Category: World

MOSCOW: Russian opposition politician Lev Shlosberg — one of the last public figures openly criticising Moscow’s Ukraine offensive still in Russia and not in prison — was arrested on Tuesday, his party said. Amid its military campaign, Russia has intensified a campaign against dissenters and opponents, ushering in strict military censorship laws and jailing critics… Continue reading Russian opposition figure arrested for calling for Ukraine ceasefire

BALLYMENA: Northern Irish police said Tuesday that 15 officers were injured in clashes after “racially motivated” attacks sparked by the arrest of two teenagers for attempted rape of a young girl. The disorder in the town of Ballymena, some 30 miles (48 kilometres) northwest of Belfast, broke out Monday night after a vigil in a… Continue reading N. Ireland town hit by ‘racially motivated’ riot

BERLIN: German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said Tuesday he opposes a ban on the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party despite the BfV domestic intelligence service labelling it an “extremist” group. At a press conference to present the yearly BfV report on domestic security threats, Dobrindt said the “AfD must be dealt with politically” and… Continue reading German interior minister against ban on far-right AfD

BERLIN: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz offered his condolences Tuesday after a “horrific” shooting at a school in neighbouring Austria left 10 people dead including the alleged shooter. “Horrific news from Graz. Our thoughts are with our Austrian friends and neighbours and we mourn with them,“ Merz said in a post on X. Merz then said… Continue reading Germany’s Merz says mourns Austria’s ‘horrific’ school shooting

TEL AVIV: Israel said campaigner Greta Thunberg left the country on a flight to Sweden via France on Tuesday, after she was detained along with other activists aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat. Of the 12 people on board the Madleen carrying food and supplies for Gaza, five French activists were taken into custody after they… Continue reading Israel deports Greta Thunberg after intercepting Gaza-bound aid boat

LONDON: Ride-hailing firm Uber will launch self-driving taxis in London next year when England trials new driverless services, the firm and the UK government said on Tuesday. Under the Uber pilot scheme, services will initially have a human in the driver’s seat who can take control of the vehicle in an emergency, but the trials… Continue reading Uber to launch driverless taxis in London next year

BEN GUERDANE: Hundreds of pro-Palestinian activists taking part in a convoy crossed the Tunisian border on Tuesday into Libya, aiming to keep heading eastwards until they break Israel’s blockade on the Palestinian territory, organisers said. This comes after Israel intercepted an aid ship attempting to breach its blockade on Gaza, which was carrying 12 people,… Continue reading Gaza-bound activist convoy enters Libya from Tunisia

ATHENS: Greece’s electoral court on Tuesday threw out of parliament the leader and two lawmakers of a small far-right party under investigation for vote fraud. Spartans leader Vasilis Stigkas and two more MPs were expelled after the court accepted voter complaints that the real leader of the party was Ilias Kasidiaris, the jailed former spokesman… Continue reading Greek electoral court expels far-right MPs from parliament

MADRID: Uncertainty from US President Donald Trump’s tariffs, and the risk they bring a global slowdown, forced Spain’s central bank on Tuesday to downgrade its 2025 economic growth forecast. It predicted Spain’s economy would grow 2.4 percent this year, down from a previous forecast of 2.7 percent. The Bank of Spain said a “small slowdown… Continue reading US tariff uncertainty hits Spain GDP forecast

YANGON: Myanmar anti-coup guerrillas claimed to shoot down a junta jet on Tuesday, declaring a rare victory over the air force which has kept them at bay in a grinding civil war. The military swiftly denied their claim, saying the plane crashed near the central village of Min Taing Pin around midday because of “sudden… Continue reading Myanmar guerrillas claim rare downing of junta jet

LONDON: More than 300 civil servants at Britain’s foreign ministry have written to Foreign Secretary David Lammy expressing concerns about Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, the BBC reported Tuesday. The officials warned of potential UK “complicity” in what they called “Israel’s violations of international humanitarian law” during the conflict in the Palestinian territory.… Continue reading UK foreign ministry staff warn of ‘complicity’ in Gaza

THESSALONIKI: A veteran Greek hiker died Tuesday in a ravine fall in the north of the country after a bear encounter, rescuers said. Christos Stavrianidis was declared dead at Kavala hospital shortly after he was found in the 800-metre (2,600-foot) ravine in Fraktou forest in northeastern Greece, the Ekav national emergency centre told AFP. Stavrianidis… Continue reading Hiker dies in Greece bear encounter

MANILA: Philippine senators were sworn in Tuesday as jurors in the impeachment trial of Vice President Sara Duterte, with the newly convened court moving to immediately hear a motion to dismiss the case. The House of Representatives impeached Duterte in early February on charges including graft, corruption and an alleged assassination plot against one-time ally… Continue reading Philippine senators take oaths in Sara Duterte impeachment trial

BRUSSELS: EU top diplomat Kaja Kallas declared herself “deeply shocked” on Tuesday by the news that multiple people were killed when a shooter opened fire in a school in southeastern Austria. “Every child should feel safe at school and be able to learn free from fear and violence,“ Kallas posted on X. “My thoughts are… Continue reading EU chiefs ‘shocked’ by Austria school shooting

TAIPEI: Taiwanese prosecutors charged on Tuesday four people, including a former staffer in President Lai Ching-te’s office, for violating national security after they allegedly spied for China. The four defendants were among five people expelled from Lai’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) — which advocates for Taiwan’s sovereignty — last month for suspected espionage. The… Continue reading Taiwan charges 4 ex-ruling party members with spying for China

VIENNA: Ten people died on Tuesday after a suspected shooter opened fire in a school in the southeastern Austrian city of Graz, the local mayor was quoted as saying. Several students and at least one adult, as well as the suspected shooter, were among the dead, mayor Elke Kahr confirmed to Austrian press agency APA.… Continue reading 10 dead in Austria school shooting: mayor

HELSINKI: Finnish police said Tuesday they have received more than 100 tips after appealing for information about a family of 10 missing for over a year, amid suspicions the parents absconded with their children who were in the care of child welfare services. The family — seven children born between 2007 and 2021, a father… Continue reading Finnish police search for missing family of 10

LONDON: Eurostar said Tuesday it would launch new direct train routes from London to Frankfurt and Geneva, as potential competitors threaten to break its three-decade monopoly on cross-channel rail travel. The new direct routes would open from the early 2030s, in addition to new services from Amsterdam and Brussels to Geneva, the international rail company… Continue reading Eurostar to launch routes to Germany and Switzerland

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s prison chief was remanded in custody Tuesday in connection with the illegal release of a convicted financial fraudster under the guise of an amnesty for minor offenders. Commissioner-General of Prisons Thushara Upuldeniya was arrested late Monday by the Criminal Investigations Department, over the release of fraud convict Athula Thilakaratne. The government suspended… Continue reading Sri Lanka prison chief kept in custody after fraud convict freed

VIENNA: Several people died on Tuesday after a suspected shooter opened fire in a southeastern Austria school, including the suspected attacker, Austrian broadcaster ORF quoted the interior ministry as saying. “Currently, a police operation is underway… The reason for the deployment was that gunshots were heard in the building,“ the police said on X, confirming… Continue reading Several dead after gunfire in Austrian school: media

NEW DELHI: India’s coastguard said Tuesday it was battling to stop a fierce blaze that has engulfed a Singapore-flagged container ship listing off the southern coast that broke out a day earlier. The 268-metre (879-foot) container vessel MV Wan Hai 503 carrying 22 crew members caught fire some 78 nautical miles off India’s Beypore port… Continue reading Indian coastguard battles blaze on container ship

TEHRAN: Iran has executed nine men convicted of plotting to carry out attacks inside the country in 2018 on behalf of the Islamic State group, the judiciary said on Tuesday. “The death sentences of nine members of the terrorist group Daesh were carried out after confirmation by Iran’s Supreme Court,“ the judiciary’s Mizan Online news… Continue reading Iran hangs nine convicted jihadists: judiciary

BRUSSELS: Europe is facing a “perfect storm” on defence as it presses to rearm in the face of Russian aggression and doubts over US engagement, the EU’s defence commissioner said Tuesday. “Our readiness for defence is not sufficient. It demands an urgent ramp-up and a longer term strategy how to replace American capabilities in Europe,“… Continue reading Europe facing security ‘perfect storm’: EU defence chief

YEREVAN: Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan on Tuesday urged followers of the influential Armenian Apostolic Church to help unseat its spiritual leader, Catholicos of All Armenians Garegin II. Relations between Pashinyan and the church leadership have sharply deteriorated in recent years. Garegin II repeatedly called for Pashinyan’s resignation following Armenia’s disastrous military defeats to arch-foe… Continue reading Armenian PM pushes to unseat influential church head

LONDON: The UK government Tuesday said it will invest billions of pounds in the new Sizewell C nuclear power plant as it strives to meet its net zero and energy security targets. The £14.2 billion ($19 billion) investment will end “years of delay and uncertainty”, the UK Treasury said in a press release, adding it… Continue reading UK to pump £14 bn into new nuclear plant on path to net zero

PARIS: Emperor penguin populations in Antarctica have shrunk by almost a quarter as global warming transforms their icy habitat, according to new research Tuesday that warned the losses were far worse than previously imagined. Scientists monitoring the world’s largest penguin species used satellites to assess sixteen colonies in the Antarctic Peninsula, Weddell Sea and Bellingshausen… Continue reading Emperor penguin populations falling ‘faster than we thought’: researchers

TEHRAN: Iranian authorities have amputated the hands of two men who had been repeatedly convicted of theft, the judiciary said on Tuesday. The amputations went ahead after the verdicts handed down by a court in the central province of Isfahan were upheld by the supreme court, the judiciary’s Mizan Online news website said. “The sentence… Continue reading Iran amputates hands of two convicted thieves

SEOUL: South Korea is in the “final stages” of negotiations to potentially sign a major deal to supply K2 tanks to Poland, according to South Korea’s Defense Acquisition Program Administration on Tuesday. In 2022, the two countries signed a $13.7 billion arms deal — Seoul’s largest to date — which included South Korean K2 tanks… Continue reading South Korea in ‘final stages’ to sign major tank deal with Poland

BEIJING: China said Tuesday it was extending an anti-dumping investigation into pork products imported from the European Union, one of several trade pressure points between the two economic giants. Beijing launched the probe last year amid Brussels’ scrutiny of Chinese state subsidies for the electric-vehicle (EV) industry. The Chinese commerce ministry said it would prolong… Continue reading China extends anti-dumping probe into EU pork imports

BALLYMENA: Northern Irish police said houses were attacked and objects were thrown at security forces amid public unrest in the town of Ballymena after an anti-immigration protest turned violent. The disorder in the town of 31,000 people, some 30 miles (48 kilometres) northwest of Belfast, followed an anti-immigration protest in a neighbourhood where an alleged… Continue reading N. Ireland town hit by anti-immigration unrest

TAIPEI: Taiwan’s opposition-controlled parliament approved Tuesday a pay increase for military service members, in a bid to address a manpower shortage and retain soldiers in the face of Chinese military pressure. China claims Taiwan is part of its territory and has not ruled out using force to bring the self-ruled island under its control. The… Continue reading Taiwanese lawmakers approve higher military pay

BEIJING: Chinese tech giant Huawei’s chips still “lag behind the United States by one generation”, state media quoted its founder and CEO Ren Zhengfei as saying in a rare interview on Tuesday. Washington last month unveiled fresh guidelines warning firms that using Chinese-made high-tech AI semiconductors, specifically Huawei’s Ascend chips, would put them at risk… Continue reading Huawei founder says chips still lag ‘one generation’ behind US

PARIS: Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas has said that Hamas “must hand over its weapons” and called for the deployment of international forces to protect “the Palestinian people”, France announced on Tuesday. In a letter addressed on Monday to French President Emmanuel Macron and Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who this month will co-chair a… Continue reading Abbas tells Macron supports demilitarisation of Hamas

NEW YORK: Sean Combs’s defense lawyers on Tuesday will question a woman who dated the music mogul up until his arrest, and who has testified in agonizing detail that he pressured her into drug-fueled sex with escorts. After three days on the stand the woman speaking under the pseudonym Jane will face intense scrutiny from… Continue reading Combs’s ex to face scrutiny on the stand from music mogul’s defense

BEIRUT: An Israeli strike killed a Lebanese father and son Tuesday in a southern village, the Lebanese health ministry and state media said, the latest deaths despite a November ceasefire. A second son was also wounded in the strike in Shebaa, the state-run National News Agency reported. There was no immediate comment from the Israeli… Continue reading Lebanon says two dead in Israel strike

LONDON: Britain’s unemployment rate has reached the highest level since July 2021, official data showed on Tuesday, after businesses were hit by a UK tax rise and US tariffs kicked in. The rate climbed to 4.6 percent in the three months to the end of April, the Office for National Statistics said. That compared with… Continue reading UK unemployment rises to near four-year high: official

GENEVA: An independent United Nations commission said on Tuesday Israeli attacks on schools, religious and cultural sites in Gaza amount to war crimes and the crime against humanity of seeking to exterminate Palestinians. “Israel has obliterated Gaza’s education system and destroyed over half of all religious and cultural sites in the Gaza Strip,“ the UN… Continue reading UN experts accuse Israel of ‘extermination’ in attacks on Gaza schools, religious sites

SYDNEY: An Australian woman accused of murdering three people with death cap mushrooms denied Tuesday that she was covering her tracks when she left hospital against medical advice for 95 minutes. Erin Patterson, 50, is charged with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt in July 2023 by spiking a beef Wellington lunch with the… Continue reading Australian mushroom murder suspect denies covering tracks

SYDNEY: Australia’s prime minister on Tuesday denounced the “horrific” shooting of a rubber bullet at an Australian television reporter covering unrest in Los Angeles. Australian 9News reporter Lauren Tomasi was hit in the leg by a rubber bullet on Sunday while reporting on live television. Her employer said she was sore but unharmed. “She is… Continue reading Australian PM blasts targeting of journalist in LA unrest

JAKARTA: Indonesia revoked permits on Tuesday for four of the five mining companies operating in the eastern archipelago of Raja Ampat after activists shared videos of islands damaged by nickel extraction. The cluster of islands and shoals in Southwest Papua Province sits in the Coral Triangle and is thought to be one of the world’s… Continue reading Indonesia revokes most mining permits in dive hotspot after outcry

TEHRAN: Iran’s foreign ministry has said a new round of nuclear talks with the United States is being planned for Sunday, after President Donald Trump said it was expected on Thursday. “The next round of Iran-US indirect talks is being planned for next Sunday in Muscat,“ foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said in a statement… Continue reading Iran says new round of US talks planned for Sunday

NICE: World leaders on Monday called for strict rules to govern deep-sea mining and warned against racing to exploit the ocean floor in a thinly veiled rebuke of US President Donald Trump. Growing anxiety over Trump’s unilateral push to fast-track deep-sea mining in international waters shot to the surface at the opening of the UN… Continue reading Leaders warn race for minerals could turn seabed into ‘wild west’

PORT OF ASHDOD: Swedish campaigner Greta Thunberg and other activists detained aboard a Gaza-bound aid boat have been taken to a Tel Aviv airport for deportation, Israel said Tuesday, after their vessel was intercepted by naval forces. The activist group departed Italy on June 1 aboard the Madleen carrying food and supplies for Gaza, whose… Continue reading Israel says Gaza-bound aid boat activists awaiting deportation

CHUNCHEON: The world’s most popular boy band is heading for a reunion: K-pop megastars RM and V from BTS were released Tuesday after service 18 months of South Korean military service, prompting a fan frenzy. The seven members of BTS, South Korea’s most lucrative musical act, have been on a hiatus since 2022 while they… Continue reading Two BTS megastars released from South Korea military

KYIV: Russia carried out “massive” drone attacks on Ukraine’s capital Kyiv and port city of Odesa early Tuesday, killing one person and hitting a maternity hospital, Ukrainian officials said, calling for further sanctions. Moscow has kept up its attacks on Ukraine, which has hit back with strikes deep inside Russian territory, while peace talks held… Continue reading Ukraine says ‘massive’ Russia drone attacks hit Kyiv, Odesa

UNITED NATIONS, UNITED STATES: The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) has faced budget cuts before, but the impact of President Donald Trump’s policies has been even more “devastating” for reproductive health worldwide, chief Natalia Kanem told AFP. The agency has been targeted by US conservatives since the Kemp-Kasten Amendment’s enactment in 1985 by Congress, when… Continue reading Trump’s cuts are ‘devastating’ for vulnerable women worldwide: UN