Russia-Ukraine crisis clouds G20 summit in Buenos Aires
World leaders are gathering in Argentina for their annual G20 summit amid new tension with Russia over Ukraine and a US trade row with China.
US President Donald Trump has cancelled a meeting with his Russian counterpart, Vladimir Putin, in protest at Russia's seizure of Ukrainian naval boats.
Hopes of progress over tariffs in Mr Trump's expected talks with Chinese leader Xi Jinping have been dampened.
The trade war between the two economic giants may possibly even escalate.
The summit is also a diplomatic test for Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman amid continuing questions about the Saudi state's possible involvement in the murder last month of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Turkey.
Berta Cáceres: seven men convicted of murdering Honduran environmentalist
Seven men have been found guilty of the murder of the Honduran indigenous environmentalist Berta Isabel Cáceres. An eighth defendant, Emerson Duarte Meza, was cleared and freed on Thursday.
Cáceres, a winner of the Goldman prize for environmental defenders, was shot dead late at night on 2 March 2016 – two days before her 45th birthday – after a long battle to stop construction of an internationally financed hydroelectric dam on the Gualcarque river, which the Lenca people consider sacred.
The court ruled the murder was ordered by executives of the Agua Zarca dam company Desa because of delays and financial losses linked to protests led by Cáceres. The murder was contracted to a group of hitmen who were paid to kill Cáceres.
Middle East dictators always end up bringing their western allies down – and now they've got their coils in the White House
Crystal balls are dangerous objects in the Middle East. Mine have been broken several times. But there’s no reason why Donald Trump should be immune from the fate of so many of his predecessors
Robert FiskMiddle East Correspondent
Middle East dictators, we like to believe, live in heaven. They have palaces, servants, vast and wealthy families, millions of obedient people and loyal armies who constantly express their love for their leader, not to mention huge secret police forces to ensure they don’t forget this, and masses of weapons to defend themselves, supplied, usually, by us.
These tyrants – autocrats or “strongmen” if they happen to be our allies – exist, we suppose, in a kind of nirvana. Their lawns, like their people, are well-manicured, their roses clipped, their rivers unsullied, their patriotism unchallenged. They wish to be eternal.
South Korean train travels to the North for joint railway inspection
A South Korean train departed for North Korea on Friday for an 18-day joint railway inspection that the Koreas are conducting as part of efforts to modernize, and eventually reconnect, rail lines across their border.
The train, made up of six cars and carrying dozens of South Korean officials and experts, left Dorasan Station, just south of the inter-Korean border, around 9:05 a.m. for Panmun Station, near the North's border city of Kaesong.
The train will be used to inspect 1,200 kilometers of rail track in the North through Dec. 18.
The train, made up of six cars and carrying dozens of South Korean officials and experts, left Dorasan Station, just south of the inter-Korean border, around 9:05 a.m. for Panmun Station, near the North's border city of Kaesong.
The train will be used to inspect 1,200 kilometers of rail track in the North through Dec. 18.
DR Congo Ebola outbreak second largest in history: WHO
The UN health body confirms 426 cases, with 198 deaths reported since August, as DRC struggles to contain the disease.
The Democratic Republic of Congo's deadly Ebola outbreak is now the second largest in history, behind the devastating West Africa outbreak that killed thousands a few years ago, according to the World Health Organization (WHO).
Dr Peter Salama, WHO's emergencies chief, called it a "sad toll" as DR Congo's health ministry announced the number of cases has reached 426.
That includes 379 confirmed cases and 47 probable ones.
Trump Tower Moscow, and Michael Cohen’s lies about it, explained
Everything you need to know about Trump’s efforts to do business in Russia.
By
Michael Cohen’s guilty plea in special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation on Thursday threatens to unveil an explosive possible reason why President Donald Trump adamantly wants friendly ties with Russia — a long-sought real estate deal.
A court document filed by Mueller states that Cohen — Trump’s former personal lawyer and fixer — lied to Congress at least three separate times about plans to build a Trump Tower in Moscow with Trump’s name prominently featured on top.
Cohen testified to Congress that negotiations to build Europe’s tallest building stopped in January 2016. But emails and other communications obtained by multiple news outlets, and now basically confirmed by Cohen, show those negotiations actually continued much longer: into at least June 2016, after Trump had already become the Republican Party’s nominee. And Buzzfeed News reported on Thursday that Trump’s company planned to give the $50 million penthouse in the building to Russian President Vladimir Putin.
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