The US operation in Iraq could come to an embarrassing end. Iran's power will only grow
Updated 0923 GMT (1723 HKT) January 18, 2020
Donald Trump hasn't pulled his troops out of Iraq, despite his pledge to end America's grinding wars. It turns out he may not have to. The US is facing the possibility of being kicked out, and that would be a big win for Iran.
Officials in Iraq's parliament, where powerful blocs have unbreakable ties to Tehran, started a process to end the presence of foreign troops in the country, in a clear riposte to the US after it killed top Iranian commander Qasm Soleimani in a drone strike in Baghdad two weeks ago.
In the wake of the strike, joint US-Iraqi operations against ISIS were put on hold, and Iraq's caretaker prime minister said a US troop withdrawal was the only way to "protect all those on Iraqi soil," though this week he said that decision would be up to the next government.
Coronavirus: more cases and second death reported in China
Experts fear numbers affected may be higher than first thought as US begins screening passengers arriving from Wuhan
More cases of coronavirus have been confirmed in the Chinese city of Wuhan and a second person has died, according to local authorities. It comes as disease-modelling experts warned that far more people may have been affected by the previously unknown virus than thought.
The Wuhan municipal health commission said in a statement that four patients diagnosed with pneumonia on Thursday were in a stable condition, taking the total number of cases to nearly 50. The statement released in the early hours on Saturday is the first confirmation of new cases by the commission in nearly a week.
On Friday, the commission announced the second death from the virus. A 69-year-old man was admitted to hospital with abnormal renal function and severe damage to multiple organs, and died on 15 January, the commission said.
Europe will face terror threat if Tripoli govt falls, warns Erdogan
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has warned Europe it could face new threats from terrorist organisations if Libya's UN-recognised government in Tripoli were to fall.
In the article, published on Saturday on the eve of a Libya peace conference in Berlin, Erdogan said the EU's failure to adequately support the Government of National Accord (GNA) would be "a betrayal of its own core values, including democracy and human rights".
The GNA led by Fayez al-Sarraj has been under attack since April from strongman Khalifa Haftar's forces based in the east of the country, with fighting killing over 280 civilians and 2,000 fighters.
The phone call that threatened to smash the US-Australia alliance
As Australia's ambassador to the US over the past four years, Joe Hockey's role has been to implement government policy - not to create it.
But as he faced the biggest diplomatic crisis of his posting, as he saw the future of the US-Australia alliance flickering before his eyes, he decided to go it alone.
Bugger any instructions from Canberra.
It was February 2017, just a few weeks after Donald Trump was sworn into office. Diplomats in Washington - even those representing traditional US allies - were on edge as they waited to discover what Trump's "America First" foreign policy meant for them.
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