National Security Council

UK envoy to India Philip Barton promoted as new Foreign Office minister

11:01 pm August 3, 2020

London: Sir Philip Barton, the British High Commissioner to India based in New Delhi, was on Monday promoted as a minister in the newly formed Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. The UK Foreign Office said Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab had approved the appointment of Barton as the Permanent Under-Secretary of the new ministry, which had been unveiled by the UK PM earlier this year […]

Will Trump's mishandling of records leave a hole in history?

Trump’s ‘strong wall’ to block COVID-19 from China had holes

9:03 pm July 4, 2020

Washington DC: US President Donald Trump has repeatedly credited his February ban on travellers from mainland China as his signature move against the advance of the coronavirus pandemic — a “strong wall” that allowed only US citizens inside, he boasted in May. But Trump’s wall was more like a sieve. Exempted were thousands of residents of the Chinese territories […]

Afghan foreign minister likely to visit India this month

Afghan government delays Taliban prisoner release plan

10:23 pm March 14, 2020

Kabul: The Afghan government has postponed its plan to release Taliban prisoners, a senior official said Saturday, throwing a precarious peace process between the insurgents and Kabul into deeper crisis. President Ashraf Ghani earlier this week announced that the authorities would free 1,500 insurgents as a “gesture of goodwill” before negotiations begin, in an attempt […]

Aide recounts actions tying Trump to delay in Ukraine funds

6:59 pm November 17, 2019

WASHINGTON: Gordon Sondland, President Donald Trump’s emissary to the European Union, had a message when he met with a top Ukrainian official. Sondland said vital U.S. military assistance to Ukraine might be freed up if the country’s top prosecutor “would go to the mike and announce that he was opening the Burisma investigation,” a U.S. […]

Ex- National Security Council official Fiona Hill testifying to Congress

Ex-National Security Council official testifying to Congress

9:43 pm October 14, 2019

WASHINGTON: Fiona Hill, a former top National Security Council expert on Russia, was testifying to Congress behind closed doors Monday, the latest former Trump administration official to be subpoenaed as part of the House impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. Hill wouldn’t comment as she arrived on Capitol Hill, but her attorney said she had […]