INTERIOR ministers at the G7 meeting in France have adopted joint commitments to better handle the biggest security challenges currently facing the world.
The ministers of each country at the gathering – the US, UK, France, Canada, Japan, Germany and Italy – agreed to reinforce tools to combat migrant smuggling and human trafficking.
In a statement at the end of the two-day meeting in Paris, each nation stressed the need for access to asylum for refugees and to implement the forced return of migrants who denied permission to remain.
Ministers also discussed how to handle foreign fighters who joined Daesh in Syria and Iraq, but still had different views on the issue by the end of the talks.
French interior minister Christophe Castaner, who hosted the meeting, declared it a success.
“While some of us have different views, we were able ... to lay down concrete guidelines on key security issues,” he said.
SAUDI Arabia has detained eight people in a new round of arrests targeting those supportive of women’s rights and individuals with ties to jailed activists.
It was the first sweep of arrests to target individuals seen as critics of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman since the killing of writer Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul last year.
Those detained include a pregnant feminist writer and seven men, among them two US-Saudi nationals.
The individuals were not active politically on Twitter and were not widely quoted in foreign media.
THE Dalai Lama has praised New Zealand prime minister Jacinda Ardern, for her handling of a recent attack on two mosques by a gunman that left 50 Muslim worshippers dead in Christchurch.
“I really admire the New Zealand prime minister. She is wonderful,” he told reporters in India’s capital New Delhi, where he addressed a conference.
The Dalai Lama also answered questions related to Tibet’s future with China.
He reiterated that he is not seeking independence for Tibet, but would prefer a “reunion” with China under mutually acceptable terms.
AND in Japan, a court has approved the detention of former Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn until April 14 after his latest arrest over financial misconduct allegations.
Ghosn was taken into custody on Thursday over new allegations that £3.8 million sent by a Nissan subsidiary and meant for an Oman dealership was diverted to a firm effectively controlled by Ghosn.
He previously spent nearly four months in detention but was released last month.
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