Month: February 2019

Thai election panel disqualifies princess as PM candidate BANGKOK (Reuters) - Thailand’s election panel on Monday disqualified the sister of the king from running for prime minister, putting an end to a stunning, short-lived candidacy by echoing King Maha Vajiralongkorn’s words that royalty should be “above politics”. FILE PHOTO: Ubolratana Rajaka, Princess of Thailand, attends “Thailand Hub of Entertainment”, a film and entertainment industry event for investors, in Hong Kong March 24, 2010. Picture taken March 24, 2010. REUTERS/Bobby Yip The Election Commission released the official list of parties’ candidates…

UK pitches 'global Britain' by flexing military muscle - defence minister FILE PHOTO: British Defence Minister Gavin Williamson speaks during a news conference onboard a Ukrainian Navy frigate, Getman Sagaidachny, in Odessa, Ukraine December 21, 2018. REUTERS/Yevgeny Volokin/File Photo LONDON (Reuters) - Prime Minister Theresa May’s “Global Britain” slogan is more than a pithy phrase because the United Kingdom will be ready to flex its military muscles after it leaves the European Union, defence minister Gavin Williamson said on Monday. “Since the new global great game will be played on…

Iran's Revolutionary Guards warns aggressors of punishment - IRNA LONDON (Reuters) - A senior commander in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards said on Monday that Tehran would “firmly punish” aggressors who attack the country, as tensions rise between Iran and the United States and its regional allies. “Islamic Iran has reached a level … to protect its borders by effective military capabilities, and firmly punish any aggressor,” Brigadier General Ramezan Sharif, spokesman for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps (IRGC), was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA, in a rally celebrating…

Miners, oil, stronger dollar lift FTSE 100 (Reuters) - British blue-chip shares bounced back on Monday buoyed by strength in global miners and oil shares, while the dollar climbing to a near six-week high lifted companies with greater international exposure as a fresh round of Sino-U.S. trade talks took off. FILE PHOTO: A man walks through the lobby of the London Stock Exchange August 5, 2011.REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett/File Photo The main index added 1 percent while midcaps were up 0.6 percent after ending lower on Friday as fresh concerns over the…

Iran cheers U.S. 'dismay', vaunts military might as revolution turns 40 DUBAI (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of Iranians held nation-wide rallies on Monday to mark the 40th anniversary of the fall of the Shah and the triumph of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Shi’ite cleric who led an Islamic Revolution that rattles the West to this day. On Feb 11, 1979, Iran’s army declared its neutrality, paving the way for the collapse of the U.S.-backed monarch, the United States’ closest ally in the Middle East. State TV showed large crowds…

Asian shares search for direction as U.S.-China trade talks begin SYDNEY (Reuters) - Asian shares barely moved on Monday as investors were unable to shake worries about global growth, U.S. politics and the Sino-U.S. trade war, keeping the safe haven dollar near a six-week top against major currencies. FILE PHOTO: A man sits in front of an electronic board showing stock information at a brokerage house in Hangzhou, Zhejiang province, China December 3, 2018. REUTERS/Stringer/File Photo Chinese stock indexes played catch-up when reopening after a week-long break. Gains came as…

European shares bounce from one-week low as trade talks resume MILAN (Reuters) - Gains in heavyweight miners and banks helped European shares recover on Monday as investors turned their focus to the start of a new round of trade talks between Beijing and Washington. FILE PHOTO: The German share price index DAX graph is pictured at the stock exchange in Frankfurt, Germany, February 8, 2019. REUTERS/Staff/File Photo The pan-regional STOXX 600 index rose 0.9 percent by 0931 GMT, having fallen to one-week lows on Friday amid worries over an economic…

U.N. expert says suspension of Nigeria's chief judge breaches human rights GENEVA (Reuters) - The suspension of Nigeria’s most senior judge by President Muhammadu Buhari last month broke international human rights standards on independence of the judiciary and the separation of powers, a U.N. expert said in a statement on Monday. “International human rights standards provide that judges may be dismissed only on serious grounds of misconduct or incompetence,” said Diego Garcia-Sayán, the U.N. special rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers. Reporting by Tom Miles; Editing by Alison…