Russia will flex its military muscles and hold the biggest war games since the Cold War era next month, including almost 300,000 troops and 1,000 aircraft, the defence ministry said Tuesday, leading NATO to warn of a “more assertive Russia”. The Vostok-2018, or East 18, exercises simulating large-scale warfare, which the Kremlin called “justified”, will be carried out from September ...

US President Donald Trump has warned that his policies will be “violently” overturned if the Democrats win November’s mid-term elections. He told Evangelical leaders that the vote was a “referendum” on freedom of speech and religion, and that these were threatened by “violent people”.   He appealed to conservative Christian groups for help, saying they were one vote away from ...

Thailand’s military junta announced Tuesday it will ease some restrictions on political parties to let them conduct basic functions and prepare for elections set for early next year, but campaigning will still be forbidden. Prime Minister Prayuth Chan-ocha said after a junta meeting that the new rules would allow political parties to hold meetings, make adjustments to regulations, appoint managers ...

  French fishermen have been accused of throwing insults, rocks and smoke bombs at their British rivals in the English Channel in a vicious scrap over scallops. The clash happened around 12 nautical miles (22km) off the Normandy coast, near the Bay of Seine.  British boats are legally entitled to fish in the scallop-rich area.   But their presence has ...

An Australian government MP has revealed she will not contest the next election, condemning the parliament’s “bullying and intimidation” of women. Julia Banks branded a party coup that ousted Malcolm Turnbull as PM last week as “the final straw” in her decision.   In a withering statement, Ms Banks took aim at the “scourge of cultural and gender bias” in ...

Beijing,  Aug 29 :  More than a dozen human rights groups have sent a letter to Google urging the company not to offer censored internet search services in China. The joint letter dated Tuesday calls on CEO Sundar Pichai to explain what Google is doing to safeguard users from the Chinese government’s censorship and surveillance. That follows a letter earlier ...

Mexico City, Aug 29 : About 300 sea turtles have died on Mexico’s southern Pacific coast after they were trapped in an abandoned illegal fishing net. The office for environmental protection says the Olive Ridley turtles drowned after getting caught in the net. The office said in a statement Tuesday that the endangered turtles were badly decomposed when found in ...

Tokyo, Aug 28 : Global shares were mostly higher Tuesday after the White House said it reached a preliminary agreement with Mexico on replacing a North American free-trade deal. KEEPING SCORE: France’s CAC 40 rose 0.1 percent in early trading to 5,485.39, while Germany’s DAX was up 0.2 percent at 12,561.44. Britain’s FTSE 100 gained 0.7 percent to 7,630.36. U.S. ...

Countries should quickly agree a treaty banning the use of so-called killer robots “before it is too late”, activists said Monday as talks on the issue resumed at the UN.   They say time is running out before weapons are deployed that use lethal force without a human making the final kill-order and have criticised the UN body hosting the ...

UN human rights experts believe war crimes may have been committed by all parties to the conflict in Yemen. In their first such report, they allege Yemeni government forces, the Saudi-led coalition backing them, and the rebel Houthi movement have made little effort to minimise civilian casualties.   They point to the bombing and shelling of schools, hospitals and markets, ...