GENEVA: The number of forcibly displaced people dropped for the first time in a decade last year, as more opted to return home despite often unsafe and unstable conditions, the UN said Thursday. At the end of 2025, 117.8 million people worldwide were forcibly displaced from their homes, marking a decline of 5.4 million compared to a year earlier, the UN refugee agency said. The agency said the number of people who had been forced to flee due to war, violence and persecution remained &quot;unacceptably high&quot;, urging action to dramatically reduce long-term displacement over the next decade. In its annual report, UNHCR explained that the declining displacement number was linked to &quot;a sharp increase&quot; in the number of refugees and internally displaced people (IDPs) returning home. In all, 14.7 million displaced people returned to their places of origin in 2025, said the report. They included 4.4 million refugees who crossed back into their home countries, marking the second highest number of refugee returns since records began 60 years ago. &nbsp;Unsafe returns&nbsp; UN refugee chief Barham Salih told reporters in Geneva that &quot;more than 90 percent&quot; of refugee returns last year were concentrated in Afghanistan, Sudan and Syria. But, he stressed, &quot;many of these returns occurred not under conditions of safety and stability, but under pressure&quot;. They had gone back to &quot;countries where insecurity persists, where infrastructure has been damaged, and where basic services and economic opportunities remain scarce&quot;, he warned. &quot;Returns that are not safe... are not a solution,&quot; he insisted. &quot;They risk becoming the beginning of a new displacement cycle.&quot; Among those displaced at the end of 2025, 41.6 million were considered refugees, including nearly 5.4 million people who fled across borders to become refugees in the course of the year, Thursday&#39;s report showed. A full 60 percent of those new refugees fled from just eight countries, including nearly a million coming from war-ravaged Sudan alone, and almost 800,000 fled from Ukraine. The report also pointed to several crises driving mass displacement since the start of this year. They included the Mideast war launched by United States and Israel in February, which it said had forced 3.2 million people from their homes in Iran alone. And in Lebanon, Israeli attacks since March have displaced more than one million people, the UNHCR pointed out. The conflicts in Iran and Lebanon had spurred many refugees hosted there to return home since the start of the year, often under adverse circumstances, including to Syria and Afghanistan. &nbsp;Refugee resettlement needed&nbsp; The UN refugee agency meanwhile voiced concern over a narrowing space for refugee resettlement last year, estimating that the number of refugees needing to resettle in third countries stood at 2.9 million. The number of resettlement spots had reached 188,800 in 2024 -- its highest level in four decades. But last year, the number was more than halved to just 81,800, the report showed, pointing in particular to a sharp decline in the numbers accepted by the United States. &quot;The gap between places and needs is enormous and has been widening,&quot; the agency warned. Salih, a former Iraqi president who was once a refugee himself, also warned that forced displacement was becoming increasingly drawn out, often lasting years and even decades. &quot;Today, 70 percent of refugees are living in protracted situations,&quot; he pointed out. This was unsustainable, he insisted, calling on countries to back a new initiative aimed to lift millions out of long-term displacement and reliance on humanitarian aid. &quot;Humanitarian assistance was designed for emergencies. It was never intended to sustain generations of people indefinitely,&quot; he said. The new initiative, he said, aims to slash in half the number of refugees in long-term displacement over the next decade by developing opportunities for voluntary returns, resettlement and humanitarian visas. He voiced hope that countries would get onboard, realising that &quot;there is a pathway to having a more sustainable situation&quot;.

Asia

The UN reported the first decline in global forced displacement in a decade as millions returned home, though many faced unsafe conditions while conflicts in Sudan, Iran and Lebanon continued driving crises.

Number of forcibly displaced people dips to 118M: UN

GENERAL SANTOS: Rescuers in the southern Philippines pulled a body from the rubble of a collapsed supermarket on Wednesday, as the death toll from a major earthquake climbed to 46. The 7.8-magnitude tremor just off the coast of Mindanao on Monday brought down buildings, triggered landslides and set off tsunami warnings across a swathe of the southern island. Joey Deluvio, 39, was one of two employees at a supermarket in General Santos City that has been the focus of recovery efforts despite the constant threat of aftershocks. Life-detecting equipment had traced a &quot;weak pulse&quot; earlier in the operation, local rescuer Michelle Chua told AFP on Wednesday, but &quot;when they got to the body... there were no signs of life&quot;. Deluvio&#39;s body was found pinned between two beams, Chua added. The national disaster agency raised the death toll to 45 on Wednesday, while the number of people missing jumped dramatically from four to 17. However, the figure for fatalities did not include Deluvio, the civil defence office confirmed. Most of the additional dead were from Davao Occidental province, and most had been killed in landslides or collapsing buildings, civil defense official Rafaelito Alejandro said in a radio interview.

People walk along a damaged road after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in General Santos City on June 9, 2026 (AFP)

The 7.8-magnitude tremor just off the coast of Mindanao on Monday brought down buildings, triggered landslides, and set off tsunami warnings across the southern island. The national disaster agency raised the death toll to 45 on Wednesday, while the number of people missing jumped dramatically from four to 17.


Death toll from Philippines quake rises to 46

Seoul: The leaders of North Korea and China have adopted a &quot;far-reaching blueprint&quot; for bilateral ties during Xi Jinping&#39;s recent visit to Pyongyang, the Korean Central News Agency said Wednesday. China&#39;s president made a rare visit to North Korea on Monday after hosting a series of world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in Beijing. &quot;Comrade Kim Jong Un and Comrade Xi Jinping expressed satisfaction and deep emotion over the fact that they provided a far-reaching blueprint for the development of the relations,&quot; KCNA, the country&#39;s official news agency reported. During the two-day visit, which Xi made with his wife, &quot;the countries further deepened the revolutionary friendship and close comradely relationship and affirmed their steadfast will to develop the traditional DPRK-China friendly ties into a model of the most powerful and strategic relations,&quot; the KCNA dispatch said. As part of the visit, Xi and Kim toured the Central Cadres Training School of the Workers&#39; Party, where they discussed the training of party officials and planted a commemorative tree, before visiting the Friendship Tower memorial honouring Chinese soldiers who fought in the Korean War. Kim later hosted Xi and their wives for a luncheon before accompanying the Chinese leader to the airport for his departure. Following his trip, Xi sent Kim a letter of gratitude, in which he said the two leaders &quot;made an in-depth exchange of views on the issues of mutual interest and achieved a series of important common understanding&quot;, according to KCNA. The talks, Xi wrote to Kim, &quot;showed the firm determination of both sides to add luster to the traditional friendship, promote development and prosperity together and defend peace and stability in the region and the rest of the world&quot;, the KCNA dispatch said. Kim, whose country has been historically reliant on China, has drawn closer to Moscow in recent years while expanding his country&#39;s nuclear weapons programme. He boosted an alliance with Putin after sending troops to fight alongside Russian forces against Ukraine. But China, Washington&#39;s chief geopolitical rival, has been North Korea&#39;s main trading partner by far for decades and a key source of diplomatic and economic support for a country hit by international sanctions. Xi&#39;s trip comes just weeks after he held talks with Trump, during which the White House said the leaders &quot;confirmed their shared goal to denuclearise North Korea.&quot;

China's president made a rare visit to North Korea on Monday after hosting a series of world leaders, including US President Donald Trump and Russian leader Vladimir Putin, in Beijing.

North Korea says Xi's visit produced 'far-reaching blueprint' for ties

GENERAL SANTO: Doctors treated patients in tents set up under a scorching Philippine sun on Tuesday including helping a young mother give birth as the death toll from a major earthquake that collapsed buildings and sparked tsunami warnings topped 40. Thousands remained displaced and more than 450 injured following the magnitude-7.8 quake that struck off the southern island of Mindanao on Monday, according to national and local disaster agencies, though only four people were now believed missing. In hardest-hit Sarangani province, some areas remain accessible only by helicopter and fears of aftershocks were slowing rescue efforts, local officials told reporters at a Tuesday briefing. &quot;There are still aftershocks, so the rescuers are very cautious in their approach. That&#39;s a challenge,&quot; said regional civil defence chief Rodrigo Sosmena. A series of powerful aftershocks rocked the area from about two hours after the first quake, while hundreds of tiny quakes followed. Infrastructure damage, meanwhile, means some communities will be cut off for at least a week because of the damage to roads and the collapse of a bridge. At a hospital just outside General Santos, the region&#39;s largest city, AFP reporters heard cries of &quot;push&quot; then an infant&#39;s cries as a mother gave birth outdoors behind a makeshift screen. In Glan municipality, where at least 13 people were buried in their homes by a landslide, staff at another hospital told AFP more than 60 patients were on beds outside the facility due to fears for the building&#39;s structural integrity. &quot;The hospital sustained a lot of damage,&quot; she said. &quot;The municipal engineer decided we could not use the building.&quot; As of Tuesday morning, the death toll from provincial sources contacted by AFP stood at 41. Recovery&nbsp;Outside a collapsed grocery store in General Santos, rescuers resumed efforts after an overnight break to recover two store employees who were inside when the building crumpled. AFP journalists watched as rescue dogs and their handlers scoured the pile of broken concrete and jagged metal bars. A local rescuer told reporters the effort was now one of recovery rather than rescue, though a more senior official later insisted that decision had yet to be formally made. At a nearby beach resort, a high-speed Coast Guard vessel plied the waters for two people who went missing while swimming in waters that churned violently as the quake struck. Videos posted to social media and verified by AFP on Monday showed the catastrophic collapse of a shopping centre with a Jollibee fast food restaurant in General Santos, while an unoccupied school building crumpled in another. In another video verified by AFP, young schoolchildren could be seen screaming in the arms of their teachers as the quake violently swayed them back and forth on the ground. A flimsy metal structure could be seen toppling in the background as the video uploaded to the school&#39;s official Facebook page ends. An accompanying caption said no one was under the structure when it fell. The earthquake saw thousands ordered to evacuate in coastal areas of the southern Philippines and neighbouring Indonesia as tsunami warnings were issued by multiple countries and a regional tsunami warning centre. But by midday, the threat had passed and the alerts were canceled. Waves that did reach the Pacific coast of Japan, where authorities had issued a tsunami advisory, were reported to be no higher than 20 centimetres (about eight inches). Eastern Mindanao was rocked by a pair of earthquakes of 7.4 and 6.7 magnitude in October that killed at least eight people.

People clean up their damaged house after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in General Santos City on June 9, 2026. (Photo: AFP)

A powerful 7.8-magnitude earthquake off the southern Philippines killed at least 41 people, injured over 450, displaced thousands, and caused widespread damage.

Outdoor hospitals, cut-off communities as Philippine quake toll hits 41

Web Desk

This live blog follows the latest developments across the Middle East crisis, including regional diplomacy, maritime security, ceasefire negotiations, and economic fallout.<hr>Catch up: Yesterday&rsquo;s top developments<ul style="list-style-type: square;"><li style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Iran has not made a final decision on the deal: FM spokesperson</li><li style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">&lsquo;We&#39;ll probably have a signing in Europe,&rsquo; says Trump on Iran war</li><li style="color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Islamabad backs diplomacy, dialogue</li><li style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Three Indian sailors killed aboard ship hit by US off Oman</li><li style="font-size: 14px; color: rgb(0, 0, 0);">Kremlin calls on US, Iran to &#39;return to negotiating table&#39;</li></ul><hr> Egypt urges US, Iran to seize &#39;available opportunity&#39; for deal after Trump cancels strikesPublished: June 12, 2026 | 03:49 GMT | by AFP Egypt urged the United States and Iran to seize what it called an &quot;available opportunity&quot; for a deal to end the war, after President Donald Trump withdrew his threat to carry out further strikes on Tehran. Cairo&#39;s foreign ministry said in a statement late Thursday it hoped &quot;the available opportunity will be seized to reach a deal on the various outstanding issues and to prepare the atmosphere for reaching an end to the war and beginning a new phase of regional stability&quot;. <hr> Trump says &lsquo;we ended the war with Iran today&rsquo;Published: June 12, 2026 | 02:45 GMT | by Web Desk US President Donald Trump, during a tele-rally in support of Senate candidate Barry Moore, claimed that the war is now over, according to local media outlets. &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t know if you heard, but we ended the war with Iran today, and they have agreed never to have a nuclear weapon, something that we, we insisted on,&rdquo; Trump said in the audio clip. <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Japan, S. Korea markets jump after Trump cancels Iran strikesPublished: June 12, 2026 | 01:59 GMT | by AFP Japan&#39;s Nikkei share index soared more than three percent Friday after US President Donald Trump withdrew his threat of further strikes against Iran and said a deal to end the war could be signed in coming days. At around 0015 GMT the Nikkei 225 was up 3.5 percent, while South Korea&#39;s benchmark Kospi index jumped 7.59 percent. <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Iran&rsquo;s FM spokesman condemns US attacks on Indian vesselsPublished: June 11, 2026 | 23:40 GMT | by Web Desk Iran&rsquo;s Foreign Ministry Spokesman&nbsp;Esmaeil Baqaei&nbsp;condemned the US attacks on Indian commercial vessels, which killed at least three Indian nationals. In a post on X, he said that these attacks &quot;stand as clear evidence of America&rsquo;s ongoing policy of armed robbery and State piracy.&quot; <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Iran has not made a final decision on the deal: FM spokespersonPublished: June 11, 2026 | 21:55 GMT | by Web Desk Iran&rsquo;s Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei said Iran has not made a final decision about a deal, according to Iran&rsquo;s official news agency&nbsp;IRNA. &quot;Once the relevant authorities reach a conclusion on the details of the draft text of an agreement, Iran&rsquo;s government will make a formal announcement,&quot; he said. <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"> &lsquo;We&#39;ll probably have a signing in Europe,&rsquo; says Trump on Iran warPublished: June 11, 2026 | 20:05 GMT | by Web Desk US President Donald Trump on Thursday said a deal to end the Middle East war was nearing completion, describing it as a &ldquo;great settlement&rdquo; and indicating that a formal signing could take place in Europe within days once the remaining documents are finalized. &ldquo;We just made a great settlement of the war with Iran,&rdquo; Trump told reporters in the Oval Office.&nbsp; &ldquo;Subject to finalization of documents, which should get done over the next few days, we&#39;ll probably have a signing, maybe in Europe.&rdquo;&nbsp; He added that the agreement would ensure &ldquo;Iran will never have a nuclear weapon,&rdquo; calling it the central objective of months of negotiations and conflict. Trump also said he believed Iran&#39;s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei had approved the proposed arrangement.&nbsp; Asked whether Khamenei had personally given the green light, Trump replied: &ldquo;I understand the answer is yes.&rdquo; He described the agreement as &ldquo;a very strong memorandum of understanding.&rdquo; The US president said he had spoken with leaders from across the region, including Israel, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and Kuwait, as diplomatic efforts intensified ahead of a possible signing ceremony.&nbsp; Trump said the Strait of Hormuz would reopen once the agreement is finalized and argued that the deal had already boosted market confidence, pointing to rising stock markets and falling oil prices. Trump also singled out Pakistan for its role in the diplomatic process, praising both Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and Field Marshal Asim Munir.&nbsp; &ldquo;Pakistan was fantastic,&rdquo; he said. Referring to Munir, Trump added: &ldquo;He&#39;s a great, great general. He&#39;s so great that he&#39;s actually a field marshal.&rdquo;&nbsp; Pakistan has played a central mediation role in recent months, hosting talks and maintaining engagement with Washington, Tehran and regional partners in support of a negotiated settlement. <hr style="box-sizing: border-box; height: 0px; overflow: visible; clear: both; user-select: none; break-after: page;"><br style="box-sizing: border-box; color: rgb(65, 65, 65); font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; white-space: normal; background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255); text-decoration-thickness: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-decoration-color: initial;">Read our June 11 live blog for earlier developments&nbsp;<a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/middle-east-june-11-2026" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">here</a>

Middle East

Says a 'great settlement' with Iran has been reached and approved by Iran's Supreme Leader; Trump praises Pakistan for a 'fantastic role' in mediation, calling Field Marshal Asim Munir a 'great general'; Iran's foreign ministry spokesperson denies that any final decision on a deal with the US has been made.

Trump says Iran deal nearing signing, praises Pakistan's role

Web Desk/AFP

Says key elements of a proposed Iran agreement have been approved by all parties and a signing announcement is expected soon, while Pakistan says it remains engaged in mediation efforts despite renewed hostilities and regional tensions.

Middle East Roundup June 11, 2026: Trump cancels Iran strikes, cites progress in talks involving Pakistan

JERUSALEM: Radio France Internationale (RFI) condemned Thursday Israel&#39;s entry ban on French reporter Alice Froussard, who freelances for the station and other outlets, as &quot;an obstacle to press freedom&quot;. &quot;Israeli authorities have not provided any justification to RFI for this decision,&quot; the broadcaster said in a statement. &quot;RFI&#39;s management offers its full support to Alice Froussard and protests against this expulsion, which constitutes an obstacle to press freedom and comes at a time when journalists are facing increasing difficulties in covering current events in the region,&quot; it added.

Calls it an as "an obstacle to press freedom"

Radio France Internationale condemns Israel's ban on French reporter

Africa

GENEVA: Nearly 500 Ebola cases have now been confirmed in the deadly outbreak raging in central Africa, a WHO overview showed Saturday, amid mounting concern over the swelling scale of the epidemic. In its daily update on the situation, the World Health Organization tallied 452 confirmed cases, including 82 deaths, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was declared three weeks ago. In neighboring Uganda, meanwhile, it counted 19 confirmed cases, including two deaths. The total of 471 cases and 84 deaths, based on numbers reported by the DRC and Ugandan governments, marked a hike of 100 cases and 20 deaths from a day earlier. The increase came amid warnings that the outbreak, which the WHO has declared an international public health emergency, could eventually swell to become the largest on record. A top official at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said Friday that models indicated that without strong public health interventions, the current outbreak risked rivalling the scale of the 2014 West Africa epidemic, which saw over 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths. &quot;That scale is possible,&quot; said Jason Asher, director of CDC&#39;s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, during a press briefing. Ebola, which is spread through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The current outbreak was declared on May 15 in northeastern DR Congo, but the virus is believed to have spread under the radar for some time beforehand. There are no approved vaccines or treatments for the rare Bundibugyo species of Ebola behind the outbreak. The WHO and the African CDC on Friday launched a $518-million plan to battle the outbreak over the next six months, focusing among other things on boosting surveillance, laboratory testing and infection prevention. &quot;The outbreak is moving fast, and we are still playing catch-up,&quot; WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters. &quot;We need to stop the outbreak where it is, support countries that are responding today, and ensure that neighboring countries are ready to detect and act quickly if cases appear,&quot; he said. &quot;This is a serious outbreak and its one we know how to stop but we need to move fast and together.&quot;

Doctors Without Border (MSF) personnel stands at the Elikya clinic Ebola treatment center in Bunia, in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, on June 5, 2026. (AFP)

In its daily update on the situation, the World Health Organization tallied 452 confirmed cases, including 82 deaths, in the Democratic Republic of Congo, where the outbreak was declared three weeks ago.

Nearly 500 confirmed cases in Central Africa Ebola outbreak: WHO

WASHINGTON: The US CDC on Friday urged strong public health interventions against the current Ebola outbreak, citing their models that show it could otherwise rival the scale of the 2014 West Africa outbreak. That eruption of the virus resulted in more than 28,000 cases and more than 11,000 deaths. &quot;That scale is possible,&quot; said Jason Asher, director of CDC&#39;s Center for Forecasting and Outbreak Analytics, during a press briefing. The US projections from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention were part of Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report documents published Friday. The worst outcomes could be avoided if &quot;a larger proportion of patients were identified, isolated, and treated,&quot; the agency said in its reports. But &quot;the public health response to control this outbreak will likely need to be of similar magnitude to the response for the 2014-2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak.&quot; Asher emphasized the models were &quot;not a forecast&quot; but &quot;a planning tool.&quot; &quot;They&#39;re designed to support action, not to generate alarm.&quot; They are based on four possible intervention scenarios ranging from poor (20 percent) to extremely high (95 percent) levels of isolation and treatment. If isolation levels are what the CDC would consider poor, with no other interventions there is a 65 percent chance cases will top 20,000 within three months, according to the agency. Satish Pillai, the CDC manager for the Ebola response, said &quot;the total individuals that are infected and requiring isolation remains unclear.&quot; But he said the situation on the ground would indicate levels of isolation are currently on the lower end. Also on Friday the World Health Organization and the African Union&#39;s public health agency said $518 million was needed across the next six months to combat the deadly Ebola outbreak in the DR Congo and its neighbors. The outbreak was declared on May 15 in northeastern DR Congo, but the rare Bundibugyo species of the Ebola virus is believed to have spread for some time beforehand. According to the WHO&#39;s latest figures, there are 381 confirmed cases in the DRC, including 64 deaths. The outbreak has hit three provinces, with the epicenter in Ituri, which the Africa CDC says accounts for 90 percent of confirmed cases and 76 percent of confirmed deaths. Across the northeastern border in Uganda, there have been 16 confirmed cases, including one death. Seven Ebola patients in the DRC and two in Uganda have recovered.

The US CDC warns the current Ebola outbreak could approach the scale of the 2014 West Africa crisis without stronger interventions, urging expanded case identification, isolation and treatment efforts in the DR Congo and neighboring countries.

US warns Ebola outbreak on scale of largest 'is possible'

GENEVA: The Ebola outbreak raging in central Africa had a &quot;big head-start,&quot; the World Health Organization chief acknowledged Wednesday, but insisted efforts to rein in the deadly virus were making progress. The outbreak, which was declared on May 15 in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has so far been confirmed to have infected 359 people, including 61 who have died. But the actual numbers could be far higher, with the virus believed to have been spreading under the radar for some time before it was detected. &quot;The outbreak had a big head-start and we&#39;re still behind,&quot; WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus told reporters at the UN health agency&#39;s headquarters in Geneva, but insisted that &quot;we&#39;re catching up.&quot; Tedros, who had just returned from a trip to DRC, where he travelled to the outbreak&#39;s epicentre in Ituri province, said he had been &quot;very encouraged by the level of commitment I saw everywhere I went.&quot; But challenges remain, he said, warning that &quot;the virus is ahead of us ... we need to move faster.&quot; It has been clear from the start that the difficulties would be daunting, with the outbreak concentrated in Ituri, where decades of armed conflicts have forced millions of people from their homes and into crowded camps. Ebola patient visited UAE&nbsp;The region&#39;s insecurity, limited testing capacity, lagging contact tracing and mistrust among some of the population are among the challenges facing the response, Tedros said. On top of that, no vaccine or approved treatment exists for Bundibugyo, the rare strain of Ebola behind the current outbreak. Ebola, which is passed on through close contact and bodily fluids, has killed more than 15,000 people in Africa over the past 50 years. The current outbreak &mdash; the 17th to hit the DRC &mdash; has to date seen 344 confirmed Ebola cases across three of the country&#39;s provinces, including 60 deaths, said the WHO. The UN health agency also tallied 116 suspected cases of the disease. Fifteen cases, including one death, have also been reported in neighboring Uganda, including a Congolese resident who had arrived there after first travelling to the United Arab Emirates, Tedros said. &quot;WHO is working with public health authorities in Uganda and the UAE to gather additional information, assess the risk of exposure during travel, and to facilitate contact tracing,&quot; he said. Speed up contact tracing&nbsp;The agency has said the risk from the outbreak is &quot;very high&quot; at the national level, &quot;high&quot; at the regional level, and &quot;low&quot; at the global level. Tedros stressed Wednesday that while the WHO recommends exit screening at airports, ports and border crossings in affected countries to prevent the spread of the virus, broader limits were unhelpful. &quot;Blanket travel restrictions imposed by some countries are disrupting supply chains and hindering the response,&quot; he warned. &quot;We ask countries that have imposed blanket travel restrictions to lift them.&quot; Reining in the outbreak would instead center on significantly bolstering and speeding up the response on the ground, including by decentralizing laboratory testing in Ebola hotspots, Tedros said. At present, only around 45% of known contacts of Ebola cases have been followed up, the WHO chief said. &quot;To get ahead of the outbreak, we need to get that number up to above 90%.&quot; Abdi Rahman Mahamud, the WHO&#39;s emergency alert and response director, told reporters that so far, more than 1,400 tests had been conducted. But decentralization across five priority locations &mdash; Mongbwalu, Beni, Aru, Nyakunde and Tchomia &mdash; should soon make it possible &quot;to do 1,000 tests a day.&quot;

The outbreak, which was declared on May 15 in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, has so far been confirmed to have infected 359 people, including 61 who have died.



Ebola had 'big head-start' but response catching up: WHO

LONDON: British Defense Secretary John Healey sensationally quit on Thursday, accusing beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the finance ministry of failing to commit enough money to protect the country. His shock resignation weakens Starmer&#39;s authority further at a precarious moment for the embattled Labour leader, a week before a by-election that could prompt a bid to replace him. In stinging criticism, Healey warned that Starmer&#39;s long-awaited Defense Investment Plan (DIP) for funding over the next decade&mdash;which the premier has yet to publish&mdash;risked making Britain &quot;less safe.&quot; &quot;You have been unable, and the Treasury has been unwilling, to commit the resources that the nation needs to defend the country at this time of rising threats,&quot; Healey wrote in a resignation letter to Starmer posted on his X account. &quot;After explaining to you that I would not be able to accept a DIP settlement that does not give our Forces the resources they need, I am now left with no other option than to submit my resignation.&quot; Healey&#39;s sudden departure comes after months of delays to the defense plan, which Starmer has insisted he will publish before a NATO summit in Turkey beginning on July 7. Starmer&#39;s centre-left government, elected in July 2024 following 14 years of Conservative rule, has pledged to ramp up defense spending, with priority given to NATO commitments. The rise comes amid threats from Russia and as US President Donald Trump repeatedly urges NATO allies to spend more and become less reliant on Washington for security. &#39;Grave moment&#39;Starmer has vowed to raise defense spending to 2.5 percent of gross domestic product from next year, increasing to three percent if Labour wins the next general election, expected in 2029, before reaching 3.5 percent in 2035. British media has for weeks been reporting on behind-the-scenes battles within the government over the DIP settlement. In his resignation letter, Healey said he was first given full sight of DIP on Monday, and it sees defense spending rise to only 2.68 percent of GDP in 2030. A source close to the former defense secretary told AFP the deal offered by the Treasury did not put a date on the three percent commitment. The plan &quot;falls well short of what is required for defense and the country at this dangerous time,&quot; Healey wrote. &quot;Without a DIP that meets the moment in this way, I am being forced to make decisions that would reduce the readiness of our forces and increase the risk to personnel on operations, and could make the country less safe.&quot; Tan Dhesi, chair of parliament&#39;s defence committee, said the government must take Healey&#39;s warning &quot;with the utmost seriousness&quot;. &quot;That a defence secretary of his integrity and commitment has felt compelled to resign in response to the inadequacy of the proposed defence settlement is a grave moment,&quot; the Labour MP said in a statement. Starmer faces political peril in next Thursday&#39;s contest when Greater Manchester mayor Andy Burnham stands for the Makerfield parliamentary seat. Both men have said they would participate in any Labour leadership race, although none has yet been triggered. Wes Streeting quit as health secretary last month following disastrous local and regional election results for Labour and has also said he would run in any future contest. Healey, 66, has been previously talked about as another potential contender, but there was no immediate suggestion that his resignation is linked to the leadership speculation. It &quot;underlines that Starmer has become a lame duck prime minister who cannot get decisions through his own government,&quot; Patrick Diamond, a politics professor at Queen Mary University of London, told AFP. The investment plan, originally due to be published in late 2025, has repeatedly been pushed back, to the frustration of industry and others. Healey&#39;s resignation &quot;creates a sequence of political headaches in terms of a replacement, and trying to get the defence investment plan published,&quot; said Ed Arnold, senior associate fellow at the RUSI think-tank. A government source insisted that Starmer had made Britain &quot;safer,&quot; adding the defense spending proposals &quot;will deliver the capability our armed forces need.&quot;

Europe

British Defense Secretary John Healey sensationally quit on Thursday, accusing beleaguered Prime Minister Keir Starmer and the finance ministry of failing to commit enough money to protect the country

UK defense minister quits with stinging rebuke of PM Starmer

PARIS:&nbsp;French President Emmanuel Macron Wednesday said his Ukrainian counterpart would attend the G7 summit next week in France to &quot;rebuild consensus&quot; on support for Ukraine, while leaders of four Arab states would be invited for talks on the Middle East conflict. The invitees would attend sessions on Tuesday at the summit of the Group of Seven leading economies&mdash;Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the United States&mdash;to be held in the French lakeside resort of Evian on June 15-17. President Volodymyr Zelensky&#39;s participation &quot;is very important for us because we need to rebuild consensus within the G7 in support of Ukraine on the various aspects of the war&quot; with Russia, including the need for &quot;negotiations,&quot; Macron said, a reference to differing opinions between European leaders and US President Donald Trump. To address the war launched by the United States and Israel against Iran in late February, leaders of Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates would also be invited to a separate session on Tuesday. The talks would focus on the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which has &quot;a real impact on our economies&quot; due in particular to soaring fuel prices, and on &quot;negotiations on Iran,&quot; Macron said. He made the comments during a discussion with civil society representatives at the Elysee presidential palace. Following a dinner for the G7 leaders on Monday and the two sessions focused on the crises in Ukraine and the Middle East, the &quot;North-South partnership&quot; will be on the agenda, Macron added. &quot;In addition to the IMF, the World Bank, and the African Development Bank, we will bring into this session partners with whom we have built this agenda, in particular South Korea, India, Kenya, and Brazil,&quot; he said. On Wednesday, the summit will end with a session &quot;on global imbalances&quot; and &quot;the issue of growth,&quot; preceded on June 11 by a videoconference called &quot;World Convergence Summit for Growth,&quot; which will include China and several other emerging countries, Macron said. The summit will also include discussions with tech companies from the United States and other countries &quot;to talk both about our agenda of protection and regulation and to address questions of sovereignty&quot; and cybersecurity, the president added.

French President Emmanuel Macron Wednesday said his Ukrainian counterpart would attend the G7 summit next week in France to "rebuild consensus" on support for Ukraine, while leaders of four Arab states would be invited for talks on the Middle East conflict

Zelensky, Arab states invited to G7 for talks on Ukraine, Mideast wars

ISTANBUL: US President Donald Trump&#39;s presence at the NATO summit in Ankara next month will be an important moment for the stability of the military alliance, Turkey&#39;s Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Wednesday. &quot;The announcement that US President Trump will attend the summit in person is a significant step in terms of the alliance&#39;s stability,&quot; the Turkish president told lawmakers from his ruling AKP party.

FILE: US President Donald Trump during a press conference after the NATO summit at the World Forum, The Hague. (ANP MAG/AFP)

"The announcement that US President Trump will attend the summit in person is a significant step in terms of the alliance's stability," the Turkish president told lawmakers from his ruling AKP party.



Trump presence at NATO summit 'significant' for alliance's stability: Erdogan

ISLAMABAD: A growing wave of pro-Palestinian activism is sweeping German universities, with student councils voting to support academic boycotts of Israeli universities, citing alleged ties between Israeli academia and the country&#39;s military establishment. According to a report published on Al Jazeera&#39;s website, nearly 700 students at Leipzig University have&nbsp;demanded that the institution end all cooperation with Israeli academic partners. Student activists argue that Israeli universities are deeply integrated into Israel&#39;s military and security infrastructure and therefore cannot be viewed as politically neutral institutions. Orlando Becker, a 22-year-old member of Students for Palestine Leipzig, told Al Jazeera, &ldquo;All five Israeli partner universities of Leipzig University are an essential component of the Israeli military complex.&rdquo;&nbsp; Students gathered more than 1,300 signatures to convene a general assembly on the issue.&nbsp;University authorities, however, withdrew permission for the meeting to take place in a lecture hall one day before the event. Leipzig is not aloneSimilar resolutions have emerged across Germany. Since March, student councils at several German universities have adopted similar motions calling for academic disengagement from Israeli institutions. At Berlin&#39;s Hertie School, the student council became the first in Germany to pass a resolution supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement by cutting ties with Israeli institutions through student-administered funds. The school and its affiliated foundation quickly distanced themselves from the student resolution, describing it as unacceptable. Student representatives alleged that university leadership attempted to discourage support for the motion by warning of potential consequences for students and the institution. Crackdown on pro-Palestinian activism&nbsp;Pro-Palestinian student activism has faced significant resistance from authorities across Germany. In November 2023, students occupied a lecture hall at the Free University of Berlin in solidarity with Gaza. Months later, demonstrators occupied a building at Humboldt University and renamed it the &quot;Jabalia Institute&quot; after a refugee camp in Gaza. Police were called to clear both occupations. Activists reported dozens of injuries during the operations and alleged that Arab students and other minorities were treated more harshly. While university administrations have largely resisted calls for academic boycotts, observers say the growing number of student resolutions signals increasing pressure from younger generations. As student movements continue to expand across campuses, the dispute is likely to remain a defining issue in Germany&#39;s higher education sector and wider political discourse.

Student councils across Germany back academic boycotts of Israeli universities, citing alleged military ties; pro-Palestinian activism grows despite resistance from university administrations, political pressure, and police crackdowns.

German universities face growing pressure to cut ties with Israeli institutions

Faraz Saeed

DUSHANBE: Tajikistan&rsquo;s Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin has said the Dushanbe Water Process has emerged as a key mechanism supporting the United Nations&rsquo; global water agenda, reflecting the country&rsquo;s growing role in international water diplomacy and long-term policy coordination. In an exclusive interview with Pakistan TV Digital on the sidelines of the Fourth High-Level International Conference on Water for Sustainable Development, Muhriddin said the initiative had helped mobilize political support, generate policy recommendations and facilitate major global water events, including the 2023 UN Water Conference. He said the process was now serving as an important preparatory platform for the upcoming UN Water Conferences scheduled for 2026 and 2028. The remarks come as water security, climate change and sustainable development are increasingly intertwined on the international agenda, prompting governments and multilateral institutions to seek stronger cooperation on managing global water challenges. Muhriddin said Tajikistan, under the leadership of President Emomali Rahmon, had worked closely with the United Nations over the past two decades to elevate water issues within the international system. He pointed to a series of UN General Assembly resolutions championed by Tajikistan, including the International Year of Freshwater, the International Decade for Action &ldquo;Water for Sustainable Development,&rdquo; as well as initiatives focused on glacier preservation and cryospheric sciences. The foreign minister also highlighted the Group of Friends of Water in New York, launched by Tajikistan and now comprising more than 60 countries. &ldquo;The platform has helped maintain international momentum on water issues between major conferences,&rdquo; he said, adding that it had strengthened awareness and engagement on water-related challenges across the UN system. Muhriddin described the Dushanbe Water Process as an &ldquo;inclusive mechanism&rdquo; designed to support implementation of international commitments and enhance cooperation among governments, international organizations and other stakeholders working to address global water challenges. He also pointed to a new proposal unveiled during the fourth Dushanbe Water Conference, the &ldquo;Dushanbe Water Framework,&rdquo; aimed at strengthening international coordination and extending discussions on global water governance beyond 2030. According to the foreign minister, the initiative builds on the outcomes of the 2023 UN Water Conference and the International Decade for Action on Water, reflecting Tajikistan&rsquo;s commitment to advancing international cooperation and sustainable water management in the years ahead. <div class="fr-embed youtube-embed"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/n_8T23CU1EA?si=f05x6D0twLsYCMX2" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen="" style="width: 100%; height: auto; aspect-ratio: 16 / 9; max-width: 100%; display: block;"></iframe>&nbsp;</div>

Central Asia

Tajik Foreign Minister Sirojiddin Muhriddin says the Dushanbe Water Process has become a key driver of the UN water agenda, helping shape global policy, mobilize cooperation and prepare for upcoming UN water conferences in 2026 and 2028.

Tajik FM says Dushanbe Water Process driving global UN agenda

ASTANA: Armenia should hold a referendum on EU membership &quot;as soon as possible&quot;, President Vladimir Putin and three Russian-allied leaders said in a statement Friday, escalating pressure on Yerevan over its deepening ties with Brussels. Armenia is formally allied with Moscow, but has been building ties with the European Union for years amid frustration over Russia&#39;s perceived failure to protect it during conflicts with neighbouring Azerbaijan. The Caucasus country froze its security ties with Moscow in 2024, and last year passed a law declaring its intention to seek EU membership, further angering Russia. Armenia is still a member of the Eurasian Economic Union, the Russian-led customs union. Putin said it was time for Armenia to choose between the EU and the Eurasian Economic Union, insisting it was &ldquo;impossible to reconcile the two&rdquo;. &quot;Prime Minister (Nikol) Pashinyan himself said that he considers it right to hold a referendum on this issue, on where Armenia should position itself: in the Eurasian Union or in the European Union. We would like this to be done as soon as possible,&quot; Putin said at a press conference in Kazakhstan, where he was attending a summit. In a joint statement issued earlier at the summit, Putin and the leaders of Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan warned Armenia&#39;s moves to join the EU posed &quot;significant risks&quot; to the economy of Eurasian Economic Union member states. &quot;We share the position on the need to hold a national referendum in the Republic of Armenia as soon as possible on joining the European Union or remaining part of the Eurasian Economic Union,&quot; the statement said. Armenia did not immediately comment on the move. &ldquo;Whatever decisions are made, this will not damage our humanitarian ties, it will not damage our political ties,&rdquo; Putin said. Under Pashinyan, Armenia has formally pursued a strategy of what he calls &quot;diversification&quot;, in which the landlocked country pursues ties with both Russia and the West.

Russia and three allied states urge Armenia to hold a referendum on EU membership, arguing it must choose between closer integration with Europe or remaining in the Russian-led Eurasian Economic Union.

Armenia should hold EU referendum soon, Putin and allies say

DUSHANBE: World leaders and UN officials have convened in Dushanbe for a major international conference to accelerate global cooperation and action on water sustainability ahead of the 2026 UN Water Conference. The 4th High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action, &ldquo;Water for Sustainable Development&rdquo; (2018-28) has commenced in Dushanbe, bringing together world leaders and senior United Nations officials to accelerate global action on water. Tajikistan, in partnership with the United Nations and key international stakeholders, is hosting the conference in the capital from May 25 to 28. The meeting opens as countries continue efforts under the UN Water Action Decade framework, aimed at strengthening the implementation of water-related development goals and international cooperation.&nbsp;Global water diplomacyTajikistan, as the initiator of the Water Action Decade and co-host of the United Nations 2023 Water Conference, continues to position Dushanbe as a central platform for global water diplomacy. The conference builds on the Dushanbe Water Process meetings held in 2018, 2022, and 2024, and serves as a preparatory step toward the 2026 UN Water Conference, while supporting progress on Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation.&nbsp;Broad global participation&nbsp;The gathering brings together heads of state and government, ministers, UN entities, international and regional organizations, financial institutions, civil society, scientific institutions, youth, indigenous peoples, and the private sector. Discussions will focus on sustaining momentum from the UN 2023 Water Conference, advancing implementation of the Water Action Agenda, and initiating dialogue toward the 2028 UN Water Conference, which will also be hosted by Tajikistan.&nbsp;Program highlightsOver the coming days, participants will engage in high-level plenaries, nine thematic sessions aligned with the interactive dialogue structure of the 2026 UN Water Conference, pre-conference forums, side events, and an international exhibition. A regional preparatory meeting convened by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific is also bringing together countries across the Asia-Pacific region. Field visits will highlight Tajikistan&rsquo;s cultural heritage and its experience in water management and hydropower infrastructure.&nbsp;Expected outcomesThe conference is expected to conclude with a final declaration, a co-chairs&rsquo; summary, and a formal contribution to the 2026 UN Water Conference. A UN framing note describes the gathering as a platform to &ldquo;strengthen partnerships, foster innovation, mobilize financing, and accelerate concrete action&rdquo; on global water priorities.

The 4th High-Level International Conference on the International Decade for Action 'Water for Sustainable Development' will serve as a preparatory step toward the 2026 UN Water Conference, while supporting progress on Sustainable Development Goal 6 on clean water and sanitation.

World leaders gather in Dushanbe to advance global water agenda

ISTANBUL: Turkiye and Armenia will formally resume trade relations after a 33-year freeze as part of a rapprochement between the two countries, a Turkish foreign ministry spokesman said on Wednesday. Turkiye shut its border with Armenia in 1993 in support of its ally Azerbaijan, which was at war with Armenia over Karabakh. Turkiye&nbsp;and Armenia have been cautiously moving towards rapprochement since late 2021, a year after Armenia was defeated by Azerbaijan in a fresh conflict over that disputed territory. &quot;Within the framework of our normalisation process with Armenia that has been ongoing since 2022... the bureaucratic preparations regarding the initiation of direct trade between our country and Armenia have been completed as of May 11,&quot; foreign ministry spokesman Oncu Keceli said on X. Trade had already been passing between Turkiye and Armenia via Georgia, with taxes imposed in the transit country. But under the new regulation, goods can be formally designated as direct exports from Turkiye to Armenia, with the origin and final destination listed as being in those countries. Trade will continue to transit through an unspecified third country due to the lack of a functional border crossing. &quot;The necessary technical and bureaucratic work toward opening the common border between the two countries is still ongoing,&quot; the spokesman said. Turkiye&nbsp;and Armenia also share a border with Iran. Armenia welcomed Turkiye&#39;s decision &quot;to lift the bans on bilateral trade with Armenia&quot;, its foreign ministry spokesperson said in a statement. The spokesperson described it as an &quot;important step towards the development of full-fledged and normal relations between the two countries&quot;. Ankara&#39;s latest announcement marks a new step toward normalisation between Ankara and Yerevan after Azerbaijan&#39;s seizure of Karabakh, which saw most of the Armenian population leave. Last month, Armenia and Turkiye decided to put the Kars-Gyumri railway line back into service on both sides of their border. Turkiye&#39;s&nbsp;national carrier, Turkish Airlines, operated its first direct flight between Istanbul and Yerevan in March. But the two sides remain divided over history. The Armenians say 1.5 million of their people were killed under the Ottoman Empire from 1915 to 1917 and seek international recognition that it was genocide. Turkiye&nbsp;strongly denies the accusation of genocide and disputes the numbers, saying that the Armenians were among hundreds of thousands of people who died in the turmoil of World War I as the Ottoman Empire disintegrated.

Turkiye, Armenia resume formal trade relations after 33 years amid normalization efforts between longtime rivals

Turkiye and Armenia to restart direct trade: Ankara

LONDON:&nbsp;British Prime Minister Keir Starmer will stand if a leadership contest is triggered, a senior minister said Sunday, after media reported Starmer had contacted key backers insisting he would run in any race. This came after popular northern mayor Any Burnham, who is standing in a key by-election this month, said last week he would participate in any leadership race, although none has yet been triggered. Starmer &quot;has been absolutely clear -- were there to be a contest &nbsp;-- you need <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/uk-govt-to-release-second-batch-of-files-on-exus-envoy-mandelson" target="_blank" style="color:#0073e6;" rel="noopener noreferrer">81 signatures</a> (of MPs) to launch a contest -- he will be part of that contest,&quot; Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy told Sky News on Sunday. The <a href="https://www.pakistantv.com/article/british-pm-battles-to-stay-in-power-amid-rebellion" style="color:#0073e6;">prime minister</a> would automatically be included in any leadership ballot if he wanted to participate.&nbsp;&lsquo;Fight it&rsquo;The BBC and The Sun newspaper reported Sunday, citing unnamed MPs, that Starmer has been calling key supporters this weekend to say that if there is a contest he would &quot;fight it&quot;. The Sun reported: &quot;Sir Keir has hardened his position and is hellbent on running against Mr Burnham.&quot; Labour veteran Burnham is standing to become an MP again in a June 18 vote in Makerfield in northwestern England.&nbsp; If elected, he would be able to take part in a leadership contest. Burnham said on a BBC talkshow Thursday that he would seek to challenge Starmer if he won the by-election and if a race is triggered.&nbsp;&lsquo;Not going to walk away&rsquo;He said former health minister Wes Streeting, who resigned last month with an open letter expressing no confidence in Starmer, &quot;seems to have launched a leadership contest. So if that is running, I would seek to join it.&quot; The prime minister has repeatedly rejected calls to resign and insisted he wants to stay on as leader of the Labour party after winning a general election in 2024. Starmer told LBC radio station on Friday &quot;I&#39;m not going to walk away&quot;, adding he did not want to &quot;plunge our country into the chaos of a leadership fight&quot;.

United Kingdom

This comes after popular northern mayor Andy Burnham, who is standing in a key by-election this month, says he will participate in any leadership race, although none has yet been triggered.

Starmer will be 'part of' any leadership race: British deputy PM

LONDON: UK leader Keir Starmer accused US tech tycoon Elon Musk on Thursday of &quot;trying to whip up division&quot; in Britain after anger over the police handling of the murder of a student. The case of 18-year-old Henry Nowak, who was put in handcuffs by police as he lay mortally wounded after being stabbed by Vickrum Digwa, 23, in the southern city of Southampton in December, has become highly politicized in the UK. Digwa lied and told the police he himself was the victim and that Nowak had racially insulted him. Far-right figures have seized on the murder as an example that police forces in Britain treat white people and ethnic minorities differently -- an allegation Starmer&#39;s Labour government and police chiefs vehemently deny. Musk, the billionaire owner of X, has posted numerous times on the platform about the police response to the stabbing. In one, he asked whether people knew that &quot;official police policy requires them to be racist against Whites?&quot; Musk has offered to fund a private prosecution against the police over its handling of the murder, and insulted the Hampshire Police force. &quot;We need to also assert who we are as a country, because Musk, again, has been interfering in our politics in the last few days, trying to whip up division. That is not who we are in Britain,&quot; Starmer told reporters. &quot;In Britain, we are reasonable, tolerant people.&nbsp;When we have a terrible case like Henry&#39;s ... we react calmly, as his family have done,&quot; the prime minister added, referring to pleas from Nowak&#39;s father that his son&#39;s murder should not be used &quot;to create further division, hatred or tension.&quot; Digwa was jailed for at least 21 years on Monday for stabbing Nowak to death using a knife with a 21-centimeter (eight-inch) blade following an altercation about a mobile phone. Starmer has said there was &quot;no justification&quot; for violence at a Southampton protest on Tuesday night attended by far-right agitators, which saw demonstrators throw bricks, flares and chairs at police officers. One person has been charged with assault, and another with violent disorder. &#39;Lies and misinformation&#39;&nbsp;The prime minister said it was &quot;unforgivable&quot; that hard-right firebrand Nigel Farage, whose Reform UK party leads opinion polls, had called for people to respond to the murder with &quot;pure cold rage.&quot; Farage, who has been accused of stoking racial tensions with his remarks, has defended his comments. Starmer has called the bodycam footage of Nowak&#39;s death, during which he can repeatedly be heard telling officers he could not breathe, as &quot;harrowing.&quot; He said &quot;there are serious questions that need to be answered&quot; about the police response. The Independent Office for Police Conduct watchdog is investigating and is expected to report back within the next three months. Musk has long been an outspoken critic of Starmer, a former chief state prosecutor before entering politics. The pair clashed last year over a decades-long &quot;grooming gangs&quot; sexual abuse scandal. Then, the prime minister accused the world&#39;s richest man of &quot;spreading lies and misinformation.&quot;

British police chiefs are reviewing anti-racism guidance following outrage over the treatment of a white student, who was handcuffed as he lay dying after being stabbed by a Sikh man, officials said June 3. (Photo: AFP)

Keir Starmer accuses Elon Musk of stoking divisions in Britain by interfering in political debate surrounding a controversial murder case.

UK PM says Elon Musk 'trying to whip up division' over student's murder 

LONDON: British ministers braced Monday for the release of potentially embarrassing documents relating to Prime Minister Keir Starmer&#39;s controversial appointment of Peter Mandelson as envoy to the US. Hundreds of files expected to run to more than 1,000 pages were to be published on Monday as the scandal over Mandelson&#39;s links to US sex offender Jeffrey Epstein returns to plague Starmer and his embattled Labour administration. It will be the second tranche of documents to be published covering Mandelson&#39;s brief stint in Washington last year, which ended after the extent of his friendship with Epstein was revealed. &quot;The volume of information that&#39;s going to be put out is unprecedented,&quot; government minister James Murray told Sky News. The documents are expected to include messages between Mandelson and ministers and government advisers, including Starmer&#39;s former chief of staff Morgan McSweeney who resigned for advising the prime minister to make the appointment. The government has said it is withholding some documents on the advice of police, who are investigating Mandelson over alleged misconduct in office more than a decade ago. Mandelson is accused of leaking sensitive information to billionaire financier Epstein during his time as a government minister. He denies wrongdoing. Epstein died in a US prison in 2019 while awaiting trial. Members of parliament voted in February to force the government to publish documents about Mandelson&#39;s appointment. &#39;General reputational risk&#39; Documents released in March revealed Starmer was warned that Mandelson, a Labour party veteran, posed a &quot;general reputational risk&quot; because of his connection to Epstein but appointed him anyway. Starmer&#39;s decision to give Mandelson the plum diplomatic post in December 2024, and then sack him nine months later, has dogged his flagging premiership in recent months. It contributed towards dire election results in Scotland, Wales and England last month, that triggered calls from dozens of Labour lawmakers for Starmer to resign. Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham is contesting a special election to return to parliament later this month that is widely believed to be a precursor to challenging Starmer for the party leadership. Starmer has apologized for appointing Mandelson, as well as to the women trafficked by Epstein, but has refused to quit. The controversy has claimed the jobs of Starmer&#39;s former chief of communications and the most senior civil servant in the foreign office, who the prime minister fired for not telling him or other ministers that Mandelson had not passed security checks for the role.

Peter Mandelson - (Photo: Wikimedia Commons)

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer faces renewed pressure as the release of extensive documents over Peter Mandelson's appointment and ties to Jeffrey Epstein threatens further political fallout for his government.

UK govt to release second batch of files on ex-US envoy Mandelson

LONDON: Pressure mounted on Britain&#39;s Prime Minister Keir Starmer Thursday when his former deputy Angela Rayner emerged as a potential challenger in a frenzied battle for the leadership. Starmer, who led his Labour party to victory in 2024 elections ending 14 years of Conservative rule, is fighting to save his job after disastrous local and regional polls last week. Four junior ministers have resigned and more than 80 MPs have urged him to quit but he has vowed to cling on. Although no one has so far broken ranks to formally challenge him, media reported that Health Minister Wes Streeting was preparing to resign on Thursday to run for the top job. The prospect of a challenge by Rayner also grew as she announced that UK tax authorities had &quot;cleared&quot; her of deliberate wrongdoing in a tax affair, opening the way for her to compete in a potential leadership contest. She was forced to step down in September for underpaying a property duty, but said on Thursday the UK tax authority HMRC had exonerated her of &quot;the accusation that I deliberately sought to avoid tax&quot;. Media reported she had paid off &pound;40,000 ($54,000) in outstanding tax. &quot;I welcome HMRC&#39;s conclusion, which has cleared me of any wrongdoing,&quot; she said in a statement. &quot;I set out to pay the correct amount of tax. I took reasonable care and acted in good faith, based on the expert advice I received, and HMRC has accepted this.&quot; Although Rayner suggested in interviews that she would not be the one to trigger a race, she told the Guardian newspaper she would play &quot;whatever role I can&quot; to &quot;deliver the change&quot;. &nbsp;Left-wing figurehead&nbsp;Streeting, 43, is popular on the right of Labour, but is disliked by MPs on the left who would prefer Rayner or Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham as leader. Burnham is currently blocked from running as he does not have a seat in the Westminster parliament. The 46-year-old Rayner, seen as a working-class champion in the party, is a figurehead among Labour&#39;s left-wing base. She quit as deputy PM and housing, communities and local government minister after an investigation found she had breached the ministerial code over the purchase of a flat in southern England. Voters last week punished Starmer over his 22 months in power in local ballots which saw huge gains for the hard-right Reform UK party and the left-wing populist Greens at Labour&#39;s expense. The Labour Party lost control of the devolved Welsh parliament for the first time and failed to make up ground on the pro-independence Scottish National Party (SNP) in the parliament in Edinburgh. Rayner earlier stopped short of calling for Starmer to resign, but said voters were frustrated with the way the government was being run. &quot;What we are doing isn&#39;t working, and it needs to change,&quot; she said in a 1,000 word assessment of the party&#39;s electoral woes on Sunday. Under party rules, any challenger would need the support of 81 Labour MPs -- 20 percent of the party in parliament -- to trigger a contest. Starmer has vowed to stay put and came out fighting on Monday, pledging to do better. &quot;I know I have my doubters, and I know I need to prove them wrong, and I will,&quot; he said.

Keir Starmer faces mounting pressure after poor election results, resignations and leadership rumblings, with Angela Rayner emerging as a potential challenger as divisions deepen within Britain’s Labour Party.

British PM battles to stay in power amid rebellion

WASHINGTON: The United States issued an updated list Monday of Chinese companies that it believes are aiding the country&#39;s military -- including e-commerce giant Alibaba, search engine provider Baidu and electric vehicle maker BYD. The US Defense Department unveiled the designations just weeks after President Donald Trump met Chinese leader Xi Jinping in Beijing, with both sides seeking to maintain stability in the bilateral relationship. Trump has since invited Xi to pay a reciprocal visit to Washington in September. But the latest release could fan tensions between the world&#39;s two biggest economies. The Pentagon&#39;s update Monday comes months after it briefly released -- then withdrew -- an earlier version of the list without explanation. The new list is largely similar to the version momentarily published in February, except for two memory chipmakers, which were reinstated to the blacklist after having been removed from it at the time. The re-added companies are ChangXin Memory Technologies and Yangtze Memory Technologies. The companies targeted also cover some of China&#39;s key tech giants involved in artificial intelligence, like Alibaba, Baidu and Tencent. Tencent was already previously designated. While the determinations have few immediate legal implications for many of the companies, it is seen as a move that could precede more punitive measures. Other companies that were added include pharmaceutical firm WuXi AppTec and start-up Unitree, which makes humanoid robots.

China

The United States adds Alibaba, Baidu, BYD and other Chinese firms to a Pentagon list of companies allegedly supporting China's military, a move that could pave the way for future restrictions.

Pentagon says Alibaba, Baidu and other tech firms aiding China's military

SEOUL: Chinese President Xi Jinping said Monday that Beijing&#39;s friendship with Pyongyang was &quot;invincible&quot; and pledged closer cooperation, North Korean state media reported, as Xi prepared to visit the North for the first time in seven years. &quot;No matter how the times change or how the international situation evolves, the traditional friendship between China and North Korea will always remain invincible,&quot; Xi wrote in an article featured on the front page of Rodong Sinmun newspaper.

Chinese President Xi Jinping says that Beijing's friendship with Pyongyang is 'invincible,' pledging closer cooperation.

China's Xi says friendship with North Korea 'invincible' ahead of visit

BEIJING: Chinese President Xi Jinping will visit North Korea next week, state media said Friday, the latest in a series of high-level summits as Beijing asserts its position as a diplomatic superpower on the world stage. State broadcaster CCTV said that Xi would visit from June 8 to 9 at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his first trip to Pyongyang in seven years. Beijing is a vital source of political and economic support to North Korea, which is one of the most diplomatically isolated countries in the world and under heavy international sanctions. The upcoming meeting will be Xi&#39;s first official trip abroad this year, and comes after he hosted back-to-back summits with US President Donald Trump and Russia&#39;s Vladimir Putin last month. &quot;China is meeting leaders from around the world, coordinating positions and playing a mediating role,&quot; Lim Eul-chul, a North Korea expert at South Korea&#39;s Kyungnam University, told AFP. &quot;As China&#39;s international standing rises, Beijing is likely seeking to draw Pyongyang more actively into its diplomatic orbit as a partner in advancing a more multilateral order.&quot; Pyongyang depends on China for up to 95% of total trade and 85% of its exports, according to 2022 statistics from the National Committee on North Korea, a Washington-based think tank. But North Korea has drawn closer to Russia in recent years, particularly since Moscow&#39;s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, with Pyongyang sending thousands of troops and weapons to support the war effort. In return, analysts say North Korea is receiving financial aid, military technology, food, and energy, helping it circumvent sanctions over its banned nuclear programmes. Xi&#39;s choice of Pyongyang for his first overseas trip of 2026 is &quot;a deliberate visual rebuttal to the prevailing read in Western capitals that Pyongyang had quietly migrated into Moscow&#39;s orbit&quot;, said Seong-Hyon Lee from the George H. W. Bush Foundation for US-China Relations. Managing the relationshipXi last met Kim in September, when he invited the North Korean leader and Russia&#39;s Vladimir Putin as guests of honor to a military parade in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the victory over imperial Japan in World War II. In 2019, Xi and his wife Peng Liyuan were welcomed to North Korea with great pomp and fanfare to celebrate the two countries&#39; &quot;unbreakable friendship&quot;. Prior to that trip, no Chinese leader had visited the North since Hu Jintao in 2005. Beijing&#39;s Foreign Minister Wang Yi said during a visit to Pyongyang in April that China and Korea should &quot;enhance coordination&quot; on international and regional issues and &quot;maintain close communication and interaction&quot;. China&#39;s interests include keeping an eye on North Korea&#39;s nuclear programme, the advancement of which is &quot;extremely rapid&quot;, Hong Min of the Korea Institute for National Unification (KINU) told AFP. &quot;This aspect needs to be managed. If North Korea acts in a provocative and belligerent manner, it could trigger regional conflict, which could run counter to China&#39;s interests,&quot; Hong said. Kim vowed an &quot;exponential&quot; increase in nuclear military capabilities on Wednesday as he visited a new atomic facility, Pyongyang&#39;s state-run Korean Central News Agency reported. South Korea&#39;s foreign ministry has said it hopes exchanges between North Korea and China contribute to peace and stability, and that China can play a constructive role. Pyongyang has repeatedly shunned efforts by the South Korean government to improve relations, calling Seoul its most &quot;hostile&quot; adversary. Traditional US allies, including Britain&#39;s Keir Starmer and France&#39;s Emmanuel Macron, have also come to Beijing. However, Hong, of KINU, judged the chances that Xi might help broker a meeting between Trump and Kim as &quot;very low&quot;.

This June 21, 2019 picture released from North Korea's official Korean Central News Agency (KCNA) on June 22, 2019 shows China's President Xi Jinping (centre R) speaking with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (front L) upon his departure at the airport in P

State broadcaster CCTV said that Xi would visit from June 8 to 9 at the invitation of North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, his first trip to Pyongyang in seven years.



China's Xi to visit North Korea next week

ISLAMABAD: China&#39;s Pinglu Canal, a strategic inland waterway project in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region in southwestern China, began its water-testing phase after two key navigation hubs started filling on Wednesday, according to reports from Chinese state media. The canal is scheduled for full navigation in September. The Madao and Qishi hubs commenced water-filling operations, enabling the entire 134.2-kilometer canal to become fully connected by water, as reported by China News Service (ECNS). The canal stretches from the city of Hengzhou in Guangxi to the Beibu Gulf. It is designed to accommodate vessels of up to 5,000 tons. The Pinglu Canal is China&#39;s first nationally coordinated canal linking inland rivers to the sea since 1949, according to ECNS. It forms a key component of the New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor. Goods from southwestern China destined for Southeast Asia had to detour hundreds of kilometers through southern ports, increasing transport time and costs. The canal will directly link the region&#39;s inland waterways with maritime shipping networks, shortening sea routes by about 560 kilometers. The canal is also expected to reduce logistics costs for southwestern China&#39;s exports to Association of Southeast Asian Nations members by 18 to 30%, potentially saving more than $739 million annually, according to expert estimates reported by ECNS. The Chinese news outlet reported that trade efficiency gains will particularly benefit automotive, machinery, new energy and electronics sectors.

The Pinglu Canal is China's first nationally coordinated canal linking inland rivers to the sea since 1949, and is part of the ambitious New International Land-Sea Trade Corridor.

China's Pinglu canal enters water tests, targets September opening

WASHINGTON: The United States on Friday announced the approval of a $1.5 billion sale of MH-60R helicopters and related equipment to New Zealand. &quot;The proposed sale will improve New Zealand&#39;s capability to meet current and future warfare threats by providing greater security for its critical infrastructure,&quot; the US State Department said in a statement. &quot;New Zealand will use the enhanced capability to strengthen its homeland defense,&quot; it added. The State Department said in a separate statement that it had approved a $69 million sale of MK 54 torpedoes to New Zealand. The State Department has notified Congress about the proposed sales, which still need to be approved by lawmakers.

The hearing was held to examine the State Department's budget request for fiscal year 2027. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images/AFP (Photo by Kevin Dietsch / NORTH AMERICA / AFP)

Australasia

The United States Department of State confirms the approval of a $1.5 billion sale of MH-60R helicopters and related equipment to New Zealand.

US approves $1.5B sale of helicopters to New Zealand

SYDNEY: Wildlife officers have busted an illegal cockroach-breeding operation in rural Australia, seizing a skin-crawling haul worth more than $100,000 on the black market for exotic bugs. More than 100,000 contraband cockroaches were found in a raid on a commercial breeder in the town of Bathurst, west of Sydney, Australia&#39;s environment department said on Friday. They found Madagascar &quot;hissing&quot; cockroaches, a bulky insect named for its noisy defense mechanism, and dubia cockroaches, an invasive critter bred as a snack for pet lizards. Madagascar cockroaches Photos showed one of the seized Madagascar cockroaches was almost big enough to completely cover the palm of an adult hand. &quot;We take our job protecting Australia&#39;s unique biodiversity and breaches of national environment law very seriously,&quot; an environment department spokesman said. &quot;We&#39;re seeing illegal breeding and trading of exotic cockroaches and we&#39;re putting pet businesses and pet owners on notice.&quot; The department said the illicit insects had an estimated value of US$140,000 (Aus$200,000). Officials now have the unenviable task of euthanizing the creepy-crawlies, an insect so hardy it spawned an urban legend they could survive a nuclear blast.

Australian Department of Climate Change, Energy, Environment and Water (DCCEEW) shows some of the 100,000 contraband cockroaches found in a raid on a commercial breeder in the town of Bathurst, west of Sydney. (Photo: AFP)

Officials now have the unenviable task of euthanizing the creepy-crawlies, an insect so hardy it spawned an urban legend they could survive a nuclear blast.

Australia seizes 100,000 cockroaches in bug-breeder bust

SYDNEY: A Sydney man credited with saving dozens of lives during last year&#39;s deadly mass shooting on Bondi Beach has been charged with assaulting his father, local media and police said Thursday. Ahmed al Ahmed shot to fame in December when he wrested a gun from one of the attackers during Australia&#39;s deadliest attack in decades. Local media including national broadcaster ABC said Ahmed, 44, had been charged after allegedly assaulting his father. Asked to confirm the reporting, New South Wales police told AFP: &quot;On Sunday 15 March 2026 police received a report of an alleged assault at a home in Bankstown on Monday 9 March 2026.&quot; They added that a 44-year-old man had then been charged this week with assault and stalking. He will face court on June 29, police said. Australian police as a rule do not identify individuals charged with crimes to the media. Ahmed was widely hailed as a hero for his actions during the shooting, in which 15 people were killed and dozens wounded in what authorities have described as an antisemitic terrorist attack. He met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and a fundraiser set up for him raised over $1 million. Last month, his two brothers faced court in Sydney over allegations they had attempted to pressure Al Ahmed into handing over some of that money, local media said.

A Sydney man credited with saving dozens of lives during last year's deadly mass shooting on Bondi Beach has been charged with assaulting his father, local media and police said Thursday

Bondi Beach attack hero charged with assaulting father: Media

SYDNEY: A passenger from the hantavirus-stricken MV Hondius cruise ship is in quarantine on tiny Pitcairn Island, a volcanic outcrop in the South Pacific famously settled by mutineers from the HMS Bounty. The woman, a US citizen, journeyed halfway across the globe to reach remote Pitcairn Island after disembarking the cruise ship in Saint Helena, authorities said. &quot;We can confirm that someone who had contact with a hantavirus-exposed individual is currently isolating on Pitcairn Island, showing no signs of illness,&quot; said a Pitcairn government spokesman. &quot;We are working closely with the health authorities and the UK Government to manage the situation. The wellbeing of our community remains the top priority.&quot; It was not clear how long the woman might be stuck on Pitcairn Island or how she will be isolated from the around 50 people who call the British territory home. Pitcairn Islanders contacted by AFP said they had been advised against speaking with journalists and should pass all questions on to government officials. It was no small effort for the jet-setting American to reach Pitcairn Island, which bills itself as a &quot;must see for adventurous travellers seeking truly remote horizons&quot;. She first flew from San Francisco to Tahiti and then onwards to the isle of Mangareva in outer French Polynesia. From Mangareva most tourists reach Pitcairn by hitching a 32-hour ride on one of the cargo ships that shuttle back and forth every few days. The government of French Polynesia said she had done all this without telling authorities of her possible exposure to hantavirus. She will not be allowed to leave the island as long as she &quot;poses a risk to others&quot;, the government said in a statement earlier this week. The UK government -- which counts Pitcairn as an overseas territory -- said the woman was not symptomatic, but it was still taking a &quot;precautionary approach&quot;. There is only one grocery store on Pitcairn Island, which typically opens three times a week. The nearest hospitals are in French Polynesia, some 1,350 miles (2,170 kilometres) to the northwest, or New Zealand, about 5,300 kilometres (3,300 miles) southwest. Three people died after the rare rat-borne hantavirus spread through passengers holidaying on the MV Hondius cruise ship, sparking a global health scare. Health authorities have repeatedly emphasised that the broader risk to public health from the outbreak of the Andes strain of hantavirus &nbsp;the only one known to spread between people is low. Globally, the death toll remains at three. No vaccines or specific treatments exist, but health officials have said the risk is low and have dismissed comparisons to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Pitcairn Islands were colonised in 1790 by the mutinous crew of the Royal Navy ship HMS Bounty, led by the master&#39;s mate Fletcher Christian. Their actions, casting adrift the ship&#39;s captain William Bligh, have been immortalised in books and film. Pitcairn&#39;s people are descended from the mutineers and their Tahitian companions.

Independent CONICET researcher and National University of Cordoba associate professor Raul Gonzalez Ittig holds a preserved specimen of a Graomys chacoensis rodent inside the Population Genetics and Evolution Laboratory of the Institute of Diversity and A

A US woman exposed to hantavirus from the MV Hondius cruise ship is quarantined on remote Pitcairn Island, raising concerns among its tiny isolated community.

Passenger from hantavirus cruise quarantines on remote Pitcairn Island

Americas

MONTREAL: Canada&#39;s culture minister on Wednesday introduced legislation that would ban children under 16 from having social media accounts and require AI chatbot services to limit production of harmful content. The proposed &quot;Digital Safety Act&quot; makes Canada the latest in a wave of countries moving to crack down on social media platforms over concerns of harm to children. &quot;We have seen the very serious consequences that online harms can have...The safety of children cannot be an afterthought,&quot; said Culture Minister Marc Miller in a statement announcing the proposal. The legislation would ban social media accounts for children under 16 years old, the statement said, adding that there would an exemption &quot;pathway&quot; for companies &quot;if they can demonstrate that they have put in place sufficient safeguards for children.&quot; In addition to the social media ban, it would also regulate increasingly ubiquitous AI chatbots by requiring companies to &quot;mitigate the risk of the chatbot communicating harmful content.&quot; Companies would also face requirements for transparency around &quot;reporting thresholds in crisis situations,&quot; such as when a user intends to harm themselves or another person. The issue has been particularly sensitive in Canada following a mass shooting in April that left nine people dead in the small mining town of Tumbler Ridge, including the shooter. OpenAI has faced intense criticism after it banned the shooter from its platform in June last year over the user&#39;s troubling conversations on ChatGPT, but did not report the account to Canadian police because it said it saw no evidence of an imminent attack. In December, Australia became the first country in the world to require TikTok, YouTube, Snapchat and other top sites to remove accounts held by under-16s or face heavy fines. Indonesia began enforcing its own social media ban for users under the age of 16 in March, while several European governments have announced their desire to make similar moves.

OpenAI has faced intense criticism after it banned the shooter from its platform in June last year over the user's troubling conversations on ChatGPT, but did not report the account to Canadian police because it said it saw no evidence of an imminent attack.



World

Asia

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China

Pentagon says Alibaba, Baidu and other tech firms aiding China's military

China's Xi says friendship with North Korea 'invincible' ahead of visit

China's Xi to visit North Korea next week

China's Pinglu canal enters water tests, targets September opening

Australasia

US approves $1.5B sale of helicopters to New Zealand

Australia seizes 100,000 cockroaches in bug-breeder bust

Bondi Beach attack hero charged with assaulting father: Media

Passenger from hantavirus cruise quarantines on remote Pitcairn Island

Americas

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Canada moves to ban under-16s from social media, regulate AI