Barrick Gold eyes assets, exploration as it plots new phase

TORONTO/LONDON: Barrick Gold Corp (ABX.TO), soon to become the world’s largest bullion miner, is interested in adding more copper assets as long as the red metal is accompanied by bullion, executives said on Friday.Barrick, which expects to complete its $6.1 billion takeover of Randgold Resources (RRS.L) Jan. 1, outlined plans for exploration, expansion, streamlining and asset...

Read More

Tajikistan launches giant dam to end power shortage

ROGUN: Tajikistan on Friday inaugurated a $3.9 billion hydro-electric power plant, a mega project that will enable the impoverished country to eliminate domestic energy shortages and export electricity to Afghanistan and Pakistan.Built on the Vakhsh River in southern Tajikistan, the plant championed by President Emomali Rakhmon is expected to reach a height of 335 metres (1,099...

Read More

Three tiger cubs killed by Indian train

NEW DELHI: Three eight-month-old tiger cubs have been killed by a train in western India, forest rangers said Friday.“The cubs were hit by a train early on Thursday and their mangled remains were recovered and sent for post-mortem,” A.K. Mishra from Maharashtra state’s forestry department told AFP.Their bodies were spotted in Maharashtra’s Chandrapur district, which is famous...

Read More

Who has submitted letters of no confidence in UK PM May?

LONDON: Some lawmakers in Prime Minister Theresa May’s Conservative Party have said they have submitted letters of no confidence in the British leader.A leadership challenge is triggered if 48 Conservatives write such letters to the chairman of the party’s so-called 1922 committee, Graham Brady. May could be toppled if 158 of her 315 lawmakers vote against her.Brady has not said...

Read More

CNN reporter returns to White House after judge’s ruling

WASHINGTON: The White House agreed Friday to allow CNN reporter Jim Acosta back in after a judge ruled that the star journalist was improperly banned following a testy exchange at a press conference with President Donald Trump. Trump spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said “in response to the court, we will temporarily reinstate the reporter’s hard pass.”But she left open the possibility...

Read More

US Vice President Pence vows no end to tariffs until China bows

PORT MORESBY: The United States will not back down from its trade dispute with China, and might even double its tariffs, unless Beijing bows to U.S. demands, Vice President Mike Pence said on Saturday.In a bluntly worded speech at an Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit in Papua New Guinea, Pence threw down the gauntlet to China on trade and security in the region.“We...

Read More

CIA believes Saudi crown prince ordered journalist’s killing: sources

WASHINGTON: The Central Investigation Agency (CIA) believes Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman ordered the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi in Istanbul, sources familiar with the matter said on Friday, complicating President Donald Trump’s efforts to preserve ties with a key U.S. ally.The sources said the CIA had briefed other parts of the US government, including Congress,...

Read More

Trump to discuss Khashoggi murder with Sec of State Pompeo, CIA

WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump said he had not yet been briefed on the CIA’s conclusions regarding the murder of Saudi journalist Jamal Khashoggi, but that he would speak with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the CIA about the issue later on Saturday.The CIA believes Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the country’s de-facto ruler, ordered Khashoggi’s killing,...

Read More

Over 40 killed in attack on refugee base in Central African Republic

BANGUI: More than 40 people were killed and dozens wounded in Central African Republic in an attack on a Catholic mission sheltering 20,000 refugees, a regional lawmaker said.The attack happened on Thursday in Alindao, a town 300 km (200 miles) east of the capital Bangui. Thousands of people were forced to flee when the mission was set on fire, the United Nations said. “We...

Read More

US Coast Guard seizes $500 million worth of cocaine

WASHINGTON: US authorities seized about 18.5 tons of cocaine with a street value of $500 million (389.50 million pounds) in the eastern Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Coast Guard said on Friday.The cocaine was taken off the Coast Guard cutter James in the Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale on Thursday after it was confiscated from 15 drug smuggling vessels in the international waters,...

Read More

UK’s May sees ‘no alternative’ to her Brexit plan

LONDON: British Prime Minister Theresa May says she sees no alternative to the Brexit deal she presented earlier this week, amid reports that some of her senior ministers want her to renegotiate the draft agreement before meeting EU leaders next weekend.“There is no alternative plan on the table. There is no different approach that we could agree with the EU,” May wrote in an...

Read More