Leaders of the BRICS group of nations unanimously adopted a joint declaration on the first day of the two-day summit in the Indian capital, New Delhi, despite divisions among members over the wars in Iran and Ukraine. The New Delhi Declaration, adopted on Saturday, called for restraint in the Middle East but avoided condemning the…
Hong Kong will deepen ties with emerging economies worldwide, expanding connections with the Middle East and belt and road countries, from finance to innovation and technology, according to the finance chief. Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po also said the city aims to build “networked and institutionalised” connectivity with the Global South – a broad term…
DUBAI, Sept 10 (Reuters) – Algeria decided to sever diplomatic relations with the United Arab Emirates after what it described as the “exhaustion of all means to preserve bilateral ties”, Algerian state media said on Thursday, without giving details of the reason for the move. The UAE Foreign Ministry did not immediately respond to an…
Hong Kong customs has smashed an international drug trafficking network over the summer, seizing 6.1 tonnes of suspected narcotics worth more than HK$1.4 billion (US$178.5 million) and arresting 150 people as syndicates actively recruited students during the holiday period. Acting head of the Customs and Excise Department’s drug investigation bureau Wong Ngar-lun said on Tuesday…
MADRID, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Spain asked on Friday for help from the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) in processing migrants in the North African enclave of Ceuta almost a month after tens of thousands rushed across the border from Morocco. Spanish Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska sent a request to Beate Gminder, the…
Oyo Nyimba Kabamba Iguru Rukidi IV, a Ugandan king who became the world’s youngest reigning monarch when he was crowned at the age of 3 in 1995, has died. He was 34. Rukidi IV, the ruler of the small Kingdom of Tooro in Uganda’s west, died around 10 p.m. local time Thursday, Tooro Prime Minister…
OMDURMAN, Sudan, Aug 28 (Reuters) – Sudanese welder Shannan Mohammed has been building furniture for a family in Omdurman little by little as constant blackouts interrupt his work. Pointing to half-built doors, chairs, and tables in the courtyard of a home, he says, “All this is money that has been frozen because of lack of…
Qatar Airways has set up its new regional cargo office in Hong Kong, with the city’s transport minister using the occasion to reveal a local airline would soon announce the launch of direct flights to Central Asia. Secretary for Transport and Logistics Mable Chan dropped the hint, but did not name the airline, while attending…
Hong Kong customs has arrested 10 people and seized suspected cannabis buds worth an estimated HK$56 million (US$7 million) in a month-long operation targeting a syndicate accused of smuggling the drug from Southeast Asia to Europe and Africa via the city. Code-named Fire Mesh, the operation ran from July 13 to Monday this week and…
By David Latona and Maria Alejandra Cardona CEUTA, Spain, Aug 14 (Reuters) – Spain has beefed up police and military presence in its North African enclave of Ceuta amid social media messages encouraging migrants to attempt another mass border breach on Saturday, two weeks after tens of thousands rushed into the city. Soldiers in combat…