Day: April 18, 2018

US and N. Korea talks ‘at highest levels’ but not between Trump and Kim, says White House

News Desk
Donald Trump

The United States has had contacts at the highest levels with North Korea but Donald Trump and Kim Jong Un have not spoken directly, the White House said late on Tuesday. The Washington Post reported that CIA chief Mike Pompeo made a secret visit to Pyongyang over the first weekend of April and met with Kim. The meeting was part of an effort to prepare for a historic meeting in the coming weeks between Trump and Kim, the paper said, quoting two people with direct knowledge of the trip. The…

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Turkey’s Erdogan declares early elections on June 24

News Desk
Tayyip Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday called snap elections in the country for June 24, bringing the polls forward by over a year-and-a-half to sharply accelerate the transition to a new presidential system. Erdogan’s announcement upended the political timetable in Turkey, which had been set to vote in simultaneous presidential and parliamentary elections on November 3, 2019. The elections are especially significant as afterwards a new executive presidency — agreed in a 2017 referendum and denounced by critics as giving the president authoritarian powers — will come into force.…

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PTI chairman names and shames party members who ‘sold votes’ in Senate polls

News Desk
Imran Khan

Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan announced on Wednesday that the party was taking action against 20 lawmakers for “participating in horse trading” during the Senate elections last month. Addressing a press conference in Islamabad, the PTI chief said that the party will give the accused a chance to explain before their names are forwarded to the National Accountability Bureau. Khan claimed that PTI, by expelling nearly “30 per cent of its leaders”, was “truly protecting the sanctity of the vote” and wondered if other political parties will follow suit.…

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