Last year he visited Athens, this year Brussels. The European Union is China’s largest trading partner and Premier Li Keqiang comes twice a year. On this occasion, he started in Brussels with the annual China-EU summit with official visits to Belgium and France tacked on. The timing could be better. At the European Commission, his host President Jean Claude Juncker ...
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Gunman kills 39 at Tunisian beachside, IS claims attack
A gunman disguised as a tourist opened fire at a Tunisian hotel on Friday with a rifle he had hidden in an umbrella, killing 39 people including Britons, Germans and Belgians as they lounged at the beach in an attack claimed by Islamic State. Terrified tourists ran for cover after the gunfire and an explosion erupted at the Imperial Marhaba ...
Read More »Greece debt crisis: Eurozone refuses bailout extension
Eurozone finance ministers have rejected a Greek request to extend a bailout programme beyond 30 June. A Eurogroup statement said Greece had broken off negotiations over a new bailout deal “unilaterally”. Late on Friday, Greek PM Alexis Tsipras called a surprise referendum for 5 July over the terms of any new deal. Greece has to pay €1.6bn (£1.1bn) to the ...
Read More »Kuwait Shia mosque blast death toll ‘rises to 25’
The death toll from a suicide attack on a Shia mosque during Friday prayers in the Kuwaiti capital has risen to at least 25, the interior ministry says. Another 202 people were wounded, it added. Images circulating online show bodies on the mosque floor amid debris. The blast hit the Imam Sadiq Mosque in a busy area to the east ...
Read More »Islamic State kills at least 145 civilians in Syria’s Kobani
Smoke rises in the Syrian town of Kobani as it is seen from the Turkish border town of Suruc in Sanliurfa province, Turkey, June 25, 2015. REUTERS Islamic State fighters killed at least 145 civilians in an attack on the Syrian town of Kobani and a nearby village, in what a monitoring group described on Friday as the second worst ...
Read More »Climate change: Is the Dutch court ruling ‘a game changer’?
It reads like the script of a movie. Climate change campaigners go to court to force their government to take tougher action on greenhouse gas emissions. But it became reality in a Dutch court on Wednesday, when a judge ruled that The Netherlands must do more to combat the threat of climate change. As a low-lying country, the country is ...
Read More »Greek debt crisis: Eurozone leaders hopeful of deal
Eurozone leaders have broadly welcomed new proposals for Greek reforms amid hopes a deal can be struck within days to stop Greece defaulting on its debt. German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Greece’s latest offer constituted “some progress”. But she said more work was needed and “time is short”. Greece must repay €1.6bn (£1.1bn) to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) by ...
Read More »Japan PM Shinzo Abe jeered at Battle of Okinawa ceremony
Japanese PM Shinzo Abe has been heckled at a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Okinawa. Mr Abe was shouted at by locals, angry about the size of the US military presence on their island. Mr Abe and US officials were among thousands who gathered to remember some 250,000 people who died in Japan’s only land battle ...
Read More »Pakistan calls for urgent measures as heatwave toll nears 700
Pakistan’s prime minister called for emergency measures as the death toll from a heatwave in southern Sindh province reached nearly 700. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said it had received orders from Nawaz Sharif to undertake immediate response measures. The army has also been deployed to set up heat stroke centres and assist the NDMA, it added. Many of ...
Read More »Self-certification in various activities most important reform: Modi
Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that in his opinion, self-certification in various activities is the most important improvement that his government has brought in the country, adding that trusting citizens is the ‘essence’ of the reform brought about in the nation. “I believe that a human being is inherently good and he or she has to be given ...
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