Trump budget: Military wins, environment, aid lose big
Pentagon set to be major winner while state department and federal programmes are in for steep reductions.
Donald Trump will ask US Congress for drastic cuts to many federal programmes as he seeks to increase defence spending and spend more money deporting illegal immigrants.
In a plan designed to translate campaign promises into dollar and cent commitments, the Republican president proposed a 28 percent cut in state department funding.
That could be a signal for steep reductions in foreign aid and funding to UN agencies, with knock-on effects around the world.
Rodrigo Duterte impeachment papers filed in Philippine Congress
Opposition lawmaker formally calls for president to be removed from power, accusing him of high crimes
An opposition lawmaker filed an impeachment complaint in the Philippine Congress on Thursday against President Rodrigo Duterte, calling for his removal for what he said were high crimes, betrayal of public trust and abuses of power.
Lower house representative Gary Alejano accused Duterte of offences he said were worthy of impeachment, from concealing assets and conflicts of interest, to drug-related extrajudicial killings and running an alleged “death squad” when he was mayor of Davao city.
Duterte has rejected similar allegations levelled at him in the past. His spokesman on Thursday said Alejano was trying to create doubts among the public about the administration.
UN agency accuses Israel of imposing 'apartheid regime' on Palestinians
Claim is 'despicable and constitutes a blatant lie,' Israel's UN Ambassador says
A UN agency has accused Israel of imposing an “apartheid regime” of racial discrimination on the Palestinian people, and said it was the first time a UN body had clearly made the charge.
Israel's Foreign Ministry spokesman likened the report, which was published by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (ESCWA) on Wednesday, to Der Sturmer—a Nazi propaganda publication that was strongly anti-Semitic.
The report concluded “Israel has established an apartheid regime that dominates the Palestinian people as a whole.” The accusation—often directed at Israel by its critics—is fiercely rejected by Israel.
Netherlands' PM Rutte on big victory: Voters rejected 'wrong kind of populism'
Latest update : 2017-03-16
The Netherlands' centre-right Prime Minister Mark Rutte was on course for a resounding victory over anti-Islam and anti-EU Geert Wilders in an election on Wednesday, offering huge relief to other EU governments facing a wave of nationalism.
"It appears that the VVD will be the biggest party in the Netherlands for the third time in a row," a beaming Rutte told cheering supporters at a post-election party in The Hague. "Tonight we'll celebrate a little."
Rutte received congratulatory messages from European leaders and spoke with some by telephone.
"It is also an evening in which the Netherlands, after Brexit, after the American elections, said 'stop' to the wrong kind of populism," he said.
Singapore rains down on its critics
Activist and aspirant politician Han Hui Hui is the latest government opponent to face severe legal threats for posting criticism over social media
SINGAPORE, MARCH 16, 2017 3:42 PM
Singaporean authorities have taken issue and threatened legal action over political activist and parliamentary aspirant Han Hui Hui’s social media posts alleging she was mistreated while in detention for staging an unsanctioned public protest.
The move reflects ongoing government attempts to regulate speech in the highly-connected island nation, where social media has allowed citizens to participate in more strident political discussion than allowed in mainstream media. In recent years, investigations and criminal proceedings have been taken against activists and bloggers for critical content they’ve posted to online platforms.
Mass grave in Mexico points to drug cartel murders: 250 skulls found
Citizens and family members took matters into their own hands – finally arriving at answers in the search for missing loved ones.
Mexican authorities have announced the discovery of more than 250 buried human skulls in the eastern state of Veracruz. They believe they belong to victims of drug cartel violence.
“Veracruz is a huge grave,” the state’s attorney general, Jorge Winckler, told local media. With excavations ongoing, he predicts that “when they finish opening the clandestine cemetery in the state it will be seen as the largest grave.”
This grisly find might appear to mark a new low for a country racked by years of “disappearances.” But the grave’s discovery is also a story of courage and perseverance on the part of family members. After years of indifference from authorities, Mexicans are increasingly taking matters into their own hands to learn the fates of their vanished loved ones.
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