asked the United States to step up patrols of its waters after several incursions by Chinese vessels into its exclusive economic zone, President Surangel Whipps Jr. told Reuters in an interview. Whipps Jr. said he would also welcome a bigger…
BRUSSELS (Reuters) – NATO’s support for Ukraine is making a difference on the battlefield, said NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday, as Ukraine embarks on its counteroffensive against Russia. “The support NATO allies have been giving Ukraine now for many, many months actually makes a difference on the battlefield,” Stoltenberg told reporters in Brussels. (Reporting…
MOSCOW (Reuters) – A Kremlin aide urged the Russian government on Thursday to adopt legislation allowing foreign flagged vessels to use the Northern Sea Route (NSR), which Moscow wants to turn into a new Suez Canal. The NSR runs from Murmansk near Russia’s border with Norway eastwards to the Bering Strait near Alaska. Although the…
By Tom Balmforth KYIV (Reuters) -After a week of heavy fighting, the real tests of Kyiv’s counteroffensive lie ahead, with Ukrainian troops some distance from Russia’s main defensive line and the bulk of forces prepared for the push still on standby. Ukraine struck in two areas along the southeastern front last week as it began…
