AFP, Birmingham
Britain’s main opposition Labour party on Thursday unveiled its general election manifesto, promising a radical agenda for social change, including nationalising key industries and a controversial second referendum on Brexit.
Party leader Jeremy Corbyn called it “the most radical and ambitious plan to transform our country in decades” and a “once-in-a-generation chance of real change”.
Captured IS figure planned Russia, Germany attacks
AP, Ankara
Turkey’s interior minister has identified a key Islamic State suspect captured by the country’s forces in Syria as the alleged mastermind behind attacks in Russia and Germany, according to a newspaper report on Friday.
Turkey had announced last week that it detained an “important” IS figure but did not name him. In an interview published in Hurriyet newspaper, Suleyman Soylu identified the man as Yusuf Huba, describing him as a high-ranking IS member.
UAE in weapons making push as allies restrict sales
Reuters, Dubai
The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is making a push to develop high-tech military hardware that would give it control over critical defence capabilities and lessen reliance on imports.
Wary of threats from rival Iran, and concerned over moves by some allies to hold up arms sales, the UAE is reshaping a military industry already seen as the region’s most sophisticated.
Parents of late US hostage chasing North Korean assets
AP, Seoul
The parents of a former U.S. hostage who died after being released from North Korea in a coma in 2017 say they are committed to finding and shutting down illicit North Korean business assets around the world in efforts to hold its government accountable for widespread human rights abuses.
In a news conference in Seoul on Friday, Fred and Cindy Warmbier also called for the Trump administration to raise North Korea’s human rights problems as it engages in negotiations to defuse the country’s nuclear threat.
