Politics

BEIJING - China will stay in communication and coordination with the European Union to ensure a bilateral investment deal comes into effect, a foreign ministry spokesman said on Thursday. The European Commission said on Wednesday it had dialled down efforts to promote the planned investment agreement, recognising that EU lawmakers will not approve any such deal while Beijing maintains sanctions on five of their colleagues. 　 　 　 　 　　 　 　   (Reporting by David Kirton; editing by John Stonestreet)...

LONDON - A British academic, who was detained in the United Arab Emirates two years ago on spying charges, has launched legal action against a number of senior officials from the Gulf state, accusing them of assault, torture and false imprisonment. Matthew Hedges returned to Britain in November 2018 after more than six months in detention after he was pardoned from a life sentence for espionage. His release came after the UAE had released a video of him purporting to confess to being a member of Britain's MI6 intelligence agency. This week, lawyers for Hedges filed papers at London's High Cour...

"Just how cosy is the relationship between the media and the Conservative Party? In this video, I'm going to show you that it's very cosy indeed.Most people, especially those who see themselves as left leaning, get the sense that something is deeply wrong with our media. Since the rise of Brexit and Boris Johnson, feelings of distrust have only gotten worse - with just 28% of people in the UK saying they trust the news. And, quite frankly, that's a huge problem. 

So, the question then becomes, what's causing this problem?

Well, ideally in a healthy democracy, you'd want to have a mainstream ...

The national blockchain-based solution will be delivered using Atala and is the latest expansion from Charles Hoskinson and Cardano, who hope to address issues of social and economic exclusion in developing countries. Could Cardano lead the way in demonstrating that corporations can continue to grow while remaining ‘not evil’ and could this form the blueprint for capitalism 2.0?

LONDON (Bywire News)- The Labour leader Keir Starmer billed the British taxpayer for more than £160,000 so he could be chauffeur driven less than 4 miles a day to and from his former job as Director as Public Prosecutions between 2008 and 2010, it has been revealed.Matt Kennard, the Head of Investigations at independent media outlet Declassified UK, discovered the eye-watering receipts whilst searching the official Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) web archives.The historic documents show that the Labour leader, who was appointed as Director of Public Prosecutions in 2008, claimed taxpayer-funde...

The European Union should follow Britain's example and impose new anti-corruption sanctions on Russians suspected of fraud and graft, the European Parliament said on Thursday in a resolution that reflected hardening attitudes to Moscow.

BENGALURU - India reported 379,257 new COVID-19 cases and 3,645 new deaths on Thursday, according to health ministry data. It was the deadliest day so far for any country hit by the pandemic. India's best hope to curb its second deadly wave of COVID-19 was to vaccinate its vast population, said experts, and on Wednesday it opened registrations for everyone above the age of 18 to be given jabs from Saturday. But the country, which is one of the world's biggest producers of vaccines, does not have the stocks for the estimated 600 million people becoming eligible. Many people who tried to sign up...

The Biden administration faces a major dilemma in its dispute with the European Union over Trump-era steel and aluminum tariffs: back down to avoid acute pain for Harley-Davidson Inc and whiskey distillers or stick with the duties even though they are now exacerbating acute shortages for U.S. manufacturers.

By Patricia Zengerle WASHINGTON - President Joe Biden took aim at China in his first speech to Congress on Wednesday, pledging to maintain a strong U.S. military presence in the Indo-Pacific and promising to boost technological development and trade. "China and other countries are closing in fast. We have to develop and dominate the products and technologies of the future," Biden said. And in a line that drew some of the strongest applause of the evening, he said, "There is simply no reason the blades for wind turbines can't be built in Pittsburgh...

WASHINGTON - U.S. Special Envoy for Yemen Tim Lenderking will travel to Saudi Arabia and Oman on Thursday for talks with government officials, the U.S. State Department said in a statement. (Reporting by Eric Beech; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)...

WASHINGTON -The United States is sending supplies worth more than $100 million to India to help it fight a surge of COVID-19 cases, the White House said in a statement on Wednesday. The supplies, which will begin arriving on Thursday and continue into next week, include 1,000 oxygen cylinders, 15 million N95 masks and 1 million rapid diagnostic tests, the statement said. The United States also has redirected its own order of AstraZeneca manufacturing supplies to India, which will allow it to make over 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine, according to the White Hou...

LONDON - Most people in Britain who were able to save money during the past year's coronavirus lockdowns plan to hold on to at least some of their windfall, according to an opinion poll published on Thursday. Twenty percent of respondents in the poll by Kantar Public said they had increased their savings because of restrictions on travel, shopping and socialising, while 21% said their savings had fallen and 41% said they had not changed. Older people were more likely than younger ones to have saved money. Of those people who did save money as a re...

By Nandita Bose WASHINGTON -Evidence submitted by a retail union that raised objections to Amazon.com Inc's conduct at this month's union election in Alabama "could be grounds for overturning the vote", the National Labor Relations Board said on Wednesday. The labor board has overturned several union elections over the years. In 2016, the board overturned an election the United Steelworks union lost by a decisive vote - a decision criticized by large U.S. business lobbies. The NLRB will hold a hearing on May 7 to consider objections filed by the R...

LONDON (Bywire News)- It’s safe to say that Boris Johnson has had better weeks.  On Monday it was revealed that the prime minister had made highly offensive comments about preferring to “let the bodies pile high in their thousands” than impose a third lockdown on the UK. Yesterday, Bywire revealed that the Tory donor who had paid for the renovation of Johnson’s Downing Street flat founded a firm who had benefited from public contracts up to the value of £120m. And today, just before PMQs began, the Electoral Commission announced they were launching an official investigation into the source of ...

MOSCOW - The mural in President Vladimir Putin's hometown showed a smiling Navalny, whose activist network is on the brink of being outlawed as "extremist", making a heart shape with his hands next to the slogan "A hero of a new time". Police arrived at the scene at 9am local time and workers arrived to start painting over it with yellow paint within around 90 minutes. It was unclear who painted the mural. Navalny, Putin's most outspoken domestic opponent, is serving a 2-1/2 year jail sentence for parole violations on an earlier conviction that he says was politically motivated. A court is con...

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's highest electoral authority on Tuesday formally blocked the gubernatorial candidacy of a ruling-party politician, backed by the country's president, for failing to submit pre-campaign spending reports. Felix Salgado Macedonio, a former mayor of the popular tourist destination of Acapulco, had been running for governor of the state of Guerrero as a candidate of President Andres Manual Lopez Obrador's ruling MORENA party. Lopez sparked controversy with his support for Salgado, who faces a rape allegation which he rejects, despite mounting p...

Ethiopia is overhauling its education system with the biggest blockchain deployment in the world. This unique project could be a game changer for social mobility and could also have major implications elsewhere.  The partnership, run alongside global blockchain and research company IOHK will provide a digital ID system for teachers and students. It will use a Cardano blockchain based system to digitally verify grades, monitor performance, attendance records and boost higher education inclusion.  Using IOHK’s Atala PRIMS ID, authorities will be able to create immutable education records for mil...

MOGADISHU - Somalia's President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed said on Wednesday he would drop an attempt to extend his term by two years, bowing to domestic and international pressure after clashes in the capital Mogadishu split security forces along ethnic lines. Hours earlier, Prime Minister Mohamed Hussein Roble denounced his proposed term extension and called for preparations for a new presidential election. Commanders in both the police and military had defected to the opposition, and both sides had fortified positions in central Mogadishu, raising fears of c...

LONDON (Bywire News) - The Conservative Party donor who paid £58,000 so Boris Johnson could refurbish his Downing Street flat is the founder of a company who may have benefitted from lucrative public contracts worth up to a staggering £120m, it can be revealed. Leaked emails from October 2020, which were initially revealed by the Daily Mail last week, showed that the multimillionaire Peer, Lord Brownlow, was the person who had handed almost £60k to the Tory Party in order for the Prime Minister to renovate his Downing Street flat. However, in addition to being a member of the House of Lords, B...

Candace Owens: "This person [George Floyd] was high out of his mind. He asked to be put on the ground."Samuel K: "Okay Candace, so did George Floyd also ask Derek Chauvin to kneel on his neck for nine fucking minutes? I mean what kind of argument is she using here? The white supremacist grifter Candace Owens is unfortunately back in the news again after she made very clear how unhappy she was the former police officer Derek Chauvin was found guilty of murdering George Floyd. Now I just want to warn you that the video of her that I'm going to be reacting to is very disturbing and infuriating. S...